ATTEMPTED MURDER.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 20, 24 January 1916, Page 11

ATTEMPTED MURDER.

•jyOMAN ATTACKED WITH AXE,

HUSBAND CUTS HIS THROAT.

SVDEXY, Jajmary 13. Jlrs. Alice Hayes, 40, slept in upstairs room o£ her home at 36, B^jj-aen-StrJ-m'-i—^liihto,.„e'aTjy . this. mornins. '^ cr busr,ant '' Edward Hayes. 43 a - labourer, attarkod her with-an aS 'e inflicting a frightful -wound on the Wt'side of the head. He then walked into a' hack room and cut his throat almost from ear to ear with a razor. -rh e Civil Ambulance took the woman to Sydney Hospital, where she was admitted. by Dr. Murphy in such a critical condition that no hope is held out for ier recovery- Hayes died a few minutes after he had cut his throat. The tragedy occurred in a small, fourToomed- two-storey house in TSuiiinson Street, a narrow- tenement - thoroughfare runn-inz off Quarry Street. L'ltimo. Hayes and his wife are said to have lived on unhappy terms. They had o'uarrelk'd for years, and so frequently did they have heated arguments that little or" 110 notice was taken of them by the neighbours. Hayes -had attacked ■her on numerous occasions, and had beP n -frequently locked up for assaulting her. and had been ted and sent to gaol. Apart from that, they had been separated at intervals, the last parting taking place only last Monday. Hayes, who had been drinking heavily for some time past, returned home yesterday, but- his actions suggested that he had no intention of remaining. He procured some clothing, a photograph of himself, and some other articles, and. leaving the house, was not seen again by his eight children until he had smashed Mrs. Hayes' head in with the

axe The family went to bed at about hall past 10 last ru-rht. the mother and.six "iris sleeping in the front rooms and the two hoys in a back upsurrs room. Hayes 'returned hmni> about half-past 1 this morning. Passing through a lanewav which leads to the back of the house, adjoining, he climbed the fence, and. going across the ynrd. clambered into the yard'of his own home, which las no back entrance. The diningroom -window was unfastened, and, pushing it open, he climbed through into the- house; •-•■■*--- - The Best thing heard was. a-thud, and Hayes'-yrarseerr-Vfaiidihg over - his wife with an axe, which he had' taken __ the'yard.' and" from' - which blood was still dripping, in his right hand. That was at_a few minutes after hah'-past 1. His "daughter. Bridget, IS, was sleeping in a single bed m the same room as her mother, and, on being awakened by the hea.vT thud, she jumped out df bed and confronted her father, who was standing alongside the bed in which her mother was lying.. with her -skull smashed open. A younger girl. Louisa ■ May,; was sleeping alongside her mother, and on being aroused dt the noise.s&w the gash in her mother's head, from which blood was pouring.

When Bridget Hayes saw that her mother had been badly injured., and that her father -was still armed, she acted promptly- and pluckily. Ru'sfiing acros-f'the wrenched .the a*ar from his _hand, and hurled it away. Have's onered no resistance. He did Dot move, neither did he spealc. A second later he walked out of the room, and wa's next seen standing on the landing at the_ top of the stairs. Then he disappeared.' and" a-little later he 'was heard in the back room upstairs. A scream- followed by itwaning.-w-as -heard, and Hayes was found lyinj*- on the floor with his throat cut almost from ear to ear, and a blood-stained razor beside him. He lived for only a few- minutes. The girls then ran downstairs and into the street to procure assistance. James Coste'llo. who lives in 34. Burlin--son Street, had -heard the noise and rushed into the house. He found Haves lying in a pool of biooj, and Mrs. Hares in bed in-an unconscious condition with a deep wound in the side of her head. Constable Gordon, of the Regent Street station, who was on duty in the vicinity, also heard the screams, and -when he reached the house he had the woman hurried to hospital in an ambulance. Her skull was badly fractured, and she was admitted in a dying- .condition. Hayes' body was taken to the morgue. When Hayes' clothing was searched, several-statements- were found, indicating that it was his intention to ''settle" his wife.

Toe-ages of#.'ne" eight" children bvthe marriage range from 19 to 4 years."