THE WELLINGTON SUICIDE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 8322, 9 November 1887, Page 6

THE WELLINGTON SUICIDE.

[Per Press Association.] WELLINGTON, Nov. 8. At the inquest on'the body of Mrs Martin to-day the Coroner, in summing up, said there was now no doubt that death had been caused by ” rough on rats.” The evidence yesterday was not conclusive enough on that point, and that was the reason why’he had adjourned the enquiry. The callousness and want of feeling on the part of the husband —there was an excuse for the daughter because of her youth—was something appalling to him, and he could not get over it at all yesterday. That the daughter should have told her father that her mother had taken poison, and that he should have taken no ' steps to counteract the effects was very extraordinary. As the jury know, the husband could not be made legally responsible for the death of his wife, but so far as he (the Coroner) could see, he was morally guilty. The husband said that he did not recollect his daughter telling him that deceased had taken poison, and the only explanation why he could not recollect was that he was drunk at the time. The jury brought in a verdict of suicide while in a state of temperory insanity, and added the following rider :—" We are of opinion that John Martin, husband of Amelia Martin, deceased, is deserving of severe censure for gross neglect towards her.”