DIARY OF DEATH

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 January 1939, Page 4

DIARY OF DEATH

WEALTHY MAN'S SUICIDE SY r DNEY. January d.

hi diary of death Jef!. by it wealthy young man, wuo gassed himseif after his wife bad parted from him. was pro'dneed in the Coroner’s Court here. ! The man's body was found in the kitchen of his flat. In his hand was a torch he had used in his last.' moments to shine on the pictures of his wife and hahy propped against the shirting hoard. Beside the body was, a long letter which lie had written as j lie brouaed over bis act in the early •’ hours of the morning. It ended in a ' frantic, scrawl as the gas took effect', upon him. In a, letter received by his, cousin on flic day of his death, the I man, Geoffrey Norman .Rogers, aged | 28, a salesman, threatened to gas himself, ami if he could assure himself there was “something beyond," b'> would take his baby Tony with liin l . Beiure he died. Rogers re- , turf-mu the child to its mother Tt was Clcl ' ?’"! tii *i ft C‘ < c ‘ i* ''• :■* • s :

..CluOt) and’ owned shares valued at £ 15,0(hL Roger’s long farewell death diary was addressed to his wife. It read:

“Beryl. .Darling: A short final addition to the note I posted to-night. I wrote Io mother and told her wtrnt. • I was going to do, ami why, but o .l’ ccmisv .it. will be weeks until she I gets it.

■ "Would you please send hei a cable ’--you need only say that 1 had died, ami Then you could write and explain, and please write to her frequently and send her snaps of Tony and let her know how he is getting on. Tell her. too. ] said to make a new will in his , favour.

I “It’s almost '1.30 a.in. now, sweet, , ami I have the room pretty well sealed—f ought to finish by' 2, or j shortly alter. 1 have only the ■kitchen door to do now. I'll take i the pen and ink with me when I : Scarf il. in case I wont be able to I ioa.vu the kitchen when I start to sea! the door, . . . “Well, darling, I'm finished now. bin it look me longer than I ex--1 voted. It s just 3 a.m. exactly now. I here is nothing more I want dar’iug--6b vew pj<. tue

mo cremated, dearest. “Good-bye, my darling wife. Remember always, sweetheart, that, our love for each other was the greatest thing in my life, and although we had a silly upset and parted, 1 uni sure you love, me as much as ever you did---just the same as 1 love you. umj I’ll be waiting fur yon to join mu i (Wherever I am going, 1 "P. F .--Sat and smoked and! thought for some time, and had a bit j of Dutch courage.—Time is now 13 minutes to I—one more cigarette,| and ar 4 a.in. sharp, the gas goes on J —December 17—remember the day.! dear, every year. Queer. Igo at 1.1 and it wifi probably take 15 minutes, for the gas to get me, and within half an hour or so you will be up to give 'Tony his milk.—Time, 3.58 a.m. "P.P.S.—I don’t know if I’m a cowaid or not, but it’s almost a quarter past 4.—l’ve decided I must go between 4.15 and 4.3U.—lt’s getting light now—it’s nice to see dav- '

light. Darkness is depressing. Because 1 have delayed a. bit does not mean I’ve lost my desire to go, and I love you. “'Well Beryl my darling, it's now 4.27. ?.nr; ’he ga- has been on about

130 seconds—l must stop because .1 : want to turn the light out and just look at your picture and Tony’s with the torch, while I lie down oil the ' spare-room mattress I brought out — | .!. feel it already—Goodbye, and J ‘ love you my darling wife,—Your _ hiving, husband Geoff." i The last few words wore scrawled, •and trailed down to the bottom of, ! the page. j The widow. a striking young ’ blonde, Mrs. Beryl May Rogers, said that about two months ago she and hei husband had quarrelled and they had since been living apart. She" lafjt saw him alive two days before his death, when he brought their baby back Io her. lie seemed quite al! right then, and there was no suggestion that he might commit suicide. Police gave evidence that the kitchen door had been scaled with putty, and the window, servery door and ventilators had been sealed with sticking plaster.