NURSE KILLED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 543, 27 August 1932, Page 22 (Supplement)

NURSE KILLED.

A FATHER’S DEED. SUICIDE FOLLOWS. OPPOSED TO MARRIAGE. A father’s bitter opposition to his daughter’s engagement lies behind a double tragedy which occurred at the Chiswick and Ealing Isolation Hospital, South Ealing Road. London, last month. John Armstrong, retired Army captain, living in St. Helens, Lancashire, went to the hospital, where his daughter, Sybil Annette, was a probationer nurse, and shot her dead with a Service revolver. He then shot himself through the head, inflicting a wound from which he died. Miss Ida Gregory, the matron of the hospital, who witnessed the tragedy, bravely struggled with the man, and she was shot in the left forearm. Although Miss Gregory’s wound was serious enough to necessitate an operation, she was reported free from danger. Photograph Shot Through. Armstrong had visited the hospital to try to dissuade his daughter from marr.ying a man to whom she had become engaged. John Bambrick, aged 23, of W inchester Street, Pimlico. The father fired four shots at his daughter, and one ol them pierced her sweetheart s jjliotograph. The young couple were to have been married on August 8. Armstrong was 53 years of age, and his home was in Doulton Street, St. Helens. Of recent years he had been employed as a tailor. All the members of his family are accomplished musicians. Annette, oi' Sybil, as she was called, was a member oi the St. Helens Amateur Orchestral Society, in which she played the violoncello. When she left the town to become a nurse in London, the father was heard to say: “ Now my girl has gone I will sell up all my musical instruments, and give it all up.” _ _ . Armstrong, who is described as having been of a jealous and somewhat violent temper, is stated to have threatened to shoot a St. Helens man with whom his daughter was friendly several years ago. Arrival at Hospital. Armstrong arrived unexpectedly at the hospital soon after one o’clock, and asked Miss Gregory, the matron, for permission to see his daughter. He appeared to be perfectly rational and normal, and was shown into a waiting room adjoining the matron’s room. The daughter, however, was afraid to see him alone, and Miss Gregory accompanied her. The father affectionately kissed his daughter, and then pleaded with her not to get married. She replied firmly that she could not change her mind, and that she did not wish to discuss the subject further. A stormy scene followed, during which Armstrong accused his daughter of callousness to her parents. “ You shall never marry him,” he exclaimed, and, drawing a sixchambered service revolver from his pocket, fired four shots at her. As soon as the first shot was fired Miss Gregory caught hold of the man and tried to wrest the revolver from his grasp, but he continued firing shots in quick succession. Miss Gregory seized the man round the neck, but he was too strong for her, and while she was still trying to overpower him he pointed the revolver at his own head and shot himself through the right temple. The bullet passed through his brain, emerged from the left side, and Struck Miss Gregory’* left forearm just above the wrist. The bullet narrowly missed an artery. One of the bones was i fractured aud the flesh badly lacerated.

Four other men who received sentences calling for the “ cat ” or birching were concerned in the hold-up of a cashier and secretary at Stratford. The men, who appeared at the Old Bailey, were: —Charles Norman Ross, aged 26, baker, three years' penal servitude and 12 strokes with the cat.” Patrick Frederick Moore, aged 23, cook, 18 months’ hard labour and 12 strokes with the " cat.’’ John Albert Rodpath, aged 18, labourer, 12 months in the second division and 18 strokes with the birch. Hurry Bond, aged 21, litter, 12 months in the second division and 18 strokes with the birch. Frederick Stewart, aged 24, labourer, who pleaded guilty to receiving only, was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment in the second division. William Spriggs and John Salmon, two other youths, were ordered the birch—ls strokes each—for robbery with violence from a Hampstead woman. They appeared at the Old Bailey. Spriggs al.so received a sentence of 14 months' and. Salmon 11 months’ imprisonment in the second division.

inn offers as many attractions and far greater security from interference. One of these “road-houses,” not far from London, is not licensed to sell liquor. It poses as a roadside tearoom purveying light refreshments, and it is run by women. Ostensibly, tea, coffee and soft drinks only are supplied. Actually, it is not only possible, but easy, to obtain any kind of wine or liquor (no beer) at all hours of the day and most of the night if one is known or vouched for. The two main rooms of the .place are arranged in cubicles which are discreetly curtained. Visiting couples find themselves ushered into one of these cubicles and with the curtains drawn they arc free to partake of wine or spirits screened from the gaze of prying eyes. The cubicles are arranged with every concern for the comfort of patrons, for they are furnished with luxurious divans, low Oriental tables and thick rugs. ‘teain bored solitude. The waitresses—six of