KUALA LUMPUR TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1176, 11 July 1911, Page 5

KUALA LUMPUR TRAGEDY.

MRS. PROUDLOCK PARDONED/

By TeleEraph -Press Association-Oopyriehl Singapore, July g. The Sultan of Selangor has granted a free pardon to Mrs. W. Proudlock, wife of the acting-headmaster of tho Victorian Institution at Kuala Lumpur, who was recently sentenced to death for the murder of W. Steward, ex-manager of the Salak tin mines. A STRANGE CRIME. Mrs. Proudlock, at about 10.30 o'clock ?b\ t n h n 8 i- nl ? llt , 0f th «. 'wgedy, summoned the polico to her residence at the institution bungalow. The police searched the ground, and at some distance from the verandah steps found the dead.body of Mr. Steward. A Wesley revolver was found near by. ill ft o cartridges had been discharged, and tho bullets wero lodged in or had passed through the body o Steward. Mr. Proudlock was dining '?> j. , , mght ' and ' according to Mrs. iroudlocks story, she was alone in tho bungalow when Steward, who was a friend pr theirs, called, and made violent advances to her. In defence of her honour she seized a loaded revolver, which -was lying near on the verandah, and fired several shots at close quarters at Steward, who managed to run thirty yards through the compound. She followed him, and shot again. Altogether five shots were effective, and death took placo immediately. It appears that the revolver had been purchased only a few days prior to tho tragedy, for tho alleged purpose of shooting practice. A strango feature ot the case was that there was no indication of blood on tho verandah where several shots were said to have been fired but it was stated that thcro was blood on the lady's hands and clothing. Mrs. Proudlock declared she had no recollection of what happoncd aflor the shooting, and the defciico was that at the time of the tragedy she was hysterical her mental equilibrium having been unset by Steward's assault, and that, she did not know what happened after she fired the first shot.