BLOWN TO PIECES

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 33, 8 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

BLOWN TO PIECES

YOUNG WIFE'S FATE.

BELATED CHRISTMAS GIFT.

NAILS PACKED IN DYNAMITE

A deadly bomb in the eay and innocent

guise of a belated Christmas gift brought swift death to a young -wife and severe injuries to a group of relatives who had gathered for a family New Year party, and left only scant clues for the guidance of the police, searching for some trace of the perpetrator.

The dead woman was Mrs. Naomi Hall Brady, IS, married last tfune to Herman Brady,J22, a farmer of MitchellvUle, Maryland, U.S.A. The injured numbered eight ana included the girl's mother, Mrs. John Hail, her grandmother, six brothers an<f sisters, and the son of a neighbour, whose hurts were slight.

The tragedy took place shortly after breakfast. The package was delivered to the Hall home by Leslie Hall, who is in a serious condition, and by the neighbour's son, and Mrs. Brady eagerly tore off the Yuletide wrapper, while members of the family clustered closely about her. Suddenly it exploded, Mrs. Brady died twenty minutes after being received at a Washington hospital. The explosion was heard for some distance and neighbours came quickly to the scene. The injured were rushed to Washington, a few miles away. Search Hospitals for Injured. Neither the dead woman's husband nor her father were present at the time. The former was searcning for a house in which they might start housekeeping, while the latter was at work in a cemetery some distance away. Upon being told of the catastrophe they rushed into Washington and hurried frantically from hospital to hospital to locate the members of the family. The sinister package was delivered mistakenly, at the home of a neighbour, Mrs. John Buckley, who found it on her porch. She was unable to determine at once the identity of Mrs. Brady, to whom it was addressed, but she learned where the woman might be found and when young Leslie and his friend passed the house she gave it to them to deliver. For two days it had reposed in her home, with her children playing In the same room. The bomb was believed to have contained dynamite, with which had been packed nails and pieces of metal. Bit 3 of the wrapping paper were found in the wreckage' of the Hall home, which was badly damaged, but these, the police said, were of little assistance in running down the responsible person. . Brady told police that he and his bride had made their marriage known only a few days before, and that the girl's family had approved. The tatter's name was not made public. Both the young woman's hands were blown off by the terrific explosion as she opened the deadly packet. Two brothers are thought to have been blinded; one of them is only 17 months old. A third lost a hand.