FIGHT TO DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 127, 1 June 1938, Page 15

FIGHT TO DEATH.

CASE OF SISTERS. * A DRUNKEN QUARREL" HUSBANDS CENSURED. (Special.—By Air Mail.) LONDON. After hearing the story of a fight to the death between two sisters who quarlelled, the jury, at the inquest at Southwark. S.E., severely censured the husbands. The women were Mrs. Theresa Chandler, aged 66, of Delverton Road, Walworth, and Mrs. Mary Anne Woonton, 59, of Port Street, Bow, who were found lying in pools of blood in a bedroom at Mrs. Chandler's home. Mrs. Chandler was dead, and Mrs. Woonton died in hospital a few hours later. The jury returned a verdict that death in each case was due to a drunken quarrel. The foreman said the jury was convinced it had not heard the whole truth, that the two husbands had kept something back, and that their conduct was reprehensible. After Three Years. Alfred Woonton, a poultry dealer, said he had never known his wife and sister to quarrel. Asked why Mrs. Woonton had not gone to see her sister for about fliree years, Mr. Woonton said he knew of no reason except that it was a long way from where they lived. The Coroner (Mr. A. Douglas Cowburn) : I put it to you that your wife and Mrs. Chandler, when they did meet, quarrelled?—l cannot say. I have not seen Mrs. Chandler for 15 years, but my

wife often spoke about Mrs. Chandler in the best of terms. Charles J. Chandler said his wife suffered from rheumatism and had a stroke about six months ago. She would not be able to resist a sudden attack. The sisters met at the funeral of another sister about three years ago. He denied that there was a quarrel between them over a will or some furniture. When Mrs. Woonton called unexpectedly, all three sat talking over family affairs. The conversation was friendly. "We are not fools, you know," commented the coroner, when Mr. Chandler said he did not know why his wife's sister should call unexpectedly and without iuvitation after staying away for three years. Mr. Chandler said in the evening they went to a public-house. On returning home Mrs. Woonton insisted on staying the night. _ When he went to hed his wife and her sister were talking and were "quite comfortable." "I don't think you are speaking the truth," commented Mr. Cowburn. "I swear that they were not quarrelling. If they had been, do you think I should have left them?" replied Mr. Chandler. He added that during the . night he heard no disturbance, and got up at 5.15 a.m. and went to work. He did not go into the other room because he thought his wife and her sister would be asleep. Would Not Leave. Charles James Chandler, of Peckham, a wood machinist, said that he knew of no quarrel or dispute between his mother and Mrs. Woonton about property. He described the events wlien he and his wife went to the parents' house, after joining them at the public-house. "Mrs. Woonton would not say anything; she only sat there biting her nails and looking at mother," he said. Mrs. Woonton would not leave. He told his father, ".Don't ■ have any words at all with her. Go to bed and let them alone." Mrs. May Hayes said she occupied rooms on the first floor of the house in Delverton Road.

Between four and five in the morning, she said, "I was roused by shouting and a banging at the yard door. I saw a woman walking down th* garden towards the house. "The woman was shouting. "Let me in and ou dirty * 99 , £ I \ tt ! e later she heard the noise of a bolt being withdrawn from the door, and all was quiet. At abont 9 a.m. she heard the mumbled words, "God help me, what have I done? It was not the voice of Mrs. Chandler. Just after 11 o'clock she heard someone call out "Help!" Then she went down to the flat. I saw Mrs. Chandler on the floor near the bed," she said. "Bending over "cmT^ 111 ® * ier was a woman. She was saying, 'Get up, get up.* was the woman I heard shouting during the night." 6 Bloodstained File. i , Mr , . < ? handler » senior, examined a bloodstained file with the handle missing, which he identified as a file he had at his home. A ; Moore said that Mrs. Cnandlers injuries were consistent with very great violence having been used. The condition of her heart was such that she could not have put up any great resistance, and any sudden shock would have caused collapse. Dr - p - J . Watkin said that Mrs. Woonton had a scalp wound and other injuries. They were not sufficient to cause death, but, coupled with excitement and shock, had led to death. Dr. John C. Thomas, pathologist at the Metropolitan Police College, Hendon, said there was human bloodstains in the heel of a woman's shoe produced. . Summing up, the coroner said that in view of the medical evidence the case was not one in which the jury could properly return a verdict of murder. "Whether, if one or" the other had lived, she could have been charged with manslaughter is a possibility," he said. "We do not know who was the actual aggressor, but you might hold a strong view that it was almost certainly Mrs. Woonton."