POISONING TRAGEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21423, 22 February 1933, Page 6

POISONING TRAGEDY

MOTHER AND CHILD DEAD THREE OTHERS IN HOSPITAL Mrs. Eileen Escott Douglas, aged 28 years, the mother of six children, and an infant daughter died from poisoning at Tallangatta on February 15. Three other members of the family were suffering from the effects of poison. It was expected that two of them would recover. t Mrs. Douglas was the wife of Arthur Douglas, a miner. There were four boys and two girls in the family, their ages ranging from one to nine years. In the morning Ronald, the eldest boy,- ran to the house of Mr. Haiper, a neighbour, and told him that his mother had given his three brothers and one of his sisters a mixture, which she had also taken herself. , It is stated that Bonald Douglas refused to drink the mixture, and prevented his mother from giving it to the infant girl. Several of the victims showea symptoms of poisoning when Mr. Harper reached the house, and 'ths police were informed and a doctor was called. The victims were taken to hospital, but Mrs. Douglas and her daughter, Daphne Doris,, aged two and .a-half years, died on the journey. One of the other children was in a crilical condition, but the other two, who became ill before the hospital was reached, .were considered to be out of danger. The father was at work at the time.