SUICIDE IN THE WESTERN PARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11952, 29 April 1902, Page 5

SUICIDE IN THE WESTERN PARK.

A SENSATIONAL CASE.

MAN FOUND WITH HIS HEAD BLOWN OFF. - A SENSATIONAL suicide occurred yesterdayafternoon in the Western Park, a man named Edmund Bell, a labourer, being found with his head blown off.

About three o'clock iu the afternoon a man named Fletcher, who chanced to be in the park, heard a report which sounded to him like a gun shot. Curious to know what might be happening he went in the direction from whence the sound came. Proceeding down a gully he was horrified to find the body of a man with the head completely blown oft*. He at once reported the matter to Mr. heigh, caretaker of the park, who brought Constable Stanyer, of the Newton police station, to the scene. It was found that the man's head had been blown to pieces, and that two fingers of the right hand were missing. The constable had the body removed to the morgue, where it was identified as that of Edmund 8011, 57 years of age, who resided in Mel-ford-street, Ponsonby. There were no signs of powder or dynamite, but from the condition of the body, and the fact of the two missing fingers, it is supposed that Bell had put a cartridge in his mouth with one hand and lighted the fuse with the other. Hell was seen to enter the park just a few minutes before Fletcher heard the report, hut his appearance did not attract any particular attention, lie wtia a married man, and leaves a widow and large family. At one time he was a. mine manager at Te Aroha. but latterly he has been in rather poor circumstances.