A TAURANGA TRAGEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7202, 10 February 1892, Page 3

A TAURANGA TRAGEDY.

TERRIBLE DETAILS. [Per Pbksb Asß«v <ation.l > AUCKLAND Fkb. 9. > Later news is to the effect that th( 1 remaining child, the youngest boy, is dead ' ?? that Mrß MuEro is rapidly sinking! , Munro, who has been in the police cell all 1 i day, has been howling, screaming and , j ringing hymns. Although he is conecious 1 of what he has done, he seems to have no idea of the enormity of the crime. Since the morning he has neither eaten nor drunk anything. This afternoon composing draughts were administered to him. He has been liable to homicidal mania for I some years past. Since he wa3 a boy he j has been subject to epileptic fits, and some two or three years a?o he developed religious mama, which culminated in such dangerous symptoms that he was sent to the Auckland Lunatic Asylum. After i being there a few months, his wifo yielded, against her better judgment, to the earnest solicitations of relations, and he was released fiom the Asylum. Of late j ne has again developed very dangerous symptoms, and has threatened the Jives of his family several times. The day before , the fatal deed was done he said he had a j sacrifice to make. Dr Eullen repeatedly ! warned Munro'a relatives of the danger of ; his being at large, especially to his family, but unfortunately no notice was taken of the warninga. In his lucid intervals Munro was an affectionate husband, fond mu 8 children « Bnd a most temperate man. The man Duncan Munro, the author of I the tragedy at Tauranga, oommitted the dreadful deed while Buffering from reJigious mania. The first discovery of the tragedy was made by a milkman on going round with the milk about six o'clock in j the morning. The family lived in a small I four-roomed cottage at the back of the j Presbyterian Church, and close to the j Waikarau beach. Just before reaching s the house, the milkman siw Munro on the I beach in his nightshirt. Finding that no ! one answered his knock, and aeeing the front door open, the milkman began to Buspect something was wrong. On opening the door, he Baw the eldest boy lying on the floor, just at the entrance to the kitchen, in a pool of blood, apparently dead. On going into the kitchen, he saw Mrs Munro lying on the kitchen floor, apparently dead, and battered about the head almost beyond recognition. Further examination showed that the other three children had been attacked, and an awful Ei^ht presented itaelf. In the bedroom the second boy lay, apparently slaughtered in bis cot, and the third boy and the baby were lying battered in bed, having evidently beeu sleeping with their mother. They all appeared to have been attacked in bed, and were all attacked in the same way. The fath«;r appears to have got up towards daylight, seized a flat iron by the handle, aud struck it into the heads of his unfortunate victims. They were all struck in the Bame way, the point of the iron having been driven into their heads over and over again. There were no marks at all on the bodice. The baby had evidently been struck unconscious ab once, as when found it looked quite peaceful, with its head on its right hand, as if struck dead while sleeping. Mrs Munro would appear to have got out of bed, hs ehe had a petticoat on and had evidently rushed out of the room either to escape the maniac or to protect one of her children. She was seriously mutilated; almost the whole of the back of her head being hammered in and the brain protruding; pieces of her skull being picked np on the kitchen floor. There are marks of a violent and desperate struggle having taken place, the fiidea of the room being marked with blood and hair where she had fallen or been knocked against it. The victims are — Grace Emma Mnnro, the wife, thirty years ; George, six years ; I John Hugh, five years; Alexander, three years ; and Lilian, nine months. The father's age is thirty-three. He was born in Victoria, but has been a resident of Tauranga since the year 1864. The two eldest boys lingered till about eleven o'clock, when they died nearly at the same - time. The baby lived till a little past one o'clock. None of them recovered consciousness. Mrs Munro lies in an unconscious state, breathing heavily, but no hopes whatever of her recovery are held out, and it Beems to be only a matter of how long she and the other child will live. After committing the dreadful deed the father wandered about the beach, round to the sulphur worka, and along to the strand, where he was arrested. On being spoken to he admitted he had killed them all, and said, " Glory, hallelujah ;" and when asked how he did it, said it was with a flat iron, and that God told him to do it.