Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Monday 20 November 1911, page 4


TRAGEDY AT MACKAY.

FAMILY ANNIHILATED

WOMAN AND FIVE CHILDREN

MURDERED.

TELEPHONE WIRES CUT.

MACKAY, November 19

A terrible tragedy occurred at Alligator Creek, between Mackay and Plane Cieek, some time on Friday afternoon, when a woman named Ching and her three children were murdered. It .appears that her hus-band went to Plane Creek on business and when he returned he found that his wife and three children had been murder-ed, and two other children were missing. All were found together in the front room. His wife had been shot in the neck and horribly mutilated; his daughter Maud, aged 17 years, was also shot in the neck; and two children, a boy aged 5, and a baby girl, a year and eight months old, had their heads bashed in, and the brains protruding The house where the victims resided is built of iron, with three rooms, and is situated three miles on the Plane Creek side of Alligator Creek. When the husband sent word by messenger to Plane Creek, it was found, when trying to communicate with town, that the tele-phone wires had been cut, and this is put down to the work of the murderer. The bodies of the four victims were taken to Plane Creek on Saturday afternoon by train, and the remains were buried there,

Later

Later news states that the bodies of the two missing children have been found about three-quarters of a mile away from the house, in what is known as the wood paddock. The girl Dolly, about 8 years of age, was shot under the ear, and her skull bashed in, and the boy, Teddy, aged 10 years, was also shot in the head. Their school bags were found on the kit-chen table. They were seen coming home from school, and it is thought that the murderer enticed them and did them to death. The bodies of the two children were buried next to the others in the Plane Creek cemetery this after-

noon.

The police and black trackers have the matter in hand, and it is reported that they have some evidence on which to

make an arrest.