THE SELF-MUTILATION CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9072, 27 December 1892, Page 4

THE SELF-MUTILATION CASE.

MR. JAMES MACKAY IN A

PRECARIOUS STATE. i In yesterday's paper, we stated that Mr. James Mackay had been taken to the Hospital in consequence of his having inflicted upon himself serious injuries of a character which cannot be fully described; The matter was reported to the police by a woman named Margaret Sullivan, with whom Mr. Mackay has for some time been living, in a house at Freeman's Bay. lb seems that some quarrel had taken place between them, and it is supposed that the shocking acts of Mr. Mackay were caused by this. On proceeding to the house Constable Clarke found Mr. Mackay lying on the bed covered over with a blanket The bedding was saturated with blood' and ere waR also a quantity of blood on the floor of the room. Seeing the state in which Mr. Mackay was in a cab was sent for to remove him to the Hospital. To this Mr. Mackay strongly demurred, and considerable force had to"be used to get him out of the house. On arriving at the Hospital Dr. Somervillo made an examination and found that the mutilations were of a most serious character. The woman in her statement says that on Saturday last Mr. Mackay, with whom she had been cohabiting, marie threats of doing himself some injury, but she thought that he had no intention of carrying out these threats. On Sunday evening he told her that she might go out for a walk, and on her return some time afterwards she found him in the state dosoribed. On inquiry at the Hospital at a late hour last night, we were informed that Mr. Mackay was still in a precarious state, and in great danger. Mr. James Mackay, who has fallen so low as to commit this dreadful act of selfmutilation, is the son of one of the early settlers in the Nelson province. His father was engaged in farming near a Maori village, and Mr. Mackay acquired at an early age a good knowledge of the Maori language. He was appointed a Warden of one of the West Coast goldnelds. His vigour and energy and courage in dealing with natives recommended him to the Government when the war broke out in the North Island, and he was appointed Civil Commissioner in charge of the Auckland district. He was then brought into intimate relations with the Thames natives, and he carried through the arrangements connected with the opening of that district as a goldfield with great skill and vigour. Mr. Mackay left tho Government service, and entered into partnership with Taipari, the principal owner of the land of the goldfield. His talents were so widely and favourably known that he might have attained to any position in the colony. He was several times employed by the Government in most difficult and dangerous work, as for instance his being put in charge of Waikato after the murder of Sullivan at Pukekura. But he succumbed to temptations which have been the ruin of many. No one, however, dreamed that he would have been so far left to himself as in mad frenzy to perpetrate the shocking act, from which he is in great danger of his life.