AMAZING SUICIDE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 11450, 26 February 1931, Page 5

AMAZING SUICIDE

STUDENT BOUND AND GAGGED

HIMSELF

TO GIVE : IMPRESSION. OF MUR- { DER .... .: .., v , . GRIM DRAMA RECONSTRUCTED , BY POLICE (U..P.A. -by Elec, ~Tel. CopjrkdiO LONDON, Feb. 2-1. In the light of the conclusions of the police and college authorities reached to-night in rogard to the Ellis case proving correct, Ellis staged one of the most amazing suicides on record.

The theory is'that he committed suicide by suffocating himself after hq had gagged and bound himself with Such elaborate ceremony 7 as to give the impression that ho was murdered.

Tho Daily Telegraph says the conviction is tho outcome of a full consideration of the circumstances in whiclr tlio body was found, a reconstruction of the drama by Scotland Yard and a detailed report of Sir Bernard Spilshury’s post-mortem examination.

The full story of tho grim tragedy is almost inconceivable. Ellis dined in hallj at G. 30 o’clock on Sunday, chatted freely after dinner, retired to his room and planned his own destruction, and bound ami gagged himsolf as cabled earlier. Having thus completely enveloped his limbs and lace in at least two dozen handkerchiefs, lie buried his face in a pillow and suffocated himself. Ho was found lying so close to the door that it could only be opened an inch or two. This fact alone proved that nobody 7 could have left the room. Furthermore, the room was in perfect order. The police carried out experiments showing that it was possible for tho deed to be done by his own hands. Sir Bernard Spilsbury’s report makes it clear that Ellis put a gag ion his own mouth.

Ellis was studying archaelogy and anthropology, and is described as quiet and studious, and intensely interested in his studies.

An earlier message stated that the death of a, 19-yearold freshman, Francis [Ellis, who; was found trussed and gagged with a number of handkerchiefs, in his bedroom at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, puzzled tho police until Sir Bernard Spilshury’s investigation convinced them, that tho tragedy was tho result of a students’ rag.