An Adelaide Tragedy.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6881, 20 January 1894, Page 4

An Adelaide Tragedy.

A tragedy was enacted in Sturt-street, Adelaide, during the early hours of Christmas morning. The author of the fearful deed i3 acknowledged by all who have had acquaintance with him to have been of a singularly amiable disposition and to have been deeply imbued with religious faeling. He had not been long resident in Adelaide, but what is known of his career since his arrival in the city is of a most favorable character; while those who have known him for many years in the country district from which he came had nothing but good to say of him. Harry Oxley was by no means poor, his wife was loving and frugal, his three children— a bright boy aud two little girla— were pretty and intelligent ; yet without any apparent motive he arose in the dim dawn of Christmas Day, and with a heavy tomahawk battered in the skulls of all. His strokes were evidently swift and strong and sure, and the deliberate opinion of the medical men who have viewed the mutilated corpses is that death in every ease must have been immediate. Oxley, who had lived near Narracoorte for about ten years, recently came to Adelaide and purchased a greengrocer's shop at the corner of Hobson-place and Sturt-street. He entered into possession of tho property a week ago, and the neighbors with whom he held converse are strongly of opinion that the unsatisfactory state of the business and the disappointingly small returns so preyed upon his mind as to drive him into the | depths of despondency and despair. Oxley considered himself to be ruined beyond hope of recovery, and bereft of the means of keeping his family in the comfort which he desirad that they should enjoy. The evidence suggests that in an acute attack of melancholia, brought on by repeatedly detailing his troubles to his neighbors, Oxley, finding the means at hand and his victims in deep sleep, rapidly killed them and then committed suicide. It is impossible to ascertain who was the earliest victim, but it is safe to conjecture that in each case the first blow inflicted a stupefying and fatal effect, or else a cry of pain and terror would have roused the slumberers and alarmed the neighbours. A strongest affection seems to have then existed in tha family. A Mrs Day, who had been helping iu the shop during the week, expressed to Mrs Jones, a neighbour, her great admiration of the manner in which the family lived and worked together, and speaks in the most unqualified terms of the love which existed between its members. The murders appear to have been committed with a tomahawk and a razor. When the police were sent to guard the premises, a tomahawk besmeared with blood was found on the floor near the sofa on which the dead boy was lying, and from the cold right hand of Oxley a razor was taken. The heads of the children were battered in as if by the former weapon, and in every case the brains protruded out of a gaping wound. The head of Mrs Oxley was also smashed in, and her throat had been cut almost from ear to ear. The bodies of the two girls were on a bed at the foot of that usually occupied by Oxley and his wife. The boy lay on an improvised sofa bed in the dining room. Oxley had evidently cut his own throat when standing in front of the fire-place, where there was a large pool of blood. He had then struggled to tho bed, probably with the idea of breathing his last beside his His strength must have failed a couch, with one H^^^^HBb^/"«-e he died. A ~>ved by

At Chicago there are 1500 places where the lines cross the streets, interrupting the traffic and endangering the lives of citizens There are also miles of street which are occupied by the lines. Under an ordinance passed unanimously by the City Council, a suit has now been brought against one of the companies to compel it toremove its raita. The ordnance requires the companies to elevate their lines in the heart of the city by January 1, 1895. This would be an undertaking of great magnitude, the termini being in the oldest part of the city, and is likely to meet with stubborn resistance. According to the Chicago papers there have been over 100 deaths at level crossings during the first seven months of this year. The average duration of life in India is 24 years. In England it is 44 years. The annual consumption of tea in England per parson comes to a little more than five pounds. " This signing of the minutes by all the Trustees seems an unnecessary formality," said the Chairman at a meeting of the Town Lands Trust. "Ifc is handed down from ancient times," gravely replied the clerk, and the members present meekly signed.— Wairarapa Daily.