TRAGEDY ON FARM.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20454, 6 November 1934, Page 4

TRAGEDY ON FARM.

Husband, Wife and Two Children Dead. MURDER AND SUICIDE THEORY. Per Press Association. HAMILTON, November 5. An entire family was involved in a shocking domestic tragedy that occurred at a small dairy farm at Horsham Downs, five miles from Hamilton, this morning. The victims were: Harry T. Rogers, twenty-six years of age, farmer. Marion Isabel Golden Rogers, about twenty-six, his wife. Barbara Rogers, two and a half years. Nola Rogers, ten months. The first indication that anything was amiss came when Mr Shepherd, a brother of Mrs Rogers, who is employed on Rogers’s farm, called at the cottage at 12.30 p.m. He was shocked to find his sister lying dead m the washhouse, which adjoins the cottage. Without investigating further he rushed back to get a neighbour, Mr G. M. Williamson. The latter went across to Rogers s cottage, and there found all the members of the family dead. Rogers was lying on his face in the bedroom with a pea rifle partly undeineath him. In the same room, lying in a cot, was the child Barbara, also dead. The body of the baby, Nola, was found in a perambulator in the kitchen. All the victims had been shot at close range with a rifle. The body of Mrs Rogers, which also contained a pea rifle bullet, was found lying in the washhouse. It was obvious that she was shot while engaged in washing. The family had been on the farm since last June. The farm is fifty acres in extent, milking fifty cows. The house had been erected when Rogers entered into occupation. Very Popular. Although qot well known in the district, Mr and Mrs Rogers had been exceedingly popular with all with whom they had come in contact. Mr Williamson stated this afternoon that Rogers visited his farm (about a mile away) at eleven o’clock this morning to return wire strainers he had borrowed. He was thqfri quite normal, and gave no indications of any stress or worry. It is stated, however, that Rogers was a man given to worry. He had been in a depressed state for some time and is said to have suffered financial worSeveral articles of clothing were found hanging on the clothes line, and there was another tub full of washing in the wash-house where Mrs Rogers met her death. Investigations by the police on the farm this afternoon point to the theory of triple murder and suicide. No notes or any indication of Rogers’s intentions were found. Mrs Rogers returned only a few days ago from a holiday with the children.