SUICIDE OF AN ALDERMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9620, 19 September 1894, Page 5

SUICIDE OF AN ALDERMAN.

Bathurst, September 10. A painful sensation was created to-day by the intimation that Alderman Cripps, the ex-Mayor of Bathurst, was found dead under circumstances which left no doubt that he committed suicide. Yesterday he was going about as usual attending to various matters of business, and at night he left his home, and as he did nob return some anxiety was felt by his wife and daughters, who instituted inquiries as to his whereabouts, but without success. The feeling of alarm increased when the morning came, and still there was no news. Early to-day a local fruiterer named Jessep, accompanied by a boy, started on a journey out of town, and had reached the limit of the borough, beyond the hospital, when they saw lying ca the bank of Deep Creek an object which proved to be the dead body of a man, and which was afterwards identified as the remains of Alderman Cripps. There was a bullet wound in the temple, and a revolver, four chambers of which were discharged, was found near the body. Latterly the deceased had been a good deal troubled by monetary losses ; but these were nob considered sufficiently serious to account for the rash act. He had been also suffering from influenza, and complained yrsterday of feeling depressed, but nothing unusual was noticed in his conduct. An inquesb was held to-day, and a verdict was returned that the deceased died from the effects of a gunshot wound, selfinflicted. Some years since one of the deceased's sons committed suicide * under somewhat similiar circumstances. Much sympathy is felt for the widow and children or in the fresh calamity which has overtaken them. The deceased was elected an alderman in 1891, and was Mayor in 1892 and 1893. He was a deacon of the Baptist Church, and superintendent of the Sunday school. He was highly respected as an upright citizen.