FARM TRAGEDY
BATTERED TO DEATH FATE OF MAN AND WIFE SYDNEY, May 10. Herbert Edgar Blake, 69, shire clerk, and his wife, Elizabeth Maud, 74, were found shot and battered to death on their farm at Nebo, near Mackay, Queensland. A man named Falrbairn saw the bodies lying in I Jong grass near a fence. Blake's old I cattle dog stood guard over the I bodies and refused to let anyone I approach. Police tried every means of enticing the dog away but it refused to leave its dead master, and they were finally obliged to shoot it. It is believed that the bodies were carried 40 feet from the fruit packing shed on the farm and placed alongside the fence. A hurricane and reading lamp were lying near i the slied. There were blood stains on the ground and signs of a struggle. Robbery apparently was not a motive for the crime as the house had not been entered and nothing had been disturbed in the sheds. Heavy 7 - ain during the night washed away all footprints.
Blake arrived with his wife from London 25' years ago and joined his brother Egbert on an orchard at Nebo. Egbert Blake is in hospital in Brisbane and is to undergo a serious operation.
A large number of police and three blacktrackers have begun investigations.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, 12 May 1941, Page 4
Word Count
223FARM TRAGEDY Auckland Star, 12 May 1941, Page 4
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