DUAL LIFE FOR 5 YEARS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 155, 6 August 1914, Page 9

DUAL LIFE FOR 5 YEARS.

WIFE'S SACRIFICE FOR HER CHILD. i i " A narrative of double life was told I recently at the; inquest on William j Thomas Hedges, thirty-six, 'advertising, agent, who committed suicide by poisoning himself with cyanide of potassium ,ax his rooms in St. George r « Square, S.W. - The she had been lhing . at Margate, aadiher husband had fptfgftjg down for'the-week-ends. ~~ She pected that.hej was living woman, as for son***, years he had spent the week-ends with liar* "--. j The coroner (Mr S. Ingleby , When did you begin to long time ago. He gave explanations, so far as oiie could gives*.- -':' I do not think I wanted to find out, because I have:a little girl, and did t / want a divorce. He gave me monej|*|||||| live on, but only just enough l&tel}jp»S§| go on with. I knew he had been mE|||||| a bankrupt more than a year ago. j'irijigl SECOND WIPE'S STORY. Doris Hives, Fort Crescent, a well-dressed young woman, said was a widow and had been living with Mr Hedges for five years at different addresses in London. ~"~ Did you know he was a married man? —Afterwards yes, but not at first. He ' usually went away for the week-end and in.the middle of the week he lived with me. The witness' explained that she left „ Mr Hedges and went to heir mother at" Margate Hast Thursday because he had I not money. He was very worried. She knew his' wife was at Margate. On' [Friday he called to see her and asked \ her to return to him. You had given him to understand that you were finishing the whole thing I—Yes,1 —Yes, and he said he would not live without me and could not. Did he drink to excess'?— Yes, very much. I had spoken to him about that, and told him that ai he had no money • I could not continue to be wi±h him. I wrote to him in London telling him that I could not trust myself with him again, and concluded, "Try to recover your lost position." He "wrote imploring me to return and saying:— .. "Wire me early to-morrow if; you x come. Everything is past between as,' good or bad/ For the bad" T 'take all' blame; for the good I give you all . credit. lam now going to bed* God bless you and keep you." ' k BLOTTING -PAPER MESSAGE. The coroner said letters from creditors were found, and there was ates oim from a firm of money-lenders threatening bankruptcy proceedings. Ov a sheet,, of blotting-paper Mr Hedges had written:— '' This has been caused through Miss Ada. Moore, of Fort Crescent, Margate, who lived iu Chicago as Mrs Jack Wad- • dington, and was expelled under the White Slave Traffic Act." Miss Ada Louisa Moore, a sister of Mrs Hives, said this was untrue and doue for spite. When Mr Hedges came to their house at Margate he tried to induce her sister to return with him, tlio witness remonstrated, and threatened to send for the police. Mr Hedges was so rude to her that she boxed his ears. He left threatening to "make it hot" for her. She had lived in Chicago, but left in a proper manner. The coroner said he believed her. He described-the writing as a "malicious document designed to cast mud at a respectable girl." It was apparent that Mr Hedges was at the end of his tether. Broken financially and threatened by exposure to his w,ife, while the woman..•--"' who had lived with him for five years had left him, he took the poison, but it ... is surprising that he should have used his last moments to vilify an innocent woman.

The jury returned a verdict of suicide during temporary insanity.