DEATH OF A GIRL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 110, 11 May 1909, Page 2

DEATH OF A GIRL.

WHY SHE TOOK POISON. [BT TIUtGBATH —_>B_6S ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, 10th May. An enquiry into the death of a 14-year-old girl, named Elizabeth Lucy Greenwood, who died at her parents' residence at Panmure on 29t]i April, was held to-day. William Joseph Greenwood, father of the gill, stated that he was a farmer residing at Panmure. From 18th April to 29th April he was away from home looking afte^ 1 some property at Epsom. On the 29th he was told of his daughter's death. He had been married a second time ; his present wife and deceased seemed to get on very well together. The girl had to attend the Supreme Court iv connection with a case of assault upon her. To this fact witness attributed the deceased's act of taking jpoison. Mabel Greenwood, wife of the previous witness, staled that she was with her stepdaughter on 29th April. Deceased had been living at home with her for two or three months, and theyagreed very \Vell together. On 23rd April witness went into Auckland, and left deceased with her uncle, Alfred Heslop. • When witness returned tho girl was" not at home, but she came in twenty minutes later, and changed her clothes. Witness said : '"You are a naughty, deceitful girl, and I will tell your father." After that she. was sulky and would not speak. Next day (Sunday) witness searched deceased's room, and, under the bed, she found some bread and jam and a bottle labelled "Poison. 1 ' Its contents looked like phosphorus. Tho bread she threw into the fire, and the bottle and its contents she handed later on to Constable Sherman. When deceased came in that evening she told witness that she had taken poison. When asked why she had done so deceased replied, "Because you told dad that I was a naughty girl, and I- was not f^oing to stand that again." When witness asked her to come and have some tea^ she said that she was sick, and, afterwards, she was vomiting in the yard. Witness then gave her milk to drink. On Monday deceased was moving about, and, on Tuesday, witness went to Auckland, telling her uncle to look after her, and give her all the milk she could drink. Witness went to the Rescue Home -in Parnell, as she thought it would be the best place for her to go to. She did not see deceased again until Wednesday morning, and she then appeared to be talking nonsense. Prior to this the girl seemed to have been worrying about the case which was to Gome before, the Supreme Court. Witness took milk upstairs for the girl to drink on Wednesday, aud she was then delirious. She took some cornflour. On Wednesday she did not get out of bad all day, but, in the evening, appeared better. On Thursday morning at ten o'clock witness again went up to see the girl. She ate some porridge and milk, and also asked for some scones. Witness did not send for a doctor, as the girl appeared to be getting better. At 10.30, Constable Sherman arrived, and, after seeing the girl, said that he would go for s a doctor. Dr. Barber returned with him in half an hour. The doctor said that the 'girl was not Bulking, but that she was in a very bad condition. At eleven o'clock the girl died. Alfred, Heslop, uncle of the girl, a^o ,gave evidence. Lucretia , Pye, a companion of deceased, stated that the latter slept with her on the night of 24th April, and stated that she did not go home as she was afraid of' her father "growling"' nt her. She told witness that she had taken some poison, but that she would not do so again — it was "awful stuff." Dr. Barber* stated that, when he arrived at the Greenwood's residence on 29th April, he found deceased lying in an upstairs room. She was unconBcious and pulseless, and was breathing in short gasps. Had he been called in within 24 hours of the taking of the poison he might have been able" to have done something. The jury returned* a verdict of death from phosphorus poisoning, self-admin-isicred, and expressed an opinion that an error of judgment had been committed in not sending foi; a medical man sooner.