SUICIDE'S REMARKABLE LETTER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12910, 5 July 1905, Page 6

SUICIDE'S REMARKABLE LETTER.

Sub-Inspector William Davidson, who has held the position of coroner's orderly for nearly 20 years, retires from the Melbourne Morgue at the end of this month. The subinspector has been giving some of his 20 years' experiences. Many remarkable letters were written by people who committed suicide, but for quaint, cynical, uncanny humour, no other record of the morgue approaches the letter found in the pocket of a young Prabran carpenter, who shot himself in the train one evening. The letter which was addressed to Dr. Youl, ran: — " My Dear Doctor,—Whilst still in the flesh, and ere my *oul takes its flight from the frail tenement called the body, allow me, with all due . respect to the serious functions of your high and important office, to tender you my hearty congratulations oil the businesslike and consistent manner in which you have, for a considerable length of time, performed the onerous duties of coroner of the city of Melbourne. An you are aware, I ■have not the pleasure of /our personal acquaintance, and in anticipation 1 cannot but regret the fact that when we do meet I shall have to occupy such an unconscious position in the interview, besides having to suffer, without opposition, the indignity of being sat on.' However, dear doctor, I feel sure that you and the respectable company who may assist in the ceremony of inquiring will do so with becoming respect and decorum, if not for my own memory's sake, at all events for the sake of those who have the misfortune to be connected with me by ties of blood. The question has been raised, ' Is life worth living' Well, • as the Yankee says, 'It all depends°' Speaking personally, I must say, in many respects, I have found it a jolly old world, and if I have had a goodly share of its illluck, I have also had a fair share of its pleasures. Therefore, I think that I and this ancient planet may cry quits. I dare say, dear doctor, you find life on the whole pretty jolly. It is just possible that if I ! possessed your ability, and the good fat ' screw attached to your office, I would not ' be in such a hurry to leave this sphere. : However, we cannot all be city coroners, }• and even you, dear doctor, must at times en- ■ counter vexations. In conclusion, let me ! express the hope that your remaining vears i may be characterised with an abundance of' the joys of life and few of its ills, and that when your time for disunion arrives, it may be on attaining old age, unattended by violence, and in the orthodox manner, avoiding the necessity of unenviable notoriety and being 'sat upon.' In the prospect of an early meeting,— remain, with due reBjpectj In Carafe." I - i