INFATUATED MAN'S REVENGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 242, 12 October 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

INFATUATED MAN'S REVENGE.

WOMAN WHO LOVED ANOTHER. A double shooting drama on a moorland road was described by an eye-witness at an inquest at Ramsbottom, near Bury, Lancashire, on William Hathaway Sheldon, aged 55, married, of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, and Miss Charlotte Ann Sargeant, 27, of Grosvenor Place, Tottington, near Bury. The mother of Miss Sargeant said that for a short while her daughter was housekeeper for Sheldon at Bolton, where he was a clerk of works. She returned home in April, and since then Sheldon had several times urged her to marry him, but she preferred someone else. On August 8 he called at the house and did a lot of damage to clothing belonging to the girl. He pleaded with her to marry him by special licence on the Saturday, but she refused. John Ellis.' a farmer, said that on Sunday evening he saw a couple near a stile: The woman appeared to be frightened, and he said to her, "What's to do?" She said, "He is going to shoot me." . " Is He a Wed Chap ? " She turned to Sheldon and said. "If you are going to shoot me, shoot me now." Ellis said to the woman, "Is lie. a wed chap going to molest you?" ami Sheldon remarked, "She is partly my wife." The couple walked away and when they had gone about 30yds they stood still, the man still pleading with her. The man then drew a revolver, levelling it at the woman's face, and tired. The woman dropped to the ground. The man walked around the woman, levelled the revolver at his own head, fired, and also dropped dead. The widow said she was married to Sheldon in August 1910. They had a mutual separation in 1923. There were four children living. The day before the tragedy she received a letter from him stating that he was feeling "very queer," and intimating that he -was sending on a box. The jury found that Sheldon murdered the woman and afterwards ■ committed suicide. , ■■