TRAGEDY OF DRINK.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12766, 22 June 1911, Page 2

TRAGEDY OF DRINK.

DEATH OF TWO SISTERS

MELBOURNE MURDER AND

SUICIDE

Details are to hand by the mail .of the dreadful tragedy enacted at Fitzroy (Melbourne) on Monday oveiling (June 12th), when a woman, Rose Russell, poisoned her sister, Matilda Ford, and then ended her own life by the same means. Though the body oi Matilda Ford was removed to the Melbourne Hospital at eight p.m. on Mon r day, the case was reported as one of death from natural causes, and nothing whatever was suggested by anyone-that, poison had anything to do with it. It was not till eight a.m. on Tuesday, when the body of Rose Russell was found on a vacant 'block in little George-street, between Gore and Georgo Streets, Fitzroy, that anything) was suspected of poison having been the cause of tho death of the woman. Then, when the matter was reported to the police, the whole story was unravelled by Detectives Armstrong and Jenkins.

Rose Russell, a married ■woman, about 30 years of age, who was separated from her husband, lived at .i 3, Little George-street, Fitzroy, with her daughter; a -child-•eight-years oi »p,«, Matilda Ford, her sister, lived a iew yards away,-with a man named .Charles Freeman. Both women were addicted to drink. Mrs. Russell was a strong, healthy, good-looking woman, but icckless, in her behaviour. /Though", she drank heavily herself, she constantly' worried about the drinking habits of her sister, who was delicate, and suffered from a constant cough. Frequently, Rose Russell had said that if she could not prevent "Tilly" (her sister) from drinking, she would one aay kill her, and kill herself. These threats, though having been made so frequently, at length were passed unnoticed.

Some time ago Mrs. Russell went to live in Sydney," but returned to Melbourne. She had a good deal of jewellery, and was not short of money. On Monday evening' a number of women assembled in Mrs. .Russell's house, and a flask of whisky was circulated by her, but she refused to give her sister (Mutilda Ford) any of it. She spoke or her .sister's drinking habits, and said she woulci cure her of them, if she had to "fix her up" to do it. '.

There were. present at the timrt Mrs. Russell, Mrs Silk (her grandmotner); Matilda. Ford (her sister), Mrs. Coloman, and Mrs v Middleton. ■" Tilly has had enough cfrink ? " Rose Russell said, "and I won't give her any "more." Matilda Ford then went out to buy seme kerosene, and when she came back <she picked up the whisky flask, and," putting' •some ,-in a glass, was aboiit to drink, it when Mrs. Silk knocked the glass away from her hand.

Mrs. Russell then said, " I'll fix her up so that she will not take any more." What she did then was not observed by anyone, but isoon afterwards Matilda Ford .fell on the floor frothing from the mouth. " Mrs. Silk went" to Freeman's house, and told him that "Tilly" had had a fit." Mrs. Colemau visited her, and threw a quilt over her,, and then rang for an ambulance, which removed the woman to the hospital. She died the same day. Before the removal of the woman Ford, Mrs. Middleton asked Rose Russell whether she had given her sister anything, because she had used the expression that she. "would fix her up." "Yes, I did," said Mrs. Russell. "I poisoned her. (She will never drink again." She then showed Mrs. Middleton a quart whisky bottle with a whitish fluid in it, and gave it to her. She then said, "I have done for her, Mrs. MiddletonV and I took fine care she went first. Promise to get rid of that bottle for me. Now I'm going lo follow her. This is .<&& end. Look!" As she spoke she raised a wineglass she held, and drank the contents.

Mrs. Middleton, who says she thought the woman ■-' was drinking, kerosene -to make herself sick, saad, '*■■" Don't Ibo silly,'' and knocked; -th c glass from. hor mouth, and spilled 'some of the liquid. Mrs.-Russell then^threw' the glass on the ground, and said, "I have tak en the same poison that Mr. Grant killed himself" with." -Then she ran out of: the house..- (Grant died from poisoning by cyanide of potassium several months ago.). She was not seen again all \ight, but as she often absented herself from home; no notice Was taken.

Inquiries elicited, the information that, while disposing of some articles at a jewellery establishment, • Mrs. Russell took a quart whisky bottle labelled "poison" off a shelf behind the counter while the proprietor's back was turned. This was full of cyanide of potassium. .This makes it plain that Mrs. Russellmust have put. some of the poison in the whisky which she had at the house, and let her sister drink it nnd, pouring out some more, poisoned herself.

The most amazing thing about tho whole affair is that the women Middleton and Coleman took away the bottle, poured the contents down a drain, and threw the bottle into a riglit-01-T.*:i>. They did this, they say, because Roso Russell asked them to "do away with the. bottle."

A post-mortem examination was mode of tho body of Matilda Ford. It showed traces of cyanide poisoning, but that made of the body of Rose Russell showed no internal trace of poison, though certain external indications pointed to the possibility of the poison having caused death.

Rose Russell, it is understood, made an attempt to end her life about ten years ago by jumping oft\ Vrinco's Bridge into the Yarra, with an infant in her arms. She was rescued by a constable.