DETERMINED SUICIDE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXI, Issue 8445, 12 August 1911, Page 5

DETERMINED SUICIDE.

FARM LABOURER'S ACT

What appears to be a case of determined suicide occurred at the residence of the late Mr George Mcllae, Alford Forest Road, at 10 o'clock this morning the victim being a young man named Thomas Mummery, a farm labourer, who had been in the employ of Mr Mcllae for a number of years. Briefly, the facts of the case are that Mummery, who it. may be incidentally mentioned had a wooden leg, went to bed in the men's quarter last night, apparently in his usual state of health. He was seen about at his usual hour this morning dressed in his best clothes. At 10 o'clock, on hearing a peculiar report in the men's quarters, Mr J. S. Bland, of Winchmore, who was present at the time, proceeded to the hut to: make investigations. No response being made to repeated raps, the door of the room was opened at about 10.30 a.m. and Mummery was found lying back on the bed, there being a quantity '■'of blood on his face and on the bed clothes that had evidently oozed out of a bullet wound in his mouth. He had a discharged revolver grasped in his right hand, and appeared to be quite dead. . „ ', The police $rere immediately communicated with, and subsequently Dr. Lyon proceeded to the scene of the tragedy and after a brief examination he pronounced life to be extinct. ' \ It would appear that the suicide had been premeditated, as a note was found on a table near the bed addressed to "The executors of the late Mr George Mcßae." On being opened, it was found that the note contained a stamped order in which the deceased author- ' Ised the executors to pay all money dueyto him, by way of wages, to his brother, who it is understood resides at Winchmore. The order, which had been-written in a bold and distinct •hand, forth that the date on which his wages had been last paid was August 1910. Deceased, who was a single man and about 27 years of age, is spoken of as -having been a. very abstemious man, and the only reason that can be as-' signed for the rash deed he committed is- that he had been brooding over the de.i,th of Mi» George Mcßae (his former employer), and the disposal of• the property, which was submitted at public auction to-day.

It transpires that Mummery purchased a new revolver in' Ashburton on August 1.

The body was removed to the Morgue at the County Hospital, where an inquest was held this afternoon before Mr V. G. Day, S.M., Coroner. After hearing lengthy evidence, the Coroner returned a verdict that deceased died from a- revolver wound, self-inflicted, while deceased was tem--1 -porariry -unsound-in';-his mind.