GHASTLY TRAGEDY.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11597, 29 June 1905, Page 7

GHASTLY TRAGEDY.

An Invercai^ifl Sensation*

' Man Murders His Wife.

(Per United Press Association.)

INTERCAEGILL, June 2S.

Daniel Swan, a labourer, attacked his wife to-night in her house, Esk Street, with an iron and killed her. The couple Had not got on well for years, and latterly the murdered woman got a separation from her husband, and she and her children got a home of their own. Swan was afterwards received as a boarder, and from what can be gathered, was sitting at the fire to-night when he suddenly made the savage attack on his wife.

The children triefl to intervene, but were driven from the house by the infuriated man, who«battered the unfortunate woman's head with great ferocity.

Swan was before the Court some years ago on a charge jof . cruelty to his family, which excited a good deal of comment at the time.

The tragedy was ghastly in every detail. Swan, in an excess of passion, of which the catise is not yet clear, murdered his wife with a savagery that almost baffles description. ,Swan -is now in custody. He is about 50 years of age, .and has been a man of peculiar and uncertain temper. A prohibition order against him expired in March, and was not renewed as he had become, temperate. . <

To-day he returned from work at 1 p.m., and for the rest of the day remained indoors. He was quiet and peaceful iv demeanour, and after tea sat reading the paper by the fireside. His wife was sewing, and the only other occuijant of the room was the daughter, who was ironing. From all particulars, the assault was sudden and the struggle brief. A flatriron covered with blood seems to show that Swan snatched this up, thr«w his wife on the floor, knelt on her, and using the point of the iron with great force, almost severed her head from, her body. There was also a gash across the chin, and -a gaping wound on the side of the head which exposed the brain. There was no sign of a struggle. The furnitur-2 was orderly, and tlie woman's clothes were not disarranged. Dr. Snow was summoned immediately, and found life extinct.

After committing the deed Swan rushed from the house, but one of the girls preceded him, calling that her mother was killed.

She called on some "men standing at han6V"f o*" hold* her 'father, ""and he" "was seized and the police sent for. At the police station Swan was calm and collected. He told the police that when he did the deed he did not know vrhat he was doing. 9 Although the affair occurred between 9.30 and 10 p.m. a large' crowd assembled, and the news, spreading quickly, caused the most painful sensation.

June 29

Besides terrible injuries inflicted with a flafc iron, Mrs % Sv.-an's throat was cut from ear to ear with a razor which accused had concealed. Swan was before the Court this afternoon, . and was formally remanded.