SENSATIONAL SUICIDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13765, 2 June 1908, Page 5

SENSATIONAL SUICIDE.

JUMPS IN FRONT OF A TRAIN. SCHOOL TEACHER'S MAD ACT. A suicide of a sensational character took place at the Ellerslie railway station last evening, when a middle-aged man named Rees Williams threw''himself in front of a moving train, sustaining such fearful injuries that he died within a few minutes. The man had been strolling around Ellerslie during the afternoon, and shortly before five o'clock he wandered on to the railway platform. Soon afterwards a goods train appeared in sight, and as the porter, whose name is James Condon, stepped forward to deliver tho tablet to the driver of the train, . which was going to run right through, Williams held up his hands and rushed forward. Condon caught him by the coat, but the garment came off, and the man sprang on to the rails right in front of the moving engine. The brakes were promptly applied, and Williams was picked up, terribly injured, and conveyed to the station. Dr. Clark and Constable J. Sherman were quickly in attendance, but their services were of no avail, as the man died within a few minutes. His left leg and arm were cut off, and his skull was badly fractured, while that portion of tho right leg between the thigh and knee was crushed almost to a pulp. Subsequently the body was brought to the city morgue by Constable Sherman, and an inquest will be held at tho Criterion Hotel at 11 o'clock this morning, before the City Coroner (Mr. T. G resham). The deceased is supposed to have been a school teacher.