DIES FOR DREAM GIRL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 129, 2 June 1934, Page 4 (Supplement)

DIES FOR DREAM GIRL.

PILOT LOVED IN SECRET. PHANTOM ROMANCE. An inquest was held at Paddington, London, on an airman who died for love of a girl. It is thought that the girl existed only in his imagination. Bengt August Skeppstedt, a Swede, aged 23, was found gassed in a Kensington hotel. A letter written by the dead man and read at the inquest stated: Dear Father and Mother,—You must now try to take this letter of mine as sensibly as possible. While in London 1 have got my English license and further training for what I have always supposed to be my future training in aviation. I shall now try and tell you why I have come to this decision. (1) Have not heard anything from the people to whom I wrote about my future post. (2) Have understood 'only too well that father cannot keep me and supply me with what I need for my expensive training. (3) This paragraph will be the most weighty for my deeision. It is concerning a girl—the most wonderful girl I have ever met. We have had many happy times together, but everything is altered now. I may be a fool, but I cannot live without her. 1sliall fly out as far as I can into the North Sea in older to end iny life there through a flying accident, which I have always believed would be my end. My last "love to my beloved parents, from Bengt. Typist's Advice. Thora Byrne, a typist living at the same hotel, said that Skeppstedt was verv unhappy. She advised him not to drink, as it was very bad for an air pilot. "He said nothing to me about a. young woman," she added. The coroner, Mr. Ingleby Oddie, eaid that this young Swede had evidently contemplated ending his life by accident in the air, but changed his mind and adopted the more popular method by inhaling coal gas. "It was evidently a love tragedy," said Mr. Oddie. He recorded a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind. None of his fellow guests knew that Skeppstedt was in love. His "wonderful" girl, they think, was only a "dream" girl. He had been heard to express his admiration for a girl aged 20, who had lived at the hotel, but he had never declared his love for her.