The Pontypridd District Herald and Rhondda Valley, Llantrisant, Caerphilly, and Mountain Ash News. — 1893-06-17 (Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

RAGEDY NEAR CANTERBURY. Hermann Stoer' a poet, snit a young German lady, reputed to be his wife, were on Saturday found dead in Cookering Wood, near Canterbury, under circumstances which point to self-destruotion. Mr. and Mrs. Stoer, it seems, have been residing in apartments at Canterbury for the past month. They were very retiring, and spent the greater portion of their time in musical exercises and rambles in the country, apparently enjoying a very happy holiday. One would often meet them returning from a long country walk, carrying bouquets of wild flowers. Mr. Stoer appeared to be a gentleman in the early prime of life, and his wife was of girlish appearanoe, with her hair hanging down her back the last persons one would suspect of a desire to shorten the pleasures of life. Mrs. Stoer seemed fatigued on her arrival in Canterbury, a circumstance which her husband said was due to the fact that she had been travelling all night on her way from Germany. They went out but little for a few days. On Friday last, after a hearty dinner, they went out at about half-past 4 o'clock, and were not seen again. Letters were, however, posted by them which reached their destination on Saturday. One was to Mr. Oscar Stoer, of Upper Holloway, a brother, in which was conveyed intelligence of the deed arranged by that time to have been committed. Another to Mr. Gavazzi King, of the Leeds Express, who early in the afternoon wired to the police superintendent to search the wood on the hill to the west side of the town. Prompt action was taken, and on visiting the apartments the poet and his wife had occupied the superintendent fell in with Mr. Oscar Stoer, and an inquiry agent sent by Messrs. Day and Russell, solicitors, of London. By these three a search was instituted over tlte woodland to the west ef Canterbury. Fragments of letters in Mr. Stoer's handwriting w. re found at various points in Cockering Wood, and shortly before 6 o'clock the scene of the tragedy was discovered. On a little grassy spot, surrounded by underwood, on the crest of the hill overlooking the valley of the Stour, lay the dead bodies of the poot and his wife in -dose proximity. Mrs. Stoer was lying at full length with her hands crossed composealy over her breast, death having been caused by a shot wound on the left side of the head. Her husband was lying on his right side with his head close to her neck. In his right hand was a six-chambered revolver, and the death wound in his case was in the right side of the head. There was also evidence of premeditation, in that their hats, umbrellas, and a walking stick had been carefully laid aside, and a bunch of wild roses tied with crepe placed upon them. The bodies were removed to the "Fagg Arms," Chartham. In the pockets of Mc. Stoer were found a number of letters addressed to various persons in Germs,ny and elsewhere. There is also one addressed to the public, which, it is understood, will be produced at the inquest. The folltwing letter was received by Mr. G. W. King, of Leeds, from the deceased poet : "I am dead. I st,ot myself on the ninth of June here near Canterbury in a wooden the west side of the town. I had been four weeks in this place with my wife, who came on purpose from Germany to die with ,r.e. I leave proofs enough behind me to testify that I am no murderer—letters in German —which will be found on my body, and her family will also be obliged to acknowledge the truth. We lived under the shadow of death happily together from the twelfth of May, the day before my birthday, until the ninth of June, the day before her birthday—the time that fate allowed. We lived joyfully and peacefully, for we dwelt in the same 13.niom of nature, and separated from the stupidity, cupidity, and madness of mankind. Our pleasures were woods, birds' fields, and wild flowers. The hawthorn blossom and the bluebell were with us at first, then honeysuckle and the wild rose. Music and song were our occupation, with merry and earnest conservations in our little lodging. We were a harmony together, a tender and sublime accord. As the mountain stream meets his sister in the valley, we united and flowed toward the same sea, the sea of freedom, truth, justice, that are a name and a nothing on earth. Never was there a woman so noble as my wife. Never has her atm known a character so high and so purely human. Never was sweetness so softly mated with greatest strength. We are not dead of bodily lust, or despair, but of fate and conviction. We never despaired, and we died calmly. The reason for the act will be found in my words and her letters. She understood me, and lived in and through me. The on!), papers I have destroyed were plans for poems and plays, ikc. I leave what remains of me in your hands, considering you as the best and fittest person for the trust, remembering your friendship for myself, and some admiration for certain of the said works. Above all, I write as an hones,., man to an honest man. Yours I was in friendship From death to life, from star to star, My earth were here, my spirit far. Mr. Hermann Stoer was the second SOD of a Mr. Steer, of the firm of Stoer Brothers and Coles, inkmakers, kc., Upper Thames-street, London. The deceased was educated chiefly in Germany. He was of an intensely shy and reserved disposition. He had devoted himself for some years to poetry, and has left a number of poems and tragedies showing evidence of remarkable ability, but he failed to obtain recognition. In his last letter to Mr. King, previous to that given above, he was endeavouring to get a small work published upon which he seemed to have spent much pains. He held strong views on the right to commit suicide. He was a man of strong religious convictions. An inquest was held at Chartham, near Canterbury, on Monday. The jury returned a verdict that Hermann Steer cominitted suicide while of unsound mind, and that Elizabeth Stoer died of a wound inflicted by her husband.