The below is an extract from an e-book called The Dark Side of West Norfolk, by poster nickc on the King's Lynn Forum. "Information sourced from a multitude of newspaper reports with just a touch of artistic licence in order to fit into the book."
"It was on a Saturday night in August 1913 when things came to a head. George Ives left his home at around 6 o’clock in the evening, leaving his wife there. He was only gone for quarter of an hour, but when he returned Grace was no longer at home. George thought that he knew where she was, but he didn’t go looking for her. Instead, he hung around by his front gate for nearly 2 hours and his patience was rewarded as at 8 o’clock he watched his wife come walking along Arthur Elder’s front path. George kept his thoughts to himself and they didn’t argue, but Grace went straight upstairs and got undressed as though she was about to go to bed.
George needed to go out again, but he waited for 20 minutes and still not hearing anything from his wife he assumed that she was asleep. If you ask me she was just laying there with her eyes shut and her ears open.
George went out and it was 10.30 before he returned. That was when he discovered that whilst the front door was locked, the back door was wide open. Initially unconcerned, George locked the door, took off his boots and went upstairs to the bedroom. It was then that he realised his wife wasn’t there. George was pretty certain that he knew where to find Grace, but he kept his temper as he was yet to directly accuse his neighbour of anything and in fact could not even be certain if there was anything specific to accuse him of.
Despite the late hour, George boldly knocked on Arthur Elder’s door and was let into the house without any problem. That is when things turned nasty. Elder locked the door behind George and as he followed him through to the sitting room he locked that door too, putting the keys in his pocket. George saw his wife sitting in an armchair, looking very pale and unwell. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked, to which Elder replied “She’ll be all right directly and so will you!” Then he rushed at George and started throwing punches at him, very quickly blacking his eye and causing cuts and grazes to his face. George backed away and heard his wife screaming and groaning. He asked Elder to open the door so that he could fetch a doctor for Grace who didn’t seem at all well. Elder refused and fearing another attack, George made his escape through the window.
George was in turmoil, but he knew that he needed help and went to his father-in-law’s house in nearby Dersingham. His father-in-law was not at home, but Grace’s brother was there and he set off for Elder’s house with George. On the way they knocked at police Sergeant Bowers door in West Newton and he accompanied them, initially back to George Ives’ house to check whether Grace had returned. She hadn’t.
It was midnight when they arrived at Elder’s house and the sergeant told George’s brother-in-law to wait by the gate. He then approached the house with George, who knocked at the door. There was no answer so the two men went to the rear of the property. The back door was open, but before attempting to go inside the sergeant shone his torch through the kitchen window and could see straight through to the sitting room. From the torchlight he saw Grace sitting in the armchair and Elder lying on the floor beside her. George could see over the sergeant’s shoulder and exclaimed “My God, he has shot her and himself too!” "
That she stayed with Elder after her husband had been assaulted in the same room says to me that there was a strong bond between Elder and Mrs Ives. She apparently wrote almost all of the suicide note, and was looking "very pale and unwell." Had she taken a sedative? She doesn't seem to have been in Elder's house against her will.
Only Elder could have explained why he assaulted Mr Ives. The stress of the moment? Seems odd to have let him in the house at all.
