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TERRIBLE TRAGEDY NEAR
FREMANTLE
MARIE MARTIN MURDERED.
Young Wife from France — Her Industrious Husband — The Wife Found Murdered — The Table Laid
for Meals —Purchases from Fremantle— A Former Threat to Shoot his Wife —The Face at the
Window — What a Neighbour saw through the Keyhole — The Arrival of the
Police — And the Coroner — Finding of the Bodies.
Out at Spearwood, about five miles
rom Fremantle, on Tuesday last, tre-
mendouse excitement was caused when,
at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, a
young Frenchwoman, Marie- Theresa
Martin, was murdered.
Immediately on the news reaching!
this office, a representative was des-'
[patched to the scene of the tragedy
for purposes of investigation. From
that can be gleaned of the terrible
affair, we learn that about a year ago
Marius Martin and his wife arrived
from France, and for a time he and his
young wife resided at Guildford. In'
June he .purchased a block of land at
Spearwood, and there the couple de-
cided to make their home. The hus-
band was
EXCEEDINGLY INDUSTRIOUS,
and was spoken of by the neighboring
farmers, for whom in the beginning he
did trenching and other work, as a
highly capable farm laborer. Martin
seems to have been disappointed be-
cause his partner in life would not help
him in attending to the cultivation of
his farm, and almost from the first,
their married life is said to have beer
very unhappy. On one occasion, when
they quarrelled, on the 2nd of the pre-
sent month. Mrs. Martin left her hus-
band and, it is said, went to stay at
the house of his brother at Mundaring.
Within a few days she instituted pro-
ceedings against her husband for hav-
ing
THREATENED TO SHOOT HER.
He was charged with ihe offence alleg
ed at the Fremantle Police Court, and
remanded to Perth, and here on Thurs-
day last the evidence was heard, and
the charge was dismissed by the mag
istrates who advised the husband and
wife to go -back and to try to live happily
together. Through the good offices
of "the French Consul, who had interested
himself in the case, a reconciliation
was effected, and the Martins went
back to Spearwood on Monday.
At two o'clock on Tuesday afternoon
Martin, called at the house of one
of his neighbors; Charles, Green, and
after chatting for some time he asked
for pen- and paper. He wrote on a
piece of note-paper some words in
French, sealed the slip , in an envelope,
and handed it, together with bis bankbook,
a purse containing a small sum
of money, and a receipt for £2 from
the Union Stores, Fremantle, to Green,
saying, "I will leave this with you. I
owe for a stove which I bought this
morning, and I want you to pay for
me. My wife has come back and I no
like it. I go away and
PERHAPS I DIE."
He now left the residence of his friend
and walked towards his own- cottage.
Alarmed at Martin's speech and strange
manner, the friend followed, walking
down his allotment until he saw Martin
enter his little one-roomed shanty.
Green telephones immediately for the
police.
THE WIFE'S BODY FOUND.
The discovery of Mr. Martin's dead
body was made "by John Colledge, also
a neighbor of the Martins. Colledge
was ploughing in his paddock when he
was called by his wife and Mrs. Green,
who had come to the house of her
friend while her husband was on his
way to a telephone bureau, which was
distant nearly half a mile. The visitor
told Colledge of Martin's strange
conduct, and asked him to see what -the
Frenchman was doing. They walked
to Martin's house, and found that the
door was locked. Then peeping through
a keyhole he saw Mrs. Martin lying on
the floor. With a table knife brought'
from his own house, he raised the
catch of the window, and saw that Mrs.
Martin was dead. Her head was' near
the centre of the room, and was
LYING IN A POOL OF BLOOD.
A blood-stained tomyhawk was close by
the body. Colledge also telephoned for
the police, and by 5 o'clock a motorcar
from Fremantle, conveying Inspector
McKenna, Detective Lynch, and
Plain-clothes Constable Young had arrived
at the scene" of the tragedy. After
an inspection of the body, the police
returned to Fremantle, and with the
Acting Coroner (Mr. F. J. McLaren,
J.P.) retraced their steps to the scene,
where an inquest was opened at the
cottage, and was adjourned to Wednesday,
November 13.
MARTIN'S LETTER.
The letter left by Martin in Green's
house read:—"I have killed my. wife for
what she has done to me. I will go
away and kill myself."- In the cottage
there was found underneath a bed a.
pair of dark trousers stained with
blood, and boots also thickly clotted
with blood. There were three gashes
on the dead woman's head—^one about
2½ in. long above the right eye, a
deeper wound an inch longer between
the forehead and the temple on the
left side of the head, and, across this, a
slighter gash. On Tuesday morning
the couple went to Fremantle and purchases
they had made at the Port,
packages of groceries, were found lying
beside the woman's body on the floor.
The table, laid for the midday meal,
bore cups containing dregs of tea, a
loaf of bread, from off which a little
had been cut, and a plate with two
sausages (one half-eaten) upon it. It
was the one room of this little household
—the bedroom and the living room
combined. On shelves at two sides of
the cottage were kitchen utensils and
small tins of pantry goods ranged
neatly. Everything about the house
was in perfect order, and the room was
quite clean and tidy, and there seemed
to
BE NO SIGNS OF ANY STRUGGLE.
Several neighbors of the pair assert
that for some time past there bad been
frequent quarrels between Martin and
his wife, Mr. Angus McLeod who
lives within half-a-mile of Martin's
place, states that over 12 months ago
Martin sued his brother for wages for
work done at Mundaring, and recovered
£300. He then went to Ms native
land and married the deceased.
Fonr months ago he purchased bis land
at Spearwood from McLeod, and since
then be cleared five acres and! cultivated
two acres. During the last six
weeks Mrs. Martin went to Mr. McLeod
with her husband and asked his advice
regarding the sale of the property, as
SHE DECIDED TO RETURN TO
FRANCE.
Mr. McLeod told the pair not to sell,
and Martin agreed that it was not wise
to leave a country wlieer he couid get
9/-- a day and go to one where'he had
been accustomed to receiving - 1/- a
day.. He often told Mr. McLeod that
his wife -had threatened that she would
commit suicide if she were compelled
to stay in Western Australia. .Ultimately
Martin decided to fall in with
the wishes of his wife and to sell his
property. One evening about five weeks
ago, when the pair were at Mr. Mc-
Leod's house, Mrs. Martin appeared to
be in better spirits than usual, and she
said she would be willing to remain
if she could visit her neighbors.
Mr. John Colledge, another near-by
resident, says that between 3 o'cloey
and 4 o'clock last Monda'y be saw Martin-
and Ms wife coming from the directioa
of tare Spearwood railway station
on their return from Perth after the
reconciliation..
THET WERE QUARRELLING,
and when they passed a wire fence on
the boundary of their allotment she appeared
to be unwilling to accompany
her husband further. Martin, thereupon
half dragged and half carried his
wife the remainder of the distance—
about 100 yards, to the house the woman
in the beantime uttering cries of
protest. Mr. Colledgc- also siates that
on Monday night he say Mrs. Martin
running (down a pathway leading- from
her house. The woman was crying.
Martin ran after her and brought her
back to the house.
Martin disappeared from his home j
shortly after Mr. Preen saw liim enttr \
it. , 1
THE.FINDING OF MARTIN.
Mounted-eonsta. , ;j:e Honner is to be j
congratulated on the alacrity he displayed,
for he started forth from Fre- !
mantle at 6 o'clock nest morning, and J
in about an hour's time, he and Rod- I
j
ger, the black-tracker, came upon the
corpse of the Frenchman, Martin,
swinging four feet from the ground in
a' spate ringed about with blackboy
scrub on the brow of the hill, and about
150 "yards from the dwelling. Martin
had evidently taken his own life with
deliberation. After writing out the
confession -at Green's, he wait back
to his hut, and brought therefrom the
rope found round his neck, and a step
ladder, which he had dragged to the
top of the bill, and set against tbe bole
of the tree, hanging himself on the
limb marked in our illustration by a
small cross. His attire was that in
which he had gone to Green's house to
j make the final disposition of his pro-
I P^ty. Death must have been slow and
agonising, for the man's bands were
tightly clenched, and the knot cf the
double Tunning noose had caught underneath
the chin, and had sunk deeply
into his flesh. The body was cut
down and removed to the morgue at
Fremantle, where the corpse of Mrs.
Martin has' been previously taken.
During the morning an inquest was
opened by the Acting Coroner (Mr. F.
J. McLaren, J.P.), and was adjourned
to 11 a.m. on November 13, the time
fixed for the inquiry into the death of
Mts. Martin.
Martin's neighbors, interviewed by 3-
"Truth" representative, speak of the
Frenchman as an exceedingly indusmous,
good-tempered, and intelligent
nnw-. He also seems to have made him'
sea: very popular, for when it became
known that his wife had charged him
with threatening
TO SHOOT HER.
a number of the residents of Spearwood
signed and addressed to the mag-
trate a note deploring the prosecution,
and declaring Martin to be a genie
and inoffensive man. When his
-M
wife went away Martin was deeply
I hurt, and he was prostrated when she
j first spoke of her intention to return to
1 France. He said that ether people
1 were exercising too great an influence
I over her, and that if they would leave
her alone, they woul-al be happy together.
He did not say she had been
bid :g him. Only she was
YOUNG AND FOOLISH,
and did not take the interest of a wife
in the work of hsr husband. Mrs. Martin
-was 23 years of age, ana her husband
about seven or eight years older,
and not much is known about their
history. He could not understand that
she could not bear the loneliness, and
did not know how to make more pleasant
and companionable those first
years of pioneering. At any rate he
was greatly upset at her disappearance,
and he confided his misgivings to his
friend, Mr. Angus McLeod. "I do not,"
he said, "know what I shall do if she
goes to France." She will tell her story,
and they will say I have been bad to
her. I should never be able to go back"
He was anxious to please her in everything,
and when she suggested that she
should have a hilf-share in the land
because the agreement which was
QTawn up when, she brought him her
marriage dot of £40, said she would
have half of all that was 1 his, he determined
tlfet the transfer of the property
should be made out in her name. He
made the transfer accordingly, but before
it had been registered in the Titles
Office she had gone he knew not where.
Then he was angr3\ and he altered the
transfer to his own name. Portion of
the trouble that occurred between them
' arose through the difference of their
ideas -what she was do to. It was right,
he said, that
A WIFE SHOULD HELP HER HUS-
BAND.
She ought io keep herself occupied
with light work in the garden, while
he, who was indeed very strong and
broad-chested, though a small man,
would clear the timber, or maybe work
all day in the garden. She complained
that it was not light work he expected
her to do..' She told the secretary to the
French Consul (Mr. PeteT Michelides)
that Marius made her cut trees down.
It is somewhat remarkable that the
neighbors do not appear to have seen
much of Mrs. Martin during .the whole
of the four months the two were at
Spearwood, or to know exactly what
was tbe nature of the work she did.
She could not speak English, and tills
was the reason why she could not
make confidantes of the wives of her
neighbors, and why she agreed in the
end to stay "if she could visit the
houses of other people sometimes." She
must have found it-awkward to apeak
through the medium of her husband to
everyone with whom she chanced to
come in contact, he having to act as
interpreter.
On Monday morning Martin called at
the house of the assistant librarian at
the Literary Institute, Fremantle, Mr. -
W. Raymond, and asked his advice with
reference to a reunion between- himself
and his wife. Mr. Raymond advised
bim to bring Mrs. Martin more often
to Fremantle, and to take her sometimes
'
TO THE PICTURE SHOWS.
He invited the two of them to come
at any time to Ms own bo-use, where
Mrs. Raymond would endeavor to make
things more pleasant for the young
wife. At Jirst Martin was excited, and
seemed te be smarting under the accusation
of violence which had been
cast upon him by his wife. "If," said
he, "Therese does come, back, it will
have to be on a very different footing,"
and afterwards, when he was calmer,
he said' he would go to tbe Consul and
see what his -wife would say. At the
Consulate Mrs. Martin complained that
she was frightened of her husihand,
that he treated her badly and made her
work too hard. She thought be might
kill her, because of.late he had been
"talking too much." Sometimes he
would say,' "1 am going to work and by
the time I come back I expect you to
have done so much," and if she had
not completed her task when he returned
to the house lie
WOULD BE ANGRY WITH HER.
The husband replied that he did not
expect her to work too hard, and he
wanted her to come back to him, only
if she did, she must not mind what
anybody else might, say, and she was
not to - let "the. others" come between
them. They went away together to
Fremantle on Tuesday morning, purchasing
the groceries and the cooking
stove, which was to revolutionise the
work in their little home at Spearwood.
* • *
LATER PARTICULARS.
Thedeceased Marius Martin, some 18
months ago, toy means of a civil action,
recovered £350 from his brother (now
at Mundaring) for wages due 1 . It appears
that Marius had done most of the
work in connection with an orchard,
said to be now worth £2,000, which
was in his brother's name, and that he
had worked under the impression that
It -was a? partnership concern.
With the £350 Maj-ius went home to
La Belle France, for a holiday, and
with the avowed purpose of finding a
wife. He was successful, marrying
Maria Therese and bringing her back
to W.A. with him. From this it follows
that as his £tay in France wks
a short one, his courtship and marriage
was a sudden affair, and it stands
to reason, that,.with £350 in a country
where, to use his own words, "a man
did well to get 1/- a day." he "did the
grand.". From these conclusions it can
be seen at once that his wife regarded
him as a successful and prosperous
man, and that she married
"THE WEALTHY STRANGER,"
believing that when she came to Australia
she .could live a -life of ease and a
luxury. Her disillusionment upon her
arrival here, must have been pretty
keen, for as she could not speak English,
and her husband proved to be oniy
a poof*, .hard-working foreigner with,
in reality, but few real friends. • Land
was bought at Spearwood, and they
started to make a home. Their marriage
proved to be a failure, in that no
issue came of it, and the little Frenchwoman
became awfully lonely and despondent,
and wanted to go back to
France. But this did not suit Marius,
and as an inducement to her io remain,
transferred the land to her name. This
expedient, however, had no effect, and
matters came to such a pass that she
cleared out and left him on October 2.
For over a week he did npt hear of
her whereabouts, and going to the police
he
"POSTED HER AS MISSING,"
and at the same time inserted a notice
in the Perth daily papers to tbe effect
that- he would not toe responsible for
her debts. Shortly after this, he heard
that she was at.Mundaring (where bis
brother rived) and he journeyed there
post-haste, where he met and had an
interview with her. At this meetin
he is believed to have shown, her there
the documents wfoereby he cancelled
the. transfer of the land' to her, because
of her running away from him. Apparently
out of revenge she instituted
proceedings against Mm for threatening
to shoot her fourteen days previously.
The case was heard in Perth,
and it was dismissed, there toeing not
a tittle of positive evidence against
Marius.
The effect of his arrest and the
charge laid against bim evidently preyed
on Ms sensitive mindi, he brooded
over it, and asked many of his Spearwood
neighbors what he should do.
Some of them say that he felt
"PARTICULARLY BITTER"
over it, because some of the papers reported
Ms arrest and remand, yet did
not publish anything about the dismissal
of the charge. In the meantime,
the French Consul and some kindly
French .people in Perth and Fremantle,
endeavored to bring about a reconciliation
bstween husband and wife, and
ultimately their efforts were successful.
The Martins returned to Spearwood
together , last Monday, but they quarrelled
Immediately. On Tuesday they
came into Fremantle together and
made some purchases, returning home
to Spearwood somewhere about midday.
Tthey lived in a one-roomed
house, and; it would seem as though
soon after their arrival Mrs. Martin
took off her hat and proceed to change
her clothes for garments more suitable
for their rude home. Those who visited
the scene of the tragedy immediately
after the terrible affair became
known, put forth the theory that in tbe
quarrel wMch ensued,
THE DEADLY HATPIN
figured largely, and Martin, mad with
pain, rushed from the hut, returning
Shortly after with a tomahawk and
killed her outright with three blows on
the head, after which he wrote the
words: "I have killed my wife for what
she had done to me. I will go away
and kill myself," which he left with
Mr. Green, the neighbor; before doing
so, however, he had changed 1 his pants
and boots, and going back to his diome
he took out the piece of clothes line
with which he commiiteed suicide.
At the post mortem which was held,
bloodstains were found o& Mrs. Mar
tin's clothes,- in. a position
would suggest that the blood
from the wound which she inflicl
her husband. Then, too, on Ma
himself there were no other marks;'
cept a slight cut on the forehead,;;
the usual evidences around .the neck
strangulation. The .detectives f onnd'
blood-stained boots-and ; pair of J tro t
sers under his bed, clearly showing
before he went to Mr. Green, and.;
fore he committed suicide, Marius,
sired to hide the effects of his wot
The post-mortem also revealed then
that although Mrs. Martin- had thf
deep wounds on the. bead, yet h.er :
was not fractured." The inquest
both bodies will take place on Nov*
ber 13 th.
To Inspector • -McKenna and tiio
police officers under him, Det L5
Plain-clothes man Young, and otbe
every praise Is due for the wajrwMeh
the dreadful- Jaffair was band!"
none Help
MARIE THERESE MARTIN,
The murdered woman.
none Help
"RODGER,"
The 'blacktracker.
MARTIN'S PLACE AT SPEARWOOD. Help
MARTIN'S PLACE AT SPEARWOOD.
none Help
THE. MURDERED WOMAN.
none Help
MAR1US MARTIN.
Who murdered his wife, and then
committed suicide.
none Help
THE TREE WHERE MARTIN WAS FOUND HANGED.
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