Click on images to enlarge
17 July 1951
Woman Smothered & Man Stabbed to Death In Double Murder at Kandos
A man and a woman were found murdered in a vacant allotment next to the Kandos Hotel on Tuesday afternoon. Police believe they had been dead for 24 hours before their bodies were found.
The victims were: Gladys Mines (38) a married woman living with her husband at Angus Avenue, Kandos, and Claude William Rogers (55) single, a labourer at the Kandos cement works, of Rodgers Street, Kandos. Mrs. Mines had a son aged 13. Police said Mrs. Mines had been smothered to death and that Rogers had been stabbed with a knife four times in the neck and eight or nine times in the back. Police cordoned off the vacant allotment and C.I.B. detectives from Sydney have searched the allotment for the knife. Inspector W. Crimston, of Mudgee, is in charge of investigations. Police were told that Mrs. Mines, Rogers and a young New Australian were drinking together in the Kandos Hotel late Monday afternoon. Mrs. Mines and Rogers were last seen alive leaving the hotel about 7.30 p.m. They left the hotel together, and the young New Australian stayed behind. The bodies were found by Sergeant S. L. Schaefer and Const. Wood, of Kandos, at 5.15 p.m. on Tuesday in the vacant allotment at the rear of the Kandos Hotel. Mrs. Mine's body was quite near a track which crosses the vacant allotment, and leads to the Kandos railway station. Relatives of Rogers reported his disappearance to the police at 3 p.m. Tuesday. About 4 p.m. a Balt migrant, who shares a room with the 21-year-old migrant who was seen with Mrs. Mines and Rogers in the hotel, reported to the police that a man had come home the previous night covered in blood. Two young new Australians have since been detained for questioning about the murder. Both of the men are Yugoslavs. One was detained at Orange and the other man was located riding a motor-cycle near Wallerawang some hours later. They have accompanied police to Kandos. The funerals of the victims take place today (Thursday), Mrs. Mines' to Rookwood, and Mr. Rogers to Rylstone cemetery1 .