MURDER ON LONELY FARM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15482, 13 December 1913, Page 2 (Supplement)

MURDER ON LONELY FARM.

SHOTS FIRED THROUGH WINDOW. AFFAIR A COMPLETE MYSTERY. 1. Ax extraordinary outrage occurred rei cently at Northbank Farm, Portincross, a ! little village on the Ayrshire coast, as the result of which a woman was shot dead, and two other people were wounded. The shooting occurred about half-past eight o'clock at night. The occupier of the cottage, Mr. Alexander Maclaren, who is a retired farmer, 60 years of age, was with his wife and Miss Gnnn, his sister-in-law, seated before the fireplace in ■ a room on the ground floor of their house, when several shots from a revolver were fired at them through the window, which at tho time was not covered by a blind. Miss Gunn was fatally injured, Mrs. MacLiren was wounded in the back, and Mr. Maclaren sustained a llesh wound in the hand. When he had recovered from the first shock of the attack Mr. MacLaren called in two collie dogs which he possesses, and going out of the house he made a search of the grounds, but could discover no trace of an assailant. He afterwards proceeded to the nearest habitation at Portincross, which he reached shortly after nine o'clock, and informed the occu- | piers of what hud happened. When he returned to Northbank, Miss Uunn was dead. In many respects the tragedy is of an extremely mysterious nature. Mr. MacLaren is unable in any way to account for I tho attack made upon the occupants of the j house. He, along with his wife and her j sister, came to the district only in .May last from Taynuilt, where he was engaged as a farmer. .During their residence at Northbank they became known in West Kilbride as being persons of genial disposition, and Mr. Maclaren states that as far as lie is aware ho lias not an enemy in thu world. The cottage is situated almost on the seashore, and is backed by steep dill's. It is a small stone building consisting of about eight rooms, built in tne form of the letter "'!'." On three sides is a small garden in which vegetables and flowers arc grown. It was from this garden that the shots were fired. Tho window of the room in which the tragedy occurred overlooks the garden. Two panes of glass in the bottom part of ■ the window were smashed, and part of the j woodwork was splintered by the passage of ; a bullet. " ; Recounting the circumstances which led up to the shooting, Mr. MacLaren said: — | "Miss Gunn went to the village of West Kilbride about three o'clock in the afterI noon. 1 went for a walk to meet her, and j about hallway I met her, near Ardneil ' farm. Wo came home together, and alter j the cow had been milked we had tea, The i lamps were lighted and a good fire put on, land she, being fond of listening to me J reading in the evening, asked me to have 'a night's reading; wo were reading when I lie were startled by the whole affair." i What followed was described by Mr. j MacLaren. He said : "There would be five ] shots. I got one bullet in my hand. It j struck the hook that 1 held, "and there is a hole in the board of the book. The j women screamed, and Miss Gunn got up 'and said, 'Oh, Alick, I'm shot,' aud fell I down. My wife said, 'I think I am shot.' I I got hold of my wife arid said, ' Lie down Jon the floor, and down we went. The I room was full of smoke." j Further questioned, Mr. MacLaren made j the interesting statement:—"My wife saw j the gun (through the window. She saw the I blaze of light and saw the pistol at the [window. ' Fall on the floor/ I said, and I Miss Gunn was just then tailing into my arms."' 1 During Sunday the police examined the house and grounds, and it was learned that a number of footprints had been discovered in the soft soil of the garden near the window through which the shots were fired. These prints were covered over with baskets to preserve them intact, and various measurements were taken. . Plaster casts of the more import-ant were made. In the room itself two bullets were found buried in the wall close to the fireplace, and a third was picked up in the garden just beneath the window. Sonio importance is attached to the fact that Mr. .MacLaren and his sister-in-law were spoken to on the road by a man shortly after he arrived from the station. No notice was taken of this at the time, and it being dark, Mr. MacLaren is tmablo to furnish any description to the police. With no definite theory to go upon, it is of course difficult to account for the crime. Robbery seems to be the only motive put forward, and colour is lent to this theory by the fact that the MacLarens were reputed in West Kilbride and district to be well off. It appears also that about tho end of last week Mr. MacLaren had been at Perth in connection with the sale of somo stock from his old farm, and it is thought likely that he may have returned to Portincross with the proceeds of this sale in his possession.