Tried To Stop A Suicide

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 189, 12 August 1939, Page 9 (Supplement)

Tried To Stop A Suicide

A WOMAN hurried across the courtroom In Ramsgate, England, to kiss a 14-year-old girl. That kiss was her tribute to a heroine ... a tribute to a child who courageously tried to save the woman's brother-in-law from a horrible death. The girl—l4-year-old Gloria Rose Kempster—had valiantly struggled with the man 60ft above the beach as he tried to hurl himself over the cliffs. It was only when she was herself in grave danger of crashing with him to destruction that she let go her hold. At the inquest on the man—Griffith John Oswald Thomas, acred 29, —Gloria, who had arrived a fortnight before from Birmingham, told a graphic story. She told how she went for a wpik after her mother had gone to work, and saw Thomas lean his bicycle against the railings. <®>

"He climbed over the railings." she said, "and stood on the edge of the cliff. 1 thought he was to jump over. I got hold of his coat and then his hand. "I said to him, 'Come back; it is dangerous.' He did not speak to me. I held on to his coat, but he palled avay from me and dived head first over the top. "I turned away and heard him crash to the bottom. I heard a dog barking, and, looking over, I saw him lying quite still. I ran to a policeman and told him what had happened. I had not seen the man before." The coroner, recording a verdict of suicide while the balance of his mind, was disturbed, complimented Gloria on her plucky action. "She acted very promptly and did what she could to prevent this man from committing such a terrible act," he said. "She actcd very nobly." : #