WIFE'S TRAGIC DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 171, 21 July 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

WIFE'S TRAGIC DEATH.

j AGED CHURCHMAN ARRESTED. j oKLM BKDROUM SECRET. i i tin.' oi the most poignant tragedies j which lias marked the criminal annals of | Dundee for many years occurred in a villa in the west end residential district of the city. Mrs. Isabella Millar '42'. a lady well-known in Dundee society, was found with her head almost severed from her body. lying m 1•. •<! in her house at S. (ilamis Drive. Her husband. Alexander I Millar a retired daii.v farmer. Mas. j v hen the police arrived, discovered standing beside the body, t lose b.v was a blood-stained bread knife, with which the horrible tragedy appeared to have been accomplished. The husband was irnmediately taken into custody by the police on a charge of murder. Ilie scene (it the tragedy is a beautiful villa, standing in its own grounds, and surrounded with beds of beautiful flowers, the last place in which one could imagine such a dire tragedy happening. 1 he household consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Miliar, a voung son who is engaged in business in the city, a daughter who is aged about seventeen, and a young domestic servant. The family had not been free from trouble in recent months. Some time atter they took up residence in <»lamis Drive —only last November—Mrs. Millar, it is stated, alarmed her relatives by an act which might have proved \ fatal, and since then her health had been somewhat precarious. A few days ago her condition In came alarming and was such that it caused izre.it anxiety to the household. Everything possible was being lone to restore Mi>. .Millar to good health, nit she lapsed into unconsciousness. Her .lusband remained by her bedside through>ut the night, and on the morning of the tragedy a slight improvement was noticed, iltliough she was unable to speak. There ■vas. however, no cause for alarm, and lothing is known to have transpired which night give the slightest indication that a .errible tragedv was imminent. An Appalling Scene. As lar as can be ascertained, the hlreland was nursing his wife with the usual enderness and care when, on the fatal norning, the son went to business, and .lie other members ot the family were at heir household duties. What happened ii thr bedroom is not yet known, or "can he acuta) time when the tragedy occurred ie .!-• ei tained. Jt. was only discovered 'en M's. Millar's mother, Mrs. Thoin"ll. who lives nearby, called shortlv heme ikk.ii to inquire for her daughter. A hen she entered the house and piocciied to the bedroom, she was astonished •> find the door locked. On knocking, ie (Im>r was opened by Mr. Millar, who •Clued t.u be in a dazed condition. Mrs hotnson, passing him at the door, proeeded to the bedside and was horrified o discover her daughter dead, with her ead almost severed from her body. She once raised the alarm and a nurse and loetor were quickly on the spot. The ■cene in the bedroom was appalling. The othes were saturated with blood, and there was a pool of blood on a caipet near -he bed. Close by was the bread-knife •tained with blood. The manner m ■which -he information was given to the p.."-,. vas somewhat dramatic. It is stated that -Mr. -Millar himself went to the phone and iiitormed the police that his wife was lead information to this effect was also telephoned to the police by others in the louse. Dundee detectives who hurried to vTktrnis Drive at once realised that a ternblc tragedy had occurred. Mr. Millar still dazed, was in the rooili beside his dead wife, and. after a bint conversation with the police, was convened to the Ceuti al Police Office.