A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11692, 29 June 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY.

v .The Stoke Newington coroner on May 16 - inquired into the circumstances of the double . tragndy at 46, Fairholt Road, Stoke New- •' ington. • The dead ' bodies of Mr. Alfred ' JAdams, a city merchant, and his wife were '' discovered in the house. Mr. Adams was ■ found dead in a bath, which was full of I water, and Mrs. Adams had her head battered in and her throat cut. • The discovery was made by two friends' of Mr. Adams, who had that morning received • ii'letter inviting them to call round at the house. _ ! According to Hemy Plein, Trebosis Road, Mr. Adams lately had been very depressed, both, on account of business worries and private money matters. Two months ago Mr. Adaias said to Plein, half in earnest and half jocularly, "It would be better, perhaps, if I disappeared." Inability to pay his last quarter's rent (said Mr. Plein) had troubled Mr. Adams. Then the coroner read the letter received by Mr. Plein, inviting him and others to call round at the house in Fairholt Road. It began, "My dear old friend," and concluded thus :— Do please look after my three dear cats. I should like them to go to a nice house, where there is a garden. Good-bye, dear friend; we are worried to death, and I feel I am not able to do what is required to better things. I should like my dear wife and I buried together. I dreaded to go it 'would break her heart. —Yours truly, W. A. AO/.ms." The medical evidence showed that Mr. Adams had,drowned himself in a most determined way. Dr. Hoskins was of opinion that Adams had held his head underneath the water in the bath until he was suffocated. Adams' state of health latterly had 'been very indifferent. ■ A letter, written by Adams to a brother in Leicester, contained these passages: "I am out of my mind and made mad by sleepless nights. ■ Do forgive me, I cannot leave her (his wife)'behind. Ido love her so." . The jury returned a verdict in the case of Adams of' " Suicide while temporarily insane." . Separate evidence was then taken in the case of Mrs.. dams, and after the testimony of Dr. Ho,skins had been heard the jury found that Mr. Adams had murdered his wife before committing suicide.