A BRIDEGROOM'S SUICIDE.

Evening Star, Issue 12864, 13 July 1906, Page 8

A BRIDEGROOM'S SUICIDE.

NOVEL HIDING-PLACE FOE A REVOLVER. [SrECIAL TO THB STAB.] CHRISTCHURCH, July 13. M'Cutcheon, who committed suicide at Lincoln on Wednesday under such tragic circumstances, was at the church waiting for the bride, and there waa no hint of anything in the nature of a tragedy. At 11.15 the detectives arrested the man in the church on a charge of having forged a cheque for £l5B at Wellington. A message was sent to the friends of the bride to take her home, and preparations were made for removing M'Cutcheon to the police station at Christchurch. The detectives had searched him carefully, and had found nothing suspicious on him. M'Cutcheon made no resistance when arrested. He remarked that he would be able to clear himself, and gave an account of his movements with the object of showing that he had not been in Wellington on May 31, the date on which he is alleged to have cashed a forged cheque for £l5B in the name of his employer, Mr A. W. Andrews, of Greenpark. He seemed quite resigned to his position, and, in the words of one of the detectives, was "as cool as a cucumber." The detectives searched their prisoner more with the object of securing any incriminating documents than of finding a- weapon, but they discovered nothing at all suspicious. All his pockets were searched or felt from the out-side without success. A few minutes after his arrest M'Cutcheon asked that he might be allowed to speak to the clergyman who was to have married him, the Rev. W. Spence. The request seemed a perfectly reasonable one, and the prisoner was allowed to go into a front room of the manse with Mr Spence. Detective Bishop had -gone./away a little distance, and Detective Ward remained on the steps at the ""'"front- door, from where he could see the prisoner. In order to speak to his companion, however, Detective Ward lost sight of M'Cutcheon for a few moments, and the prisoner took advantage of the opportunity to secure Mr Spence's permission to 'retire to a closet at the back of the manse. The detectives were at. the door a few moments after he had entered,. but almost immediately a shot was heard. The door was opened, and M'Cutcheon was found lying on the floor with a smoking revolver m his hand, and a large bullet wound in his forehead. A doctor who was called found the man still breathing but evidently very badly wounded. He did what was possible under the circumstances, and ordered that M'Cutcheon should be removed to the Christchurch Hospital. A start was made accordingly in a waggonette, the two detectives and the accompanying the prisoner, but M'Lutcheon died on the way. How M'Cutcheon had managed to secrete the revolver was shown when an examination was made of the body. He had a wooden leg, and there was a'lam cavity m the side, which would easily contain the weapon. The trouser leg hac 1 been pulled up to enable him to read the hiding-place. The revolver was a large one, nearly new, and contained two exploded shells. The other chambers wer* lull. As only one shot was fired t>y M Lutcheon after his arrest, it ap- £ ea j £• ad tried the weapon beforehand. He seemed to have prepared for what he felt might happen. The offence tor which he was arrested was not his nrst criminal offence, but for some time past he seemed to have been " keepin* straight. The detectives went out to Lincoln on Wednesday morning with the idea of arresting him. at Greenpark, but they found that if they went on they might miss him, and fail to arrest him until after his marriage. This seemed inadvisable, and they therefore waited at the church After the marriage fluoride and bridegroom were to have left on a honeymoon trip. M'Cutcheon was about thirty-five years of age.