Daily News, Perth – 20 February 1893
A FATHER SHOOTS HIS TWO DAUGHTERS.
THE TREVENSON TRAGEDY
A terrible tragedy has just been reported from Trevenson, 20 miles from Northampton. Yesterday afternoon, at 3 pm, William Charles Glass, aged about fifty, a squatter and long resident in this district, shot two of his grown-up daughters dead and then poisoned himself. The alleged motive for the crime is displeasure at one of his daughters deciding to marry without his consent, and the other for encouraging her.
The greatest consternation exists at Northampton over the affair, and even at Geraldton, where all parties in the tragedy are well known. Three coffins are now being made for the corpses, and the Inspector of Police left by train this morning en route to the scene of the tragedy. There were no police at Northampton when the occurrence was reported there, and Mr Mitchell, J.P. dispatched a special messenger to Geraldton to bring up a constable.
Glass was a well-educated, intelligent, and even able man. He was chairman of the Northampton Roads Board and was among the speakers at the recent banquet given to Sir John Forrest at Northampton. He leaves a wife and a large family. He was always regarded as a headstrong, determined man, who could not be driven from his purpose.
Further particulars:
The Victims – Lucy Glass aged 25yrs and Ellen (Nellie) GLASS aged 19yrs.
Father:- William Charles GLASS, Mother:- Emily Dennis NANCARROW
Siblings:- Elizabeth, Harold Trevenson, Harriett Nancarrow, James, John, Joseph, Laura, Samuel and William
Inquirer and Commercial News Perth 24 February 1893, page 17
THE NORTHAMPTON TRAGEDY- FURTHER PARTICULARS – HORRIFYING DETAILS.
Further particulars are to hand concerning the fearful tragedy which occurred at Northampton last Sunday. It appears that Lucy Glass told her father that a young man named Thomas Brown, with whom she had been keeping company, was coming to take her away to get married on Monday morning. Glass thereupon expressed his strong disapproval of the match and got in a great rage. Subsequently, Lucy and her sister Nellie went to the well, which is situated about a quarter of a mile from the house, to which spot Glass followed them with a gun, and shot them both through the head.
The murderer then wrote a note, which he addressed to his son James, saying he was going to take poison, bidding him goodbye, and telling him not to die broken hearted, as his father had done. It is not yet known whether Glass is dead, but as his son James was coming to report the murders, he saw his father lying in ambush alongside the road, evidently watching for Brown. On his way down to Geraldton, James Glass met Brown coming up with a carriage and told him what had occurred, as well as warned him of the danger that was before him. Brown went away and has not since returned. Later Glass shot himself through the head on Sunday night, when being approached. The three bodies have just been brought into Northampton for the inquest. The bodies of Glass and his victims are now in the yard of Hosken’s Hotel.
The remains of Lucy and Ellen are in coffins, but Glass’s corpse is sewn up in a bag. Glass committed suicide on Sunday night, at midnight. Shea, the man who was accompanying Brown in the carriage, approached the spot where Glass lay, and as Glass heard him coming he said, in a gruff voice — ‘Who is that?’ and immediately afterwards the report of a revolver was heard. Shea thought Glass had fired at him, and so he ran away. The next morning he went to the spot with a double-barreled gun, and saw the murderer dead, with a bullet wound in his forehead.
Glass evidently thought Shea was a policeman, and was determined to commit suicide before permitting his arrest. The general opinion is that he was lying in wait for Brown. One of the victims was shot in the forehead, while the other received her death-blow in the back of the ear. The murderer must have been close when he fired, as the hair of both victims is much singed. The bodies of Glass and his two victims have just been viewed by the Coroner’s Jury. They present a horrifying appearance, the heads of both the unfortunate girls being a mass of clotted blood. Glass’s corpse is the most hideous figure imaginable. The face is all black and pulpy, and all its beholders aver they never saw depicted anything so revolting. It is more like the head of some monster than the head of a man, and every one in glancing at it fell back in horror. The case affords a striking example of how a man can by crime be converted, even in features, into a demon of demons. Geraldton, Today, 2.30 p.m. After committing the murders Glass wrote the following note and left it at his house—
To James, Bess, and Sam,-— I charge you to look after your mother and younger brother and sisters, and may you all be happier and better than your heart-broken father.
In one of the pockets of Glass, when the dead body was discovered, the following letter was found – February 19th, 1893.
To the Authorities : I have shot my daughters Lucy and Ellen, to prevent her marrying the biggest rowdy in Northampton, T. Brown, who is not only a prison bird, but has a mother and five sisters. W. C Glass.
The inquest on the bodies of Lucy and Ellen Glass is just concluded. The jury found that they had died from gun-shot wounds inflicted by their father
Moya Sharp
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Happy New Year Moya, thank you for all your hard work publishing these stories, I very much look forward to reading each of them. Kindest regards Lenora