DECLARED INSANE

Southland Times, Issue 20524, 28 June 1928, Page 7

DECLARED INSANE

NORTH SYDNEY MURDER CASE. (Rec. 1 a.m.) Sydney, June 27. Frederick Lawrence, charged with the murder of Miriam Merriman was declared insane and will be confined in an asylum. —Australian Press Association. Miriam Merriman, aged 56, who resided at Middle Harbour, North Sydney, was found shot through the head, apparently with a pea-rifle which was found recently discharged in the house. Frederick Lawrence, aged 62, a painter, who had been living with the deceased for 20 years and claiming to be her husband, was arrested and charged with murder. He denied the charge and told the police the deceased must have committed suicide, but the police found the pea-rifle in another part of the house entirely apart from the body. Lawrence’s sister, living a mile away, said she paid a chance visit to the house and when she learned what had happened she fell on her knees on the front verandah and prayed aloud for her brother and the dead woman. A curious crowd gathered and bared their heads. The police searched a long time before they found the 10-year-old son, nearly frantic, at his aunt’s. He told the police that he saw his father creeping along the passage towards his mother with a pea-rifle and his father gave him a two shilling piece to clear out quickly. The police learned that Lawrence was mostly unemployed and wanted his wife to shift to another suburb, but she was so attached to the place that she had declined to do so.