DEATH OF ORCHARDIST.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 257, 30 October 1929, Page 8

DEATH OF ORCHARDIST.

SUICIDE WHILE INSANE. INQUEST AT HENDERSON. An inquest was held yesterday afternoon at Henderson Valley by Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., into the death of Robert Armstrong, who was found dead in bis orchard in the morning. Evidence was given that Mr. Armstrong was a single man forty years old who had lived alone in a wharc on his holding of twenty acres. His father stated that deceased had been strange in his manner since lie met with an accident twenty years ago. He had been an inmate of a mental hospital. Dr. Robb stated that he had treated deceased for depression. Harry Warder, a neighbour, stated he heard a shot about 10.30 a.m. on October 2S. He went to Armstrong's place and found the man dead in the orchard. Constable George Rushton said part of the man's head had been shot away. Alongside the body was a double-barrel-led gun with string tied to the trigger. He found on deceased's bed in the whare a book with a mark at the end of a chapter which referred to suicide and death. The coroner returned a verdict that deceased shot himself while insane.