TRAGEDY AT AVONDALE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 302, 22 December 1898, Page 4

TRAGEDY AT AVONDALE.

'SUICIDE ..WHILE TEMPORARILY,

INSANE.'

CAUSED EY FINANCIAL DIFHCtJI* , TIES. The circumstances surrounding, this tragic: death of John R. .Stvcb licensee of the Avondale Hotel,, were inquired into yesterday afternpon. by Mr John -Bolard, M.R.R., the district 1 coroner, and a jury. The inquest \Vas held at the Avondale Hotel. Mr.John Potter was chosen foreman of the jury, and Constabel Crean represented ' the' police. Arthur Sty eh, son of the deceased, detailed how he had discovered his father lying- dead in the cellar, with a gun shot in his head, and Constable • Crean deposed to finding- a doublebarrelled g-im lying beside the dead body with one barrel discharged. Dr. Girdler was also examined, and stated that in his opinion the injury, was self-inflicted, and der.tr. instan-V taneons. The evidence of these.-wit-nesses was descriptive of the facts of the tragedy as reported in Jast evening's 'Star, 'and threw, no light on the motive or primary cause. John Abbott, financier, deposed that on Tuesday afternoon he had an interview with the deceased in a Private room of the .hotel. Witness ,toJd the ■ deceased that a bill for £ 125, purporting to be signed-by Mr Clark, of Onehunga, and bearing deceased's endorsement, had that day been presented at. the. National. Pa^k," Oriehunga, by the witness' sou,I.(and. was found to be a forgery. Witness, said steps must be taken to have the matter cleared up. The deceased gave no answer. Witness critically examined the deceased's countenance. He appeared to be in a dazed and dejected state, with a wildness in his eye. The, interview lasted about two minutes, and then the two returned to the passage. Witness said he sincerely, hoped Ihey would settle the -matter without further difficulty. He" suggested that his horse should be detached from his trap, which was w'aifring outside, so that witness' -son could come in. and they could calmly, discuss' the position. Deceased said he would send a boy to witness for the purpose. Those were the lastwords deceased spoke to witness. Witness and his son tookthe pony from the trap, and witness was returning from the stable to thehotel when he saw deceased come out of the back door and then go back again."Shortly after that witness heard a faint explosion, like the shooting1 of a cork. He was hard of hearing. He went into the hotel and asked" Mrs Styeh for her husband. She replied that she thought he was with witness. Prntling that such was not the case she - sent .a boy to look for him. A short - time after that witness heard that deceased had shot himself.

The coroner cross-examined witness upon his statement that the bill 'was found to be a forgery." Witness ex-\ plained that when he said that" lie meant that the bill was returned- by the bank \mpaict. and inai-fcecl In:<thb. corner 'signatureunlike.' .■

Win. ,T. Boylan. agent, also deposedto having an interview with the deceased on Tuesday, afternoon about: money maters, deceased being in a financial difficulty with witness. Hehad not threatened to deal harshly with the deceased. Their interviewwas interrupted by the entrance of Mr Abbott, and witness then left the room and never saw deceased again, alive.

The coroner in reviewing the evidence commented strongly upon Mr Abbott's statement with-regard to the dishonoured bill. Mr Abbott'said the bill was fovnd to be a forgery;: but there was no evidence before them that- such was. the. case. The bill wr.s simply| marked in the corner 'signature; tin-! like." The coroner thought that when a man came to that inquiry, and made the statement that a document of that sort was pronounced a forgery, he was straining a point to mak' the memory of the deceased look as black as possible. There wa-" -nothing" in the evidence to show that the signature was a forgery. He mentioned that fact in justice to t!:e deceased. On the question of vmlict Ihe coro n-?r stated thai iv> h!s opinion no man wiiii a well balanced mini! world ?">rtimit suicide. There were occasions when a perfectly sane man's mind might be suddenly unhinged by receiving for instance some new; whhh had given him a great shock and driven him to despair or rnge. Under such circumstances it was "quite possible for a man to becone 'temporarily insane and eomirit a rash act; which on calmer reflection he would never be guilty of. The coroner looked upon suicides as the result of all temporary insanity, and said he con-,, sidered that the verdict of 'felo-de-se' was a relic of barbarism. Self-pre-servation was the first law of nature, and for a man to'tn'ks his own lite was a sure sign that h's mind was unhinged. The jury returned a verdict of "suicide while suffering from temportrvj insanity, caused' by financial difficulties.'