SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT SYDNEX.

Otago Witness, Issue 956, 16 May 1889, Page 14

SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT SYDNEX.

, SIJHSHf.;;: ; MURDER OP A WIFE iANP|GMLD;' \ SUICIDE OF THE MURDEEERj; A shocMhg' tragedy I Occurred at Pytmbnt,7.: t, New South' Wales, on the afternoon of -thef4th Vi ; inst., when a young man'named RalpbManahau killed <his wife' and his son,- threefyeawij.oU, , named Isadore, and then committed suicide. It. „ appears that Manahan, whowaß»3o yea^Bjof Age, - t ( was a native of Jamaica. He, had a violent, and , Capricious temper, and frequently m-naedjslft, wife, a'younjf.ani g|w , couple had been marriedonly four yearis, having spent most of that time in Queensland, wHere ' they married.'- They had been living in a cottage ' ' in, ;Allen street, wherS the! tragedy. occurredi <!; with Mrs Moses; the mother of Mre Mahahan, < during' the past 12 months, and the relations' '•< between the parties in this house appear to hav4> <.(, been anything • but happy. t> Manahan,'who was a' commercial traveller, and ! was: a i Sober, ■ careful business man,;llJre);urn€!d,..from ,«,*; visit' to Newcastle a day;,or- two ago, 'bu.^, . nothing.occurred until,,yesterday moi^nin^. Shortly before noon a r n'eighbouri who W»s'% the dining room, stated that he then went to the. sofa where his son was lying ill, kifised himl, and} jqined his wife, who was playing on the pi/ind.'. Afteri a few moments', conversation' between!' ' them jtwo pistol reports- were heard,: accompanied by a piercing shriek from Mrs Manahftnt ■ The nusband ithen entered the dining room with' a revolver in his hand, and the neighbour; who- . had'been in that apartment made net,esoapejo, Mrs Moses was coming down stairs after, hear* j ing. 1 ttie reports when she; met Manahap,(who „ pointed the. revolver at her, an^d .she, ruajied , baoK fo v the bedroom'for shelter. Another \t& t ,' port/ was heard, possibly being that of, the shot, .whichlkilled the boy Isidore^ Twb father shotil', , were subsequently fired, completing the work' of murder arid suicide. The' 1 body !of the boy waa; found'lying oti the'Sdfa, with a w6und» in the right' temple, the bullet > having ipasieii through' his. head, and 1 bulged out :of the skull on the oppositeflide. On the floor in the,.front v , room lay, the bodies of Manahan and his wife»; , the former still; breathing; but almo^t.^ead from/(,, the eflWs,pf a wound at the, back of tjhe right ear. He lingered only a short time. MrsMana* hari wlaa,quite dead, with three, distinct w(oundß|, ; onefjri ihe middle of the forehead,' a aeqqnd in , the right temple, and a third in the right cheek.' The bodies, lay in great pools of bldod,':Jiiid'bo«' •' ,tween| them in the middle of the robm|was'rij&c« chambered revolver'of the.'ordinary make. 1 • A letter was found ori the body of Manahaoi' - whichj showed clearly that he had fully pre- . meditated the taking, of "the Uves of hiswite and child, and then committing suicide. .■ He Wrote tO:Mr,Moseß(and to friends attribut- , ing the.whole,of his domesticunhappinesfi to , the-interference of hia . mo]fchei>;in-Ia^ v ..^e,, stated ,that he,was, unable to gejb Ips ,w]^eio <(; loaveher motherland he.thought';it better,^ J;, kill her and the boy ana then 1 dp away with himself. In one letter he giv;e olfear .'instructions'for the' funeral krrahgemen.fsj which he wished to have carried' oufrwithliidne^whicu' he ha& left on the previously' with a friend f6r' < the purpose of paying' the burial eslpehsei, and he spike in. the^mqst 'cold-blooded fashion of ibis > ■ ■ desire that they should all be;put in 1 one hole.^.. In these letters Manahan professes-the greatest ■ > love for his wife, who, however, , had; been. estraiigef} ' from him through her. mother.,, iHe < also refers Ito some improper^ conduct on tha • part 6i m wife at Townsville, and he'.Bpeaka of "Death.before dishonour." , | „;,.,/ i