DOUBLE TRAGEDY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20317, 27 January 1928, Page 9

DOUBLE TRAGEDY

MAN AND WIFE DEAD. HEADS SHATTERED BY GUNSHOT. {Special to Daily Times.) AUCKLAND, January 26. A five-roomed hSuse. No. 12 Raymond road, a pleasant thoroughfare leading down to Point Chevalier Beach, was the scene of a shocking double tragedy last night or in the early hours of this morning. Peter Gloss, a labourer, aged about 32, was discovered just before noon lying in the back doorway in his pyjamas with his head shattered by the discharge of a single-barrelled sporting gun, which lay across the body. In the front bedroom was found the corpse of his wife, Mabel Closs, whose skull was blown s’most completely away. The gun had evidently been fired at her from behind as she lay in bed. When found the body of Mrs Closs was clothed in a nightgown, and her hair was about her shoulders, suggesting that she was shot in her sleep. There were twin beds in the com. and Mrs Closs occupied the one nearest the window. The second bed, which had been slept in, was unoccupied. The police have formed the theory that the unfortunate woman was shot by her husband as he sat on his bed. Closs had evidently left the bedroom nd passed through the sitting room, emptying and reloading the gun as he went. An empty cartridge case was found lying in the middle of the floor near an open gramophone in the sitting room. Gloss’s body was found huddled in the back doorway, with the gup lying across him. A loop of string tied to the trigger was evidently the moans by which lie had discharged the weapon. The discovery was made at 11.40 this morning by Mrs Edith Croad, of Raymond road, who had called at the house in order to leave a novel for frs Closs, who had been ill on Wednesday, and wanted something to read. The blinds on the front windows were drawn, but on going round to the back Mrs Croad noticed that the door was open, and she was about to enter when she was appalled by the sight of the body of Closs huddled just inside the door with one foot pressing against the lower panels. It was a horrible sight. Mrs Croad was naturally upset, and ran back to her home, meeting a young man on the wav, and requesting him to inform the police. The next person on the scene was Constable Luke Spellman, who has charge of of the Point Chevaliei police district. Constable Spellman summoned Dr Lamb and Detective Sergeant Issell. The constable and the doctor examined the bodies, and afterwards made a search of the house f° r k note ’ bufc none was to be found, ihe house, a modern bungalow, was comfortably, though not expensively, furnished. The couple appeared to be n fair circumstances, and ihe tradespeople sav that they always paid their way. •Ins interior of the house presented the appearance of having been left unswept for at least a couple of days. A gramophone was open in the sitting room, and there were records lying about. Music littered the top of the piano, there was a pile of loose silver and coppers on the kitchen table amounting to 7.1 j *5 Jon ,S slde stood two undischarged 2 bore cartridges of the same type as that which had been fired Also, on the table was a flask containing a small quantity of brandy. A g c lean emTty jug, evidently prepared for the milkman stood near a small jug of sour milk or cream.

Tradesmen were evidently unaware of the tragedy that had been enacted, for while inquiries were being made by the police a small boy bearing a basket of bread came to the back door. Needless -to say, he was not permitted to look inside, and he left his loaf on the step, departing in blissful ignorance of anything of a sinister nature. In a corner of the sitting room there was an enlarged photograph of doss, obviously take a few years ago, showing him in boxing kit. It is understood that J he deceased was an amateur pugilist of some repute, having won the local championship soon after the war. On the wall was a framed photograph, showing him in the uniform of a private of the 15th Reinforcements, N.Z.E.F. A bookcase in the corner was piled with cheap fiction, and the decorations of the room were of a conventional nature. It is understood that Mrs Gloss was musical, this theory being strengthened by the gramophone and the piano, whilst one of the pictures was that of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.

If there was evidence of tragedy on one side of the sitting room, still more terrible was the scene in the bedroom. The appearance of the bed and its dead occupant is better left undescribed. An examination of the bedroom by Dr Lamb disclosed that the wardrobe of Mrs Gloss was scanty. Some of her clothes were lying about and there was a pair of shoe---, almost new and of fashionable shape, standing on the floor near the window. A red curtain partly covered the window, making he dimness of the death chamber a pathetic contrast to the glorious summer sunshine outside. Gloss was last seen alive yesterday afternoon. He called at the grocery store of Mrs Walker and obtained a bottle Bovril. His manner was peculiar, and Mrs Walker was particularly struck by the fact that he did not wait for a docket. Only the previous day he had called at the store to pay the family grocery bill, and on that occusion also he had made a similar purchase. “ I thought he seemed very quiet yesterday,” said Mrs Walker. “He walked in with a vacant look about him, and simply said: “Give me a bottle of BovriV took it, and walked out again. I said * Won’t you take the docket?’ but he had gone almost before I had got the words out of my mouth.” In common with the majority of the p<*opie living in the neighbourhood, Mrs Walker knew little or nothing about Gloss, but she was on friendly l terms with Mrs Gloss, who often told her little domestic details, and who was in the habit of coming in 'very Tuesday afternoon for a chat” “ She often talked about her daughters,” said Mrs Walker, “ and once sße said it was not the same for them now that they had a stepfather, fant I never asked her abont her first hnsband, and I know nothing abont Mm,” Mrs Walker said that Gloss paid the bill on Tuesday with a £5 note, all the conple owed now being for a few sundries. “Things have seemed strange at the house during the last fortnight, because orders for groceries were left on notes stuck in the door,” said Alec. Walker, son of Mrs Walker. “ Usually Mrs Gloss would come to the door with her order written on a pad. During the last two weeks I did not see her, even when Mr Gloss was in the bouse. The order would be left written on a scrap of paper and stuck in the door of a little safe near the back door. Some time ago Gloss used to tell me of his experiences as a boxer, but he has not chatted at all during the last few weeks.” The postman who passed the house soon after the discovery of the bodies said the couple received a fairly large number of letters. He had never seen either of them, since he put all the letters in the box at the gate. Mr and Mrs Gloss had lived in the street for some time. It is a remarkable feature of the tragedy that although Raymond road is a particularly quiet thoroughfare, with hardly any wheeled traffic, no sounds of disturbance or reports of a gun were heard. Even the neighbours next door heard nothing