STRANGE TRAGEDY ON SHIPBOARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 89, 6 July 1927, Page 13

STRANGE TRAGEDY ON SHIPBOARD

DEATH OF A WOMAN A DOCTOR’S INFATUATION By Cable.—Press Association. —Copyright LONDON, Tuesday. | T~\E TAILS are to hand of an extra- j ordinary tragedy which occurred on board the steamer Crefeld at Antwerp, resulting in the death of a wotoian, who was formerly a resident of Sydney. These show that Norman Smith, captain of a tugboat in Sydney, was married there some years ago to a German girl. By the last trip of the Crefeld the couple left Sydney to pay a visit to the wife’s parents at Bremen. During the voyage Smith had to forbid Bachmann, the ship’s doctor, to enter their cabin, owing to the attentions he was paying to Mrs. Smith. When the vessel was passing Gibraltar, Smith missed his wife, and after searching the ship found her hidden in a cupboard in Dr. Bachmann’s cabin. There was a scene and his wife went into hysterics, flatly r fusing to return to her husband. She finally induced to go, and later the couple were reconciled. On July 1, while Smith was promenading the deck of the Crefeld, the first officer and some of the sailors seized hold of him and locked him up. A friend found and released Smith after he had been imprisoned for ten hours and told him that Mrs. Smith was dead, and that Dr. Bachmann was in a critical condition. The friend said that until he found Smith locked up he thought that he had murdered his wife, but was now convinced that Dr. Bachmann had done it, and then attempted suicide. Mrs. Smith’s body was taken- to Bremen, and Dr. Bachmann was sent to hospital. Consular inquiries into the tragedy are proceeding.