SUICIDE BOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 78, 2 April 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUICIDE BOOK.

DOCTOR AND WIFE DEAD. A book describing detailed methods of suicide, which was found lying open on a kitchen table, was offered as evidence at the inquest on Dr. Francis George MacNeill Simpson and his wife, who were found dead at their home in Harley Road, Kampstead. Dr. Simpson was discovered lying on his bed, dressed in pyjamas. A hypodermic syringe was on a table near ■him. His wife, whom he married less than two years ago, was in the kitchen, which was full of gas. She had died after her husband. The bodies were discovered by a young maid, Miss Susan Pearson, when she entered the kitchen early in the morning. Gas Warning. A note, in Mrs. Simpson's handwriting, was pinned on the door, warning her to "•beware of gas." Despite the danger, Miss Pearson immediately dashed into the room and turned the taps off. She ran to the doctor's bedroom to call for assistance and discovered that he also was dead. Notes written by Mrs. Simpson to the coroner, to her brother, Mr. Walker, of Church Road, Richmond, and to Miss Pearson were found on the kitchen table beside the open book. The note to Miss Pearson enclosed some money and directions for housework. It also asked her to take care of a pet cat. The police theory is that Mrs. Simpson, who was devoted to her husband, found him lying dead, and, overcome by shock, went to the kitchen, read portions of the book, and then took her own life.

Friends of the dead couple said that they appeared to be happy. They were married at Hampstead register office in July, 1930. Mrs. Simpson was a widow, and Rave her name as Anne Garrodd Coleman, and her age as 42. She resided at Hove. It is stated that she has a son in South Africa. The doctor, who was an Australian, gave his age then as 49. He was the son of a noted Australian grazier, and took his degree of Bachelor of Medicine at Sydney, Australia. "Dr. Simpson had been in poor health for the past three months," said a friend. "He was a brilliant gynaecologist, and devoted to his wife. They were an ideal couple. I believe that his ill-health and the consequent effect won his work had worried him."