MULTIPLE MURDER AND SUICIDE

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27987, 6 June 1956, Page 13

MULTIPLE MURDER AND SUICIDE

Body Of Alberta M.P. Found

(Rec. 10 p.m.) ERSKINE (Alberta), June 4.

The body of John Clark, with a bullet hole in the head, was found late today lying face down in a slough 600 yards from the house in which five members of his family and two other men were shot to death yesterday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they found a single-shot .22-calibre rifle at the feet of Clark’s body 30 feet from the shore in. the' muddy slough. The body of Clark, a Social Credit member of the Alberta Legislature, was clothed in might attire. Assistant-Commissioner G. M. ' Curleigh, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at Edmonton, said the police were satisfied the case was one of multiple murder and suicide. The discovery of the body came as fear gripped families in the vicinity of the farm, who thought that their lives might be endangered by the slayer, who was described earlier by the police as “armed and possibly mental.” Security measures were taken at the Provincial Legislature building at Edmonton. Each of the seven persons killed yesterday was shot through the head with a .22-calibre bullet.

Clark suffered from a minor nervous breakdown during this year’s session of the Legislature. Always quick to answer criticism of the Government by the Opposition, he was delivering an address when his condition became apparent to the Legislative members. Members found it difficult to follow the speech, and at one point Clark said: “Words fail me.” He left the House after making the speech and broke down and wept in lhe Speaker’s robing room. A Cabinet Minister asked members of the press to use discretion in reporting the speech, saying that Clark was “not himself and under great strain.”

Clark made no further speeches during the session.