KEEPS HIS VOW TO AVOID ARREST

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 42, 17 August 1935, Page 25

KEEPS HIS VOW TO AVOID ARREST

A man's vow to take, poison-if he ever fell into the hands of the police, his arrest on a dark, lonely road by a constable who had seen him driving a car erratically, his collapse and death' in the police station. These Were incidents in an unusual story related at an inquest at Staplef ord, Notts, on Charles Gethin Williams, aged thirtytwo,_ of Wantage, Berks, says the "Daily Express." •

Constable Riley told the Coroner that at 10.45 p.m. he was ■on the Derby-Nottingham Road at Stapleford when he noticed a motor-car in front being driven in a zigzag manner. He overtook it and signalled to the driver to stop. The car travelled about 100 yards and then came to a standstill. Williams' was in the car alone, and from his breath and .his manner he concluded the man was under the influence of drink.

"I told him to get out of the car," the constable continued.' "He did so, and became very violent, and struggled with me in an attempt to get away.: I had to strike him as I was endeavouring to get him into my sidecar. He managed to break away for a moment or two, but I caught him and held him, and sent a passing motorist for assistance. Sergeant Holland arrived with a car, "and the man Was taken to the police station at Stapleford."

_, Sergeant .Holland stated that when sitting in the car Williams remarked: "I don't care a — what happens now." He seemed all right, but after the remark he started to cough, and sat doubled up all the way. When they arrived at the police station he went limp and had to- be lifted out. He dropped on to the floor of the charge room straight away.

"We sent for a doctor, and tried artificial respiration," Sergeant Holland continued. "We were engaged in this when the-doctor arrived, and said the man was dead. In his pocket I found a small bottle half-empty, which contained pure nicotine."

Coroner: Did the man drink from the bottle in the car on the way to the station?— No. I think he must have drunk it before I got there. It is a Very dark road and it was a small bottle, which could easily have been concealed in his hand* Replying further to the Coroner Sergeant Holland stated that they found the car had been stolen from a garage in Station Street; Nottingham, that evening.

The dead man's father, Frank Edward Williams, farmer, of Childrey, Wantage, told the Coroner his son was an auctioneer By professions haying been articled when he left college, Latterly he had been a canvasser. The Coroner: As far as you know, has he been in trouble with the police? —Yes, I heard of it. The Coroner: At least twice?— Yes. Charles Wellings, of Carlton Street, Nottingham, stated that on April 4 he accompanied Williams by train to Rotherham, where they were - going to canvass. During the journey Williams remarked: "I have done twentyeight days' hard labour for stealing a motor-car, but the next time I fall into the hands of the police I am going to do this."

Wellings explained that Williams took from his pocket a bottle, containing pure nicotine, which was identical with the bottle produced. "Look for yourself," Williams told him. "It's the quickest death there is." Dr. A. W. D. Magee, who conducted a post-mortem, 'explained that there was a quantity Of poison in the stomach. It had burned away the lihing of the stomach and caused damage to other organs. The Coroner: How long ' would it take this poison to act? Dr. Magee: Three minutes. It'would have been impossible to have done anything to preveht the man taking his life on account of the rapid action of the poison. ■ The verdict wasielo de sb.