DRAMATIC CLIMAX.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1928, Page 7

DRAMATIC CLIMAX.

Wife Charged With Murder By Poison. NINETEEN WEEKS' INQUIRY. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 2 p.m.) LONDON, May 22. At the conclusion of the coroner's inquiry at Coleford, Mrs. Beatrice Pace, aged 35, was arrested as the result of the jury's verdict and charged with the murder of her husband, Harry Pace, 36, a Forest of Dean farmer, by arsenical poisoning. Pace died on January 10 and the police stopped the funeral. The inquiry has occupied nineteen weeks. Considerable attention was focussed on the medical evidence that the death was due to arsenic poisoning. The evidence of relatives suggested ill-feeling between Pace and his wife. Pace's life was insured in 1924 and he suddenly became ill in 1925 and in July, 1927, following a meal, he again became suddenly ill and was admitted to hospital. He recovered and returned to his home and again became suddenly ill. Then on January 6 he complained of sensations in the stomach and throat and died four days later. The wife swooned upon hearing the verdict and shouted: "I didn't, I didn't, I wouldn't, 1 couldn't."

Women and girls in Court wept bitterly. Mrs. Pace has five children, including a baby in arms.