DOUBLE TRAGEDY!'

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 139, 15 June 1938, Page 9

DOUBLE TRAGEDY!'

JPOVERTY AND SUICIDE i ■ ': HUSBAND AND WIFE. i RESULT OF UNEMPLOYMENT. ! (From Our Own Correspondent.) | SYDNEY, June fl. j Mrs. Booth, of Newtown, committed I suicide last Friday week, her daughter. Dorothy, aged l.'i, finding h,>r lying dead on the kitchen floor. Death was due to gas poisoning. She had put her last penny in the meter to destroy herself. The iiioiiniii.tr of the tragedy was made clear when the husband, Herbert Booth, returned home. He was a sheet inelal worker, hut he hud been unemployed since Maid;, and lie had done very little work during the past two years. His wife, worn down by privation, was a prey to nervous fears, and constantly anticipated that they would be turned out of their home through failure to pay their rent. Booth had npent two days during the week in the rain, look ing in vain for woik. and this last failure seemed to have driven i lie unfortunate woman beyond her own eotilrol, Kindly Neighbours. The child. Dorothy, was cared for by the neighbours, who displayed the kindly sympathy that the poor under uuch circumstances can always be trusted to supplv. Also the secretary of Booth's union'. Mr. T. Wright—he i* one of the vice-presidents of the New South Wale* Trade* and Labour Council- us soon «- he heard of Mr*. BoothV death, called on iher husband and gave him f.l mi behal ! .,f the union, with as-iiran.-es of all :„ther necessary assjstai.ee. Booth -ecmcd much comforted by this kindlier 'mid Mr. Wright left him convinced t.mt he would face the future courageously. But fate had not vet deal, it- Una blow to thi- unhappy f.unil.\. Booth and ±is little daughter had gone on to etny with Mrs. Wood*, a 1

neighbour, who kindly gave them home room. K.ir2y on Sunday morning the I'll)! 1 went to her father'* room to see him, hut he v.-as not there. All )*« papers, his references ami dole card*, and a sum of money were lying on the table, hut there was no sign of the man himself. He had spent the previous ;ifternoon arranging for hi* wife'* funeral, having sold noino of his *cant.\ furniture and utilised a part of tin money given him by his union; but h« had said no word of his intentions foi the future. Body Found In River. Mrs. Woods, much alarmed, rang th< police and shortly afterward a report reached them that the body of Boot) had been found flouting in Cook's River near Temple Road Bridge. The b..d\ was taken to the morgue and a doeto I from J'rince Alfred's Hospital oertifiei ■the cause of death. It was evident tha I Booth, unable to bear the weight o | the overwhelming tragedy and de-pa ii i ing for the future, put an end i<> hi' .own life. , It was not till late that evening thai itlie police and the nearbv iieijldn.nr'ventured t.. tell the child thai -lie «aI now ber.-ft of her father a- well as her I mother. It is consoling t., learn that I the trade union t.i whii-li H-.oth belonged lis prepared to undertake tliul his orphan ! child shall be proper Iv cared for. Hut ithis deplorable twofold tragedy lias shed a lurid 11-I*. "" the privation-, ol !the poor or rni'Ut and the deM.cra e, Urait- to vvl.i. I. llicy are often reduced : | •„,„] there U much force ,n the argn j „„.,„ ,„„ forward by Mr. W . ight. _« he ,„,!„„ Secretary, that Hie loo.h m.ci.l.*. provide ample ground »..r '-'bo;.. -| ( |,.„,and for adequate insurance »» t unemployment on a ik-m t-..iiti il.m .r.v I ha lis. ! ======= ! ! I