"VIVID IMAGINATION"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21769, 7 April 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

"VIVID IMAGINATION"

CORONER'S STRONG WORDS GIRL DRIVEN TO DEATH What the local coroner described as the saddest ease he had ever heard of was revealed at an inquest in Yorkshire the other day on Miss Alice Mary Greenwood, aged 31, a prepossessing mill girl, whose body was recovered from a reservoir after she had been missing for five weeks. Her brother, James Greenwood, declared that the young woman had died of a broken heart. He related that she had kept company with a young named Ernest Taylor. They should have been married in June last, but a month before the ceremony Taylor disappeared. His whereabouts had not been ascertained, and he had never communicated with his sweetheart. She had been upset and worried.

The brother added that his sister had possessed a terrible fear. It had since transpired that Taylor had told her he was a member of a gang to combat opium dealers and might have to go away at any time in connection with his business. Ho also impressed upon her that she and her family were in constant danger of some sort of attack. He bound her to secrecy, and she preserved it almost to the last.

She got the impression, went on Mr. Greenwood, that the gang had got hold of her lover. She dearly loved Taylor, believing everything he said. Fear of the mythical gang brought on a nervous breakdown. Taylor promised a reunion on New Year's Day, and when he failed to appear Miss Greenwood " flopped completely." Returning a verdict of " Suicide while of unsound mind," the. coroner observed that the young woman's mind was unbalanced by the unfortunate love affair. Taylor seemed gifted with a vivid imagination, and he (the coroner) hoped he had some knowledge of the result, of his conduct.