TRAGEDY IN MELBOURNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9635, 6 October 1894, Page 5

TRAGEDY IN MELBOURNE.

A MAN KILLS HIS WIFE.

A terrible tragedy was enacted in a house In Latrobe-street, West Melbourne, on Sept. 29, when a labourer named Weymouth George Wash is alleged to have cut his wife's throat from ear to ear with a razor in a fit of passion. The couple had been married many years. It is stated that during the week Wash has been working overtime, and when he arrived home this afternoon he handed over to his wife £2, his usual wages. She inquired what he had done with his overtime money, and the reply not being satisfactory she became angry, aud, seizing a slipper, struck her husband across the face. A violent quarrel followed, during which, it is said, Wash knocked down his wife and kicked her. He then left the room, but it is alleged that he returned immediately with a razor, and, seizing his wife, cut her throat from ear to ear. There were lodgers in the house, and one of them rushed to the woman's assistance on hearing her scream, but on finding her lying on the floor with her throat cut, he went for the police. Wash was immediately arrested, and after being cautioned, he gave an account of the quarrel; and to quote his own words, he said "I went and got a razor, and cut her throat. It was in the heat of the moment that I did it. I am sorry tor it now." Mrs. Wash was still alive when the police removed her to the Melbourne Hospital, but she died on arrival there. There are two sous and daughters in the family, the eldest being aged 19. Wash is 40 years of age, and his wife was several years his junior. She was a sober, quiet person, but subject to fits. Wash is a native of London, and married his wife at Adelaide. The married life of the couple was not very happy, quarrels being frequent, owing to Wash's intemperance and his wife's bad temper.