TRAGEDY OF AN ERROR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20722, 15 November 1930, Page 2 (Supplement)

TRAGEDY OF AN ERROR.

MISDIRECTED TELEGRAM. SAILOR LOVER'S MISTAKE. SUICIDE OF YOUNG GIRL. How ;i young domestic servant commit tod suicide by gassing herself the tlav before the delivery of a wrongly addressed telegram from her sailor sweetheart, was revealed al a recent inquest at Wandsworth, London, when the coroner inquired into tho death of Edith Mary Thomas, aged 24. The girl's mother stated that while, on her holidays last July, her daughter met a young man named Charlie, and became very fond of him. He was quartermaster on a liner. She Jjad never seen him. The Coroner: Apart from any anxiety she had with the young man, she had no other trouble ? Witness said " No." She added that it was her daughter's nature to be depressed. On the evening preceding the tragedy she stated {hat she was going to meet Charlie, and, kissing witness, remarked, " Good-bye, mum, I'll see you on Monday." The Coroner: Did she ever say she was frightened about Charlie cooling off?— No. She was hajyiy iri her situation.

Miss Minnie Trenton, a friend of Miss Thomas, said that when she last saw do-

ceased she stated that there was no future in front of her.

The dead girl's employer for six years gave evidence that she knew Miss Thomas was fond of a young man, but the girl had an idea that he was cooling off and that " nothing would come of it." On the night she expected to meet him the uirl went out at five o'clock, and when she came back at 11 p.m. she stated that he had not turned up. She seemed depressed, and next morning witness found her in her bedroom with an eiderdown quilt and a blanket over her. She was holdirtg a flexible gas tube tn her hand, and was dead. Next day, continued the witness, a telegram arrived for tho girl, and a letter which witness held in her hand, came the same morning. The coroner unsealed the letter and read it. He remarked that it fullv oxplained why the young man could not keep the appointment, and also expressed his love for the girl. The writer of the letter stated that he had received news of the serious illness of his mother and was going to see hoi', thus being unable to meet his sweetheart as arranged. "It is a terrible tragedy," continued the coroner. " because, as a matter of fact, this young man—whose surname I don't know—had telegraphed to the girl on the

very (lav t hut he was to have met hoc. Ho. unfortunately, addi essod llm telegram to the wrong street lumber, and so it was not delivered until lliis poor girl, in her disa|j|)oini/ne'it and anguish, had taken her life."

It was added I»y Ihe coroner that it would have heen better if the Post Office authorities had made a t'f-.v mine n (|Uil ies. 'I lie telegram showed, however, thai several addresses had heen tr ; rd w it lion t success.

A verdict of " Suicide while of unsound mind " was recorded.