SUICIDE ON MOUNT EDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13846, 4 September 1908, Page 5

SUICIDE ON MOUNT EDEN.

AMERICAN SHOOTS HIMSELF. VISITOR'S DISCOVERY. A visitor to Auckland was taking a mornill.,' walk on Mount Eden yesterday when he came upon a man stretched _at full length on his back with a bullet wound in his head. The visitor, Mr. J. Munro Bertram, recentlv sold his farm at Waikato, and was spending a tew days with the Rev. 1. E. Bertram at Devonport, prior to going to Wanganui. We went for a climb on Mount EuOH about 10 o'clock yesterday morning, accompanied by lite nephew, a young man named lvo Carr. They 'lad readied the' top, and were walking round when they noticed a body lying some 9ft from the cone on the Onehunga side of the mount. On nearer approeh they saw that the man Was bleeding from a shot wound. Lying close at hand was a revolver. Mr. Bertram, hurrying down the mount, telephoned to the police, and Sergeant Carroll, accompanied by Dr. King, proceeded to the spot. An examination by Dr. King showed that the man was still alive. The bullet had penetrated the roof of the mouth, and, passing through the brain, had come out 2in above the right ear. Dr. King thought there was no doubt that the injuries were self-inflicted. The man was removed to the district hospital, where he died "in the evening. Ho Mas apparently a man between 35 and 40 years of age, of medium build, and salj low complexion, his hair slightly gray, while he had a sandy moustache, lie wore a tweed coat and vest of a blue and green check and trousers of ''pepper and salt" pattern. In a pocket a letter was found indicating that his name was Robert King, of Washington, U.S.A. No money was found in his pockets, but he was wearing a silver watch. The revolver was a sixchambered weapon, five chambers being loaded, the other having recently been discharged. Further cartridges were found in the man's pockets. The police are making inquiries as to the date if arrival of the deceased in Auckland, and his movements since that time.