CORONER SAVES MANY LIVES

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 27 October 1934, Page 11

CORONER SAVES MANY LIVES

|J>HE man who has saved more lives than any other person in Britain, and who has also probably solved more mysteries regarding the manner in which Essex people met their deaths, is giving up his life work after 35 years-. But he will not cease to save lives. He- will continue that great work which has gained for him a reputation os a miracle man. He is Dr. Alexander Ambrose, coroner .for Essex County. During nearly half his life—he is 75 years of age—Dr. Ambrose has investigated tragedies in the great district comprising Chingford, Ilford, Barking, East Ham, Woodford, Leytonstone, Walthamstow, Wanstead, Buckhurst Hill and a score of other towns and villages between Whitechapel and Ep-pin-g Forest. He recently described to the “Sunday Graphic” his reactions in some of the most notable mysteries ho | has been called upon to solve. Foremost I among these was the notorious Thomp-1 son Bywaters murder. Bywaters and Mrs Thompson were condemned to death and executed for the murder of the woman's husband. “I never had the slightest doubt from the moment I began to study the evidence that Mrs Thompson was guilty of having instigated the murder of her husband,” said Dr Ambrose. “She was a scheming woman without scruple and would have stopped at nothing had she had the moral courage to carry out her plans. I would have liked to have had her before me for questioning at the inquest, but here again her courage failed and she did not testify. As it turned out, this did her no good. 1 1 had all the letters that has passed between her and Bywaters in my possession at the inquest, so that my conviction of her guilt was based on the best of grounds.” Some years ago Dr. Ambrose, imppTessed by the increase in the number of suicides and attempts at suicide throughout the country, formed what was described as a “Suicide Club.” He invited everyone who felt the inclination to end their lives to call anr have a chat. In other cases, where such visits were impracticable, he wrote them long letters. “At these interviews and in these

Dr. Ambrose Retiring After 35 Years

letters I pointed out to them,” said Dr,

' Ambrose, “that no matter how black life seemed there were many good things left. Sometimes I pointed out to them the way out of their troubles. Sometimes I went to pains to set them on the right path. “Never once did I 'have -occasion to regret my action, and I do not know of any case in w r hich my advice was deliberately ignored. I think a good many suicides are the result of people not having a friend in whom they can confide and who can advise them.” By this means Dr. Ambrose was able to save actually many hundred® of lives, winning for himself the title of “Britain’s Most Humane Coroner.” “All my experiences were not grim,” he told the “Sunday Graphic” correspondent. “Some had their lighter side. One that stands out most clearly in my memory concerns the widow of a man who had hanged himself with a piece of wire rope. After the inquest, at which > the rope was an exhibit, the widow asked if she could have it. I was naturally curious to know what she wanted such a gruesome souvenir for. Imagine my amazement when she replied that it was a fine strong piece of rope and would make splendid harness for the donkey. “The cases that worried me most of all were those like the case of little Gtaeie Golledge, the nine-vear-old sehologirl, near Aldershot. “I encountered many such cases. One was the mystery of the fate of Bertha Kuss, n seven-year-old girl who disappeared after leaving Sunday school. Despite, the efforts of the police, no trace was found of her until six weeks later, when a man entered a house which had been standing empty, in order to do it up for a new tenant. “He noticed a blue ribbon bow lying on the floor. It had fallen out of the child’s hair. Further investigation resulted in the discovery of the child’s body- in a cupboard. It had been badly mutilated. I held the inquest and we left no stone unturned to bring to justice the fiend who had committed the crime, but he was never caught, and the murderer of Bertha Russ is unknown to this day.