A DOCTOR'S SAD END

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14817, 21 October 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

A DOCTOR'S SAD END

At Marylebone an inquest was held on. Dr. Robert Oliver Handcoek (33), of Mar-garet-street, London, YV., who was found dead in his surgery. Blanche Handcock, the widow, stated that formerly her husband was a ship's surgeon, and had travelled a, great deal. Last December ho had to leave his ship at a South African port- on account of sickness. For the last four months ho had hud a surgery in Langham-street. At times, after drinking bouts, her husband was depressed, and had threatened to poison him:';3lf. On the Saturday evening she was fetched to his surgery, and there found him lying dead on the couch. From the look of his face, tshe thought he had taken something. .James Henry Morris, deceased's manservant, who slept at the surgery, said that on the Saturday at seven p.m. he saw his master lying on the sofa, appar ently asleep. There was an empty brandy bottle beside him, and witness thought, as on former occasions, he had emptied the brandy bottle and gone to sleep. Later, finding ho could not wake deceased, ho fetched Mrs. Handcock. Dr. John Musgrave Twentyman, who had made a post-mortem examination, said the cause of death was syncope, due to an enlarged and fatty heart. Alcohol had nothing to do with the immediate cause of death. A verdict of death from natural causes was returned-