THE MIDHURST TRAGEDY.

Colonist, Volume XLI, Issue 9209, 28 June 1898, Page 2

THE MIDHURST TRAGEDY.

Owing to the interruption of telegraphic communication it has been impossible to obtain particulars by wire of the double tragedy which occurred at Midhurt on Wednesday last, when a man named Stumphrey Handcock cut his daughter's throat and then drowned himself in a well. Nowspaper flies to hand show that Handcock, who was a widower, and was a native of Kent, and for some time had been in the employment of the New Zealand Government as a ganger on the railway. The girl was 20 years of a;e, and as far as can be learned the particulars are somewhat as follows :— He got up at the usual time in the morning but remained at home before committing the crime. He sent a little 1 girl who had been staying with his daughter, away, and also sent some younger children out of the house, whilst the eldest boy he sent away to the dairy factory with milk. Then, under circumstances of which there is at present no information, nor, indeed, is there likely to be, he cut his daughters throat with a knife, which it ia said he sharpened on the previous day. The deed was committed in the bouse. Then, it is assumed, he went outside, and tied a piece of steel rail, about 3 feet long, to his neck, tied his feet together, and then jumped into the well near the house. This is surmised— to the extent that no ono saw what actually happened— but the son who had been to the dairy factory, on returning home, found his unfortunate sister lying with her throat cut, and still bleeding, but beyond hope of recovery. He gave an alarm, and search was made for the father. His hat and pipe were seen floating on the surface of the water

in the well, and this at once suggested a search there, and the fathers body was found weighted and tied as already described. It is said that Handcock had been suffering from influenza, and though a man who had been working with him says he noticed nothing strdnge about his manner, on the o'thev htfrid^ another. acquaintance who saw him on Tuesday in one 6t tfci f*Wt'otd, hotels, remarked that when he saw him, he was " going off his chump." Another account states that after the murder of his daughter flandcock wrote some letters, and then went outside, fastened one end of ft rope to the woodwork of the well, tied the other rddild his rieCkj and then jumped into the well; , Handcock was! a steady hftrd--working man, very popular amo'ngsl ,1??4 fellow-employees, and well liked by all with' whom he came in contact. He was in very fair circumstances, having a farm of his own of about 80 acres. The girl was first stabbed in the back, and then Handcock cnt her throat. Handcock left a letter showing that the deed was premeditated.