LAD'S TRAGIC DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14929, 29 February 1912, Page 8

LAD'S TRAGIC DEATH.

TAKES PRUSSIC ACID.

A PATHETIC LETTER.

A more than usually pathetic case of suicide occurred at Parnell yesterday, when a 16-year-old lad named George Davies, who resided with his parents at Ponsonby, took his lifo by the medium of prussic acid. The lad has been employed by Mr. F. Murray, of Manukau Road, Parnell, for the past four months. He was usually of a bright and cheerful disposition, was well liked by all with whom he came in contact, and was looked upon as a verypromising boy. Shortly before six o'clock last evening Mr. Murray returned to the shop, having left the boy in charge during his absence, and was startled to find him dead on a couch in a back room. Dr. Kinder was sent for, but could only pronounce life extinctThe following pathetic letter addressed to his mother was found in one of the boy's pockets :—" Dear Mum,— fret. lam a rank failure. I can't get on. I am always doing things wrong. I have taken prussic acid, which I think is painless. I am feeling very ill and lowspirited, and this is the only way out of it. So good-bye, and as I said before, don't fret. I am better where I am.— Your loving son, George." Mr. Murray states that the lad had been quite cheerful during the day, and had given no indication that he had contemplated anything out of the ordinary.

An inquest will probably be held today.