SYDNEY MURDER CHARGE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 137, 24 May 1928, Page 5

SYDNEY MURDER CHARGE

WOMAN SHOT WITH PEA-RIFLE. EVIDENCE OF 10-YEAR-OLD SON. (United Press Assn.—By Cable—copyright.] (Australian and N.Z. Press Asen.l (Received 24 10.15 a.m.) Sydney, May 23. Miriam Merriman, 56. residing at Middle Harbour, North Sydney, was found shot through the head apparently with a pea-rifle which was found in her house and which had recently been discharged. Frederick Lawrence, aged 62, a nainter, living with the deceased for 20 years and claiming to be her husband, was arrested and charged with murder. He denies the charge, and told the police that the deceased must have committed suicide But the police found the pea-rifle in another part of the house entirely apart from the z body. Lawrence’s sister, who lives a mile away, paid a chance visit to the house. When she learned what had happened, she feli on her knees on the front verandah and prayed aloud for her brother and the dead woman. A curious crowd gathered with baled heads.

The police last night searched a long time before they found the ten-year-old sop nearly frantic at his aunt’s. He told the police he saw his father creeping along the passage towards his mother with the pea-rifle in his hand. His father gave him a two-shilling piece to clear out nuickly. The police have learned that Lawrence wa s mostly unemployed lately .and wanted his wife to shift to another suburb, but she was so attached to the place that she declined.