A SAD TRAGEDY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12589, 26 August 1901, Page 5

A SAD TRAGEDY.

Quite a* sensation was caused in town on Saturday night, when it became known that Mr Frank Hopkins, the well-known butcher, had shot himself with a revolver. Mr Hopkins had been a great sufferer for a long time. So far as can be gathered, about throe weeks ago he managed to possess 'himself of a revolver unknown to his family, and had kept it by him. Just before eight o’clock, on Saturday night, the inmates of the house heard an explosion, and upon going into the bedroom found Mr Hopkins deed, ■with a bullet wound in his head. The bullet had afterwards gone through the bedroom window. An inquest will be held at the Magistrate’s Court, at 9.30 a.m. to-day. It appears that at 7.40 p.m., Mr Hopkins asked his wife to go cut and get him a crayfish for tea, and she immediately did so, leaving in the house only the servantgirl (Sliss Hyde) with the deceased. Miss Hyde heard the; report, but look no notice, as she thought that it was merely a window slamming. When Mrs Hopkins returno, at about ten minutes past eight, she noticed a smell of powder, coming from the bed-room. She opened the door and found her husband dead. She immediately went down to the butchers’ shop to bring up her son, and Dr Deamer was telephoned for. _ He, on arrival, declared that life was extinct. Chief-Detective Chrystall was alsosent for, and was handed a- livc-chcanbered revolver, which was found between the deceased’s hands, but not touching them. One chamber had been exploded recently. There was a. wound in the deceased’s head, and quantities of blood were on the body and the bed.

It is stated that about three week’s ago the deceased sent a note by a boy named Robert Hyde, a brother of Miss Hyde, to Mr W. Garrard, gunsmith, of Cashel Street, asking for a revolver for 30s, which was forwarded, the article to be as good as the former one sent to him. Mr Garrard forwarded the revolver, with a note saying that it was good enough to shoot cattle with, as that was the purjto.se for which it was supposed to be required. The deceased told Robert Hyde not to tell his sister that he bad been sent on the errand, as she might tell Mrs Hopkins, and deceased might “ get into a row.” The deceased also told the boy, it seems, that he was much afraid sometimes to be by himself, and wanted something with which to protect himself. Six ball cartridges were sent with the revolver, to lit it. It is stated that oni Friday evening the deceased remarked to Mrs Hopkins that he believed he was going out of Jus mind. For some time past she has taken precautions to keep pen-knives and similar articles from ■the deceased. Dr Deamer states that at 8.30 p.m., Saturday night, he called at the police depot and reported that the deceased had shot himself with a -revolver half an hour before. The bullet had entered the side of the head behind the left ear, and had passed out thorugh the forehead. Death must have been instantaneous. The doctor was called to -deceased’s house at about 8 p.m., when lie found the body lying on a bed. Death had taken place within half an hour previously. A revolver, loaded in every chamber, except one, from which a cartridge had been recently discharged, was handed to him by the deceased’s wife. The deceased was between fifty ami sixty years of age, and had been an invalid for yeans. The doctor reported other particulars, which corroborated the fact® as elated Above.

Mr Frank Hopkins was an early Canterbury Settler, having arrived in Lyttelton by the ship Ivanhoe, early in 1864. He was born at Silverton, in Devonshire, and during his earlier years was in business with his father as a. farmer and butcher. When he came to this .colony he was entrusted with the charge of a "number of stud sheep for Mr 0. J. Tripp, of Orari, and ns the voyage lasted 138 days, he had rather an arduous task. Alter arrival in Christchurch, he was in the employ of Mr J. Rosewarne, for some time, and then took the management of Mr John Mein’s business, in the shop which he afterwards owned, and in which he remained up to the time of, his death. About twenty years ago, he" began to feel the effects of the rough life of the early days of the colony, and” in 1886, with son Mr William Hopkins, went home to England for medical advice. Upon returning to New Zealand, however, he soon lost the use of his legs, and has even since been wheeled to business in his chair. He has been a great sufferer, and latterly has been confined to his bed. He leaves a widow and three sons, the eldest of whom, Mr William Hopkins, who has practically managed it, will continue to carry on the business.