SUICIDE IN A CAB.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 192, 8 May 1908, Page 5

SUICIDE IN A CAB.

A poignant love tragedy has been revealed by tho death of a young medical student, •Mr. Geoffrey Noville, in St. Mary's Hospital, to which ho was brought ono night recently ■With a.bullot in : liia head. • Ho hailed a cab at tho Marble Arch, and told tho cabman to drive .to Brcadhurst Gardens, Hampstead.' i. When ho!arrived there,' tho cabman 1 waited, but his faro did not descend'. He looked through tho trap,- and saw/a huddled up . figuro'in tho cab with ; a revolver in the liand, and found, that his passenger had shot himself. Tho'cabman had oven heard tho' sound of tho shot, but he thought tho report camo from tho engirio of a passing motor-omnibus.. Ho dro.vo Mr.--Ne-ville first-to a doctor, then to St. Mary's' Hospital:' / The pathos of the tragedy lies in the.fact tllat Mr, Neville shot,-himself on what waste have been his wedding day. Ho had been engaged.for two .years to Miss Marian Gertrude Fergusson. Notices had. beeir in tho''Kensington arid Hampstead registry, offices, and ho had spoken to of his fel-low-students at tho Middlesex 1 ' Hospital ,of his'hopes and of-the happiness he. expected in married life. . Mr.. Nevillo was tho' stepson of .Major Prynno, of/the R.A.M.C.; stationed at Gibraltar. He 'was ' a young man of studious disposition, and because 1, ho foared that his marriago might interfere with his reading for tho final examination, ho postponed the marriago; until next , year. But, as,' usual, love, was stronger than prudence, and on January 6, notico of marriago was given at the Konsington registry office. - ' ■ •Mr. Neville and Miss Fergusson gavo particulars for tho filling in of the form. She gavo her own ago as 22, and Mr. Noville said, that.ho was,23:- When the usual fee'of Is. was afiked for, -Mr. Nevillo said that ho had left his purse at, home, and it was Miss Fergusson who paid; •'■■■...•, , During his love-making tho young medical student had told Miss Fergusson that on his 24th birthday he would inherit'a fortune', but that until then he had only a small inc'omo of his'own aid an allowance from his parents. But on tho very eve of the wedding day a Hampstead lady, standing "in loco parentis" to tho young man, discovered, the well-kept secret. She visited both-registry offices, and declared 'that Geoffrey Nevillo was a minor. Ho had, she said, made a falso statement to tho registrar. Instead'of,being 23 ho was not yet'2l vears old; Furthermore, tho lady explained that, if Geoffrey Nevillo married,ho would bo. penniless. Ho had no income Except the sum his .parents allowed him. Tho allowanco would be discontinued if tho marriage.took place. * Letters passed between her, Mr. Noville and the parents'at.Gibraltar. Finally, on tho wedding day itself, the following telegram was sent fronr Gibraltar:—"Parents refuse consent to marriage.of Geoffrey Nevillo, jnedical- student, who is a minor." A " caveat" w.-.s issued announcing that the marriage could not take place. . Meanwhile Mr. Neville must hr.ve learned what was happening. He left his Hampstead boarding-houso ori' the morning of: his wed-ling-day, apparently to call on Miss Fergus>on. ' '. He nover came. She waited, and finally, jecoming anxious, drove to -Hampstead. rhcre she found a letter saying: "In a few lours I shall shoot niyself, as I am a worthess -fellow."' A revolver belonging to ano;her lodger was missing.