EMBRACE OF DEATH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21530, 30 December 1931, Page 11

EMBRACE OF DEATH

MAN. WIFE, AND CHILD MURDER AND SUICIDE “ BURY US IN ONE GRAVE.” The identities of a mysterious trio —a beautiful, auburn-haired woman, a “ foreign-looking ” man, and a pretty child of eight—who were the victims in an astonishing death riddle was established in East Sussex a' few weeks ago. The trio were found dead in bed together elapsed in an affectionate embrace, in a bedroom full of gas at Woodlands Glen, a bungalow on the fringe of Forge Forest. The bungalow was “ Vacant and To Let,” and why the family sought it, where they came from, and who they were was at first as unknown as the secret behind their fate. A personal friend identified the three bodies as those of Thomas Isaac Levin, aged 40; Betty Levin, aged about 40, his wife; and June Levin, their eight-year-old daughter. Mr Levin arrived in England from Australia about three years ago, and had since then been earning a livelihood as a bookmaker, first on racecourses and then on dog tracks. He is understood to have been of Russian-Polish extraction and to have resided previously in South Africa; he had been living with his wife and daughter for three or four weeks prior to the tragedy in various private hotels in the West End of London. ARRIVAL AT THE BUNGALOW. A waitress at a cafe was the first to see the trio when they arrived in the neighbourhood the day before their death. Mr Levin carried an attache case, and his wife a bulky handbag, and they were observed to be very silent and preoccupied while they had their tea. From the cafe the three proceeded to the garage of Mr D. A. Scoones, where they hired a motor car. Under the guidance of the little girl, who was very excited and seemed to know her way, Mr Scoones drove them to a petrol station near the bungalow, where he left them. _ On arrival at Tinsley Green Mr Levin sought Miss Wigmore, the occupant of the next bungalow to 'Woodlands Glen, who kept the keys. He told her that he was a friend of the previous tenant, Mr Southgate, and that he wanted to take the bungalow. “I said to him,” Miss Wigmore stated, “that I thought it was let, and he said that he would telephone to Mr Mann, the owner, in London. I prepared tea for the three of them, and then the man came back and said that he had spoken to Mr Mann, that it was all right, and that the owner was coming down tomorrow. I accordingly gave them the keys, lent them sheets and other things, and showed them into the bungalow,” Miss Wigmore told Mr Levin that the gas meter in Woodlands Glen would need a shilling, and gave him one to insert. Mrs Levin, she thought, was upset when she heard that the bungalow had gas. “NO LEAKAGE FROM THE WINDOWS.” The last person to see Mr and Mrs Levin and their daughter alive and the first to find them dead was Mr Reginald Brunt, the gardener at Woodlands Glen, who helped to light the fire in the house. “The man,” Mr Brunt said, stated ‘ that fire doesn’t seem to be burning very well,’ and he added some papers that he had in his possession to the flames. When I showed him the bedrooms he said the first was draughty, but the second one he declared was all right, and he observed that there was ‘no leakage from the windows.’ I thought there was something funny about him all the time; he stuttered and seemed very highly strung. “ It was at 4 o’clock on the following afternoon that the police arrived and smashed the window. All three were dead in bed, the door, window, and keyhole scaled with putty and a quilt stuffed up the chimney. The man’s attache case had apparently been used for carrying the putty, for it was empty when we found them.” The gas fire and the gas bracket were full on. Mr and Mrs Levin were both in silk pyjamas, and the child had on a fancy nightdress. As if just asleep they lay together, the child in Mrs Levins’ arms, and Mr Levin’s arm around his wife. Beside the bed was an unsigned note which read: “ Our last wish is to be buried together in the same grave. Do not part us.” SPECIAL PRAYER FOR THE CHILD. The Bishop of Chichester, Dr Bell, wrote the following special prayer to be read on behalf of the little girl at the funeral service:— “ Heavenly Father, Whose face the angels of little children do always behold, and Who, by Thy Son, Jesus Christ, hast taught us that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven; we commend into Thy faithful keeping the soul of this, Thy little one, cleansing her from all stain of earthly life, that she may dwell for ever in the joy of Thy eternal presence; through the same Jesus Christ Our Lord ” On the little girl’s coffin was laid a spray of red roses from the rector of Worth, the Rev. H. F. Waller-Bridge, bearing the inscription:— “Jesus said; ‘Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not:, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ With much sympathy from the rector.” A murder verdict was returned against the parents at the inquest, and some doubt bad been felt whether this desire that all should be buried in one grave could be met. The rector of Worth, however, interested himself in the matter, consulted the Bishop of Chichester, and obtained permission for the joint burial. The rector stated that the bishop had fully agreed tluit*the child, being absolutely innocent, should be taken into the church and have the usual burin] service. While that service was in progress the bodies of the man and woman were taken straight to the grave. “I have not been approached for any Jewish ceremony,” said the rector. “ We are burying the child in the way arranged because we believe that we are committing her into the arms of Jesus Christ, the Christian Saviour, who, at the same time, was a Jew himself and the King of the Jews.”