A TEACHER'S SUICIDE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13845, 3 September 1908, Page 5

A TEACHER'S SUICIDE.

SEQUEL TO ARREST. TRAU£DY AT NEW PLYMOUTH. . [BY telegraph.— pbess ASSOCIATION*.] New Plymouth, Wednesday. Edmcxb Jardine, one of the masters of the New Plymouth High School, who was arrested last evening upon a charge of in* decent exposure, and who was bailed out, elected not to submit himself L the judgment of his fellow men, and took his life about midnight. The deceased was a bachelor, living with several other* professional men in their establishment on Standkh Hill Upon being released on bail he went home and behaved in.a rational manner, the only thing noticeable being that he was a little quieter than ueual. He had an interview with Mr. A. H. Johnstone (solicitor and a fellow lodger) concerning his defence, and Mr. Johnstone was talking to him in his {deceased's) room ; until shortly* before midnight. At 12.15 a idiot was heard, and those who rushed to his room found that Jardine had committed suicide, the bullet passing clean through his head. He died in a few minutes. A pistol was found clutched in his right hand. It was evident that the act was not done on the impulse of the moment. The revolver was of old . pattern, and not in good working order. The bullet used was too large for the calibre -of the weapon, and the discharged shell showed that the trigger had been pulled more than once. Jardine was a man of exceptional talent, and was partly educated at Oxford. He formerly taught in the Hawke's Bay district and at Wanganui Collegiate School. ' At the inquest to-day a verdict was returned that deceased died as » result of a wound self-inflicted while in a state of acute mental depression, causing temporary insanity. _, The, bail was not estreated.