Crime On Goldfields

Murder and Suicide at Wau

From a Special Correspondent.

WAU, Sept. 1.

ONE of the most startling crimes that has occurred in the goldfields area of the Mandated Territory, took place in August in front of a dozen people on the verandah of the Bulolo Hotel, Wau.

Without any warning Mrs. Elizabeth A.

Henderson, a well-known resident, drew a revolver and shot dead Mr. William Henry Hockey, who was a resident of Merri Creek. Then taking a razor out of her bag, she cut her throat from ear to ear and died in a few minutes.

News of the tragedy spread in an amaz ing manner and in no time people seemed to arrive as if by magic from as far afield as the Watut.

The following day three well-known residents nearly shared a similar fate, and only by the tactful handling of the age-old “eternal triangle” was a greater tragedy averted.

The men who were arrested at Edie Creek for gold stealing were tried at Wau recently. One received two years’ im prisonment and the other three years.

Sons of two well-known Southern fami lies, whose fathers hold high public posi tions, were deported in August—one for non-payment of debts and the other for a more grievous offence against the moral law.

Rev. F- O. Theile, of Brisbane, who is the directing force in Australia of the Lutheran Mission in New Guinea, arrived in Sydney early in September, and went on to Victoria and South Australia, on a lecturing tour.