MURDER AND SUICIDE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16547, 22 November 1915, Page 2

MURDER AND SUICIDE

EFFECT OF ALCOHOLISM

Press Association—By Telegraphs—Copyright.

SYDNEY, November 20.

At the inquest on the bodies of Mr and Airs Braun a letter written by Braun was read. In it he bitterly complained of threats by other soldiers, and that they were repeated when he was in hospital and on the voyage home from Egypt, because he was allegedly a German spy. This led to heavy drinking on his -part and an attempt at suicide, resulting in his temporary incarceration in an asylum. The medical evideiice showed that Braun's mental trouble was due to alcoholism. , The verdict was that Braun cut his wife's and his own throat. A' boy named Braun, living at Botany, on returning home from school on November 12, discovered his- mother with her head almost severed, and his father alongside with his throat cut and a razor in his hand. Both were dead. Braun was a soldier, who had recently been invalided from Egypt, and since his return the couple had frequently quarrelled.