LEFT TO CONSCIENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 August 1935, Page 10

LEFT TO CONSCIENCE

MAN WHO HAD WIDOW’S £B5O. LONDON, June 24. After having paid £B5O to' the husband of a woman formerly in her employ and then finding herself with only 1/7 in the bank, Mrs. Edith Falander, 82, gassed herself. At yesterday’s inquest, at Paddington on Mrs. Fallander, who lived in Colville Gardens, Kensington, a verdict while of unsound mind was recorded. Elsa Lady Cochrane, of WestbourneTerrace, Hyde Park, said that Mrs. Falander was her aunt. Her means had recently been reduced. She had been borrowing money and had become depressed. Montague Fredick Murrell, a dealer, of Tavistock Crescent, Westbourne Park., said that Mrs. Falander financed him in a clothier’s business, and last year she set him up as a greengrocer at Acton. He lost a lost of money on that. He had been getting money from Mrs. Falander, and she always looked forward to seeing him. Mr. Ingleby Oddie, the coroner: You mean you looked forward to seeing her? —No, she looked forward to seeing me. Ladv Cochrane, rising from her seat in court, said: “My aunt once told me that this man had threatened her.” Why should a defenceless old woman of 80, on whom you had no claim of any kind, give you over £BOO in •tlirec yours?—She s«xicl she wanted me to get on in the world as a business man. She wanted me to make good. I have a witness to prove that.

“EXTRAORDINARY STORY.” How did you first meet Mrs. Falander? —Through an advertisement in a paper. Murrell added that he was never actually in Mrs. Falander’s service. He did odd jobs, receiving no wages, but his wife received 10/- a week. Mr. Oddie: 1 suggest she allowed you to live in the house and fed you because your wife was employed there? —Yes.

Mr. Oddie: She did not have any ntonev left at all when you had finished* with her.—l do not know. Murrell repeated his denial of using threats, and said: “I am strong and healthy, and would not threaten an old woman.”

Mr. Oddie: I leave you to your eonScience. Summing up. Mr. Oddie said: "This is a very extraordinary and tragic story. Murfeli not only asked for money for starting business, but for dog-racing, and it was supplied to him by Mrs. Falander for no services rendered, but because she wanted to help him. It is a transaction which leaves a very unpleasant feeling in one’s mind that there was something wrong." Mr. Oddie read a letter written by Mrs. Falander: "I am sorry to ask you tor another £lO. I have just found out that things are not what they seem, and if I cannot get. any money, as I expected and hope, I am going to leave this life to-night. This is to say good bye to you. 1 should like to be ere mated.”

He also stated that Mrs. Ealamler's effects included £B5 5/- worth of pawntickets, as she had been reduced to selling her earrings, canteen of silver, dessert service, pictures, and lace just to raise money which appeared t;> have gone vo-y largely to Murrell.