MELODRAMA OF REAL LIFE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 24 May 1928, Page 5

MELODRAMA OF REAL LIFE.

HARROWING SCENE IN A SYDNEY

SUBURB

WOMAN PRAYS FOR BROTHER CHARGED WITH MURDER.

(By Telegraph-Press Assn.-Copyright.) (Received This Day, 10.15 a.m.) SYDNEY, This Day.

Miriam. Merrinian, aged 56, residing at Middle Harbour, North Sydney, was found shot through the head, apparently with a pea-rifle, which was found in . the house’- recently discharged. Frederick Lawrence, aged 62, a painter, who had been living with the deceased for 20 years, claiming to be her husband, was arrested and charged with murder. He denied 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 body. Lawrence’s sister, living a mile away, paid a chance visit to the house. When she learned what had happened, she fell on her knees on the front verandah and prayed aloud for her brother and the dead woman. Curious crowds ga|herod, and bared their heads.

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