SHOT SISTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 300, 18 December 1937, Page 11

SHOT SISTER.

KILLED HIMSELF. EX-OFFICER'S SUICIDE u JEKYLL AND HYDE » STORY. (Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON, November 27. A dramatic story of the "Jekyll and Hyde" character of an ex-officer who shot hirt sister through the eyes and then killed himself was told at an inquest at Richmond, Sufrey. The inquiry concerned the deaths of Maurice Odell Tribe, aged 43, and his 49-year-old sister, Dr. Naomi Dancy. Verdicts of murder and suicide while the balance of Tribe's mind was disturbed were returned. Dr. John Dancy said his brother-in-law had been a heavy drinker since receiving head injuries in the war. He lost one eye and was losing the sight of the other. He and his wife thought it their duty to keep Tribe, and had been giving him eye injection. Tribe's failing vision was due to smoking and drinking. Kind But Jealous. Tribe had threatened to harm his sister, but was always sorry afterwards. "He had a very kind side .to his nature," added Dr. Dancy. "One side of him was very fond of her and the other side very jealous." Before his wife went to bed on the night of the tragedy she and her brother had an altercation about an insurance policy. Dr. Dancy said while typing letters in his study to his children shortly after 1 a.m. he heard shots. He continued: —

"I saw my brother-in-law coming from the bathroom, which communicates with my wife's bedroom. He was advancing towards me with a revolver. "I shouted, 'Don't point that at me.' But when be still came on I tried to reason with him.

"I eould see that he meant to shoot vba in the eye. I lolled against the door in * position-of assumed -ease. But all

the time I knew there was a switch, and I put my hand on it. "When he stopped advancing and I knew that he was preparing to shoot I put the lights out and dropped to the floor. Lay "Foxing." "He fired at me as I fell. I lay on the ground foxing." Dr. Dancy said he found Tribe with his throat cut. Mr. D. K. Birt (for Mrs. Tribe, who lived apart from her husband) : You have spoken about two sides of Mr. Tribe's character?— Yes, he had twV very distinct sides. I should say he was like the book, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Mrs. Rhona Jermain Conder, Tribe's sister-in-law, said he had often mentioned suicide. "He had a most wonderful side and a terrible side," she added. Her sister could not live with him.