MOTHER'S HOUSE BURNED STRANGE ACTIONS OF SON

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 13 (Supplement)

MOTHER'S HOUSE BURNED

STRANGE ACTIONS OF SON

" I love him ; but it is mingled with fear. I have prayed to God about him, and I think He will tell me what to do," declared a middle-aged patheticlooking woman, Airs. Mary Truman, of King's Lynn, in answering a question put to her by Mr. Justice MacKinnon, at Norfolk Assizes. She was referring to her son, a tall, light-haired young man, Kenneth Truman, aged 23, a traveller, who pleaded guilty to setting fire to her house. Describing Truman as an educated and travelled man, Mr. H. R. Boileau, prosecuting, explained that in addition to being in employment he had received help from his mother, who had sent money to the British Consuls in Rome and in Berlin to assist her son in financial trouble. Eventually, Truman, having apparently left his job, arrived in King's Lynn to stay with his mother. She was not then in a position to help him any more financially. Quarrels rose, and Mrs. Truman went to stay with a friend. A week later she received a note which read:—

If you do not return now at once, I will smash and burn everything in the house. This is a threat.

Subsequently it was noticed that smoke was coming from a window of Mrs, Truman's house, and an A.A. Scout named Shorten climbed .on to the roof, which was burning furiously. He was able to extricate Truman, and undoubtedly saved his life, as he had been rendered unconscious by the smoke. Three Months in Prison In a statement to the police Truman confessed that he had fired the house by throwing lighted paper on to the floor, and using paraffin to help the flames. He had also damaged some of the furniture with a chopper. The son of a schoolmaster who was killed in action in April, 1918, Truman according to the Chief Constable of King's Lynn, Mr. H. W. Young, was educated at King Edward VII. Grammar School, King's Lynn. There he was often involved in " rows," but was not expelled. On leaving 6chool, Truman worked in London, France and Ger many. In the last-named country ho was employed as a tutor in a school under the exchange system.

Ho returned to King'B Lynn last November, and told his mother that he was £6OO in debt. Subsequently he took his brother's savings bank book and. illegally secured £6, but his brother would not prosecute. It was urged on Truman's behalf that he was subject to nervous outbursts, apparently dating back to the age of three, when he had sleepy sickness. His mother agreed that his offence was the result of sudden mental abberration. " That is how he does these things," she' added. " Apart from that there is a very nice side to him. If he would be guided by me, it would be all right, but he will not." In binding Truman over for two years Mr. Justice MacKinnon observed: " I am bearing in mind that you have been in prison for three months, but you must promise to keep away from King's Lynn and your mother's house." " Thank you, my lord, I will," replied Truman, dabbing a handkerchief to bis eyes.