DEAD IN A CHAIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20823, 16 March 1931, Page 16

DEAD IN A CHAIR.

UNMOVED FOR TWO DAYS.

REMARKABLE DISCOVERY

A remarkable discovery was made by

Sergeant O'Dwycr, of the Campsie police, the other day, says a Sydney newspaper, when he found tho dead body of Mrs. Annie Moloney, aged 80 years. For years Mrs. Moloney had led a secluded life, attended only by a middleaged woman who is mentally deficient. Their cottage was clean and well-tended, stid the pair led a quiet but apparently happy existence. Last week a baker called, and the younger woman, who always called Mrs. Moloney "mother," said, "No bread to-day, baker. . . . Mother is dead."

"Eh!" ejaculated the startled baker.

" Mother is dead," repeated tho woman. Half an hour later the baker mot Sergeant O'Dwycr, and, entering into a conversation, cqmmencing-, "Funny thing happened to me to-day, sergeant," ho related his experience. Tho sergeant walked round to the Moloney household and in response to a knock tho younger woman appeared. "Where's mother?" inquired the sergeant. " She's dead," said tho woman quite cheerfully.

"Where?" queried the sergeant. Without the slightest hesitation the woman led the sergeant into a small kitchen. The old woman was sitting stiffly' in a chair. The sergeant called to her, then walked across and laid a friendly hand on her shoulder. He recoiled. She was dead. Sergeant O'Dwyer summoned a doctor, who made a post-mortem examination, which established that the woman had .died of. heart fajlure at least two days previously. ' The younger woman's unbalanced mind had not been able to- appreciate the significance ,of death. " Mother's dead, but she's all right," she declared with a smile.