BOY'S TRAGIC DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

BOY'S TRAGIC DEATH

LITERARY AMBITIONS BOOK AT THE AGE OF 14 A 16-vears-old boy who wrote a book called " Peril of Death " at the age of 14, and sat up late at night reading books in French, Latin, and German, was the subject of an inquest at Luton, England, recently. The boy, Hyman Woolf Rock, was found hanging from a beam in a shed at his home. His father, David Marcus Rock, a costumier, said that his son had been employed by a London motor-car firm as an office boy. He had said that he was tired of doing the same thing over and over again, and that he wanted somothing bigger. He was highly strung. During last winter, when he was unemployed, he did nothing but write books. He wrote one when he was 14 called " Peril of Death." which ran to about 375 pages. He would sit up until midnight reading books in French, Latin, and German.

Mr. Rock said that bo was told the boy had used the shed for experiments, but he did not know what kind of experiments. There were three large mirrors in the shed. From where ho was hanging the boy could, if ho had turned sideways, have scon himself in one mirror. In tho dust on tho mirror it looked as if the figure of a man had been drawn.

The Coroner (Mr. G. J. M. "Whyley): Have you ever known him experiment with ropes or cord? Mr. Rock: .1 have not seen him do it, but L have been told— Do you know if lie threatened that if he were not taken awav from his place of employment something would happen ?—No, he never threatened. A representative of the f?nn by whom the boy whs employed said that he had given exceptional satisfaction, and recently had had an increase in salary. The impression ho gave was that he had something ho was thinking about apart from his job. Ho spoke like a lad far older than 16 nnd was far more intelligent than the average. Recording n verdict of suicide while temporarily insane. Mr. Whvley said that he was not altogether satisfied the boy was happy at home, and that rather disposed of the theory that his death was duo to some experiment. His mind was somewhat unbalanced, either through oversbudy or possibly unliappiness.