A BOY SUICIDE.

NZ Truth, Issue 240, 12 February 1910, Page 5

A BOY SUICIDE.

Gives Himself a Six Feet " Drop."

Suicide cases . have been common m Auckland during the past month. Three males and a female are at present awaiting trial on a charge of attempting their; lives, while as many others made a good, job of their self-imposed task during the'! same short period. A most unusual and unaccountable case .occurred at Point Chevalier last week, which will recall to sentimental young women the fiction of the child's suicide described by the only Marie Corelli m flhe "Mighty Atom."

Armour Oscar Frencn, a lad of thirteen years, m. good health, well treated, who resided with his parents, was found by a lad named Edwards hanging by a piece of clothes line to the branch of a tree, his feet reaching to within two feet of the ground. The lad was last seen a couple of hours before playing m the rear of his residence, and all of his people were on good terms with him. He had not been m the habit of reading "penny dreadfuls," and it is surmised that the lad, who was enjoying school holidays, must have become morbid through reading the numerous accounts of suicides published m the dailies of late, but there was nothing m his manner to suggest that his condition was other than normal. When Edwards found the body he at once called the father of the lad and it was cut dawn and examined by Dr. Carolan, who found death had ensued, due to fracture of the spinal column.

The act must have been premeditated, as the spot where the tragedy occurred is perhaps the most secluded that could be found handy to his home. The tad must have climbed the tree, affixed one end of* the rope to a stout limb, placed a running noose round his neck, and jumped into space. T3he body fell six feet and the •spinal column, was fractured by violent concussion, death being instantaneous.

The jury found "That Armour Oscar French did lcOl himself by hanging."

John Turner and George Thomas Buckley, wiio were represented by Lawyer Hawkins, were brought forward at theDunedin Police Court on Monday on charges of carnally knowing a girl between the ages of twelve and sixteen years, and were further remanded.

Something of a sensation was caused m Christchurch w&en it became kaown that the income tax cases which created such a furore m Parliament, and which were inquired into by a commissioa of judges, were to be ventilated m the S.M. Court, Christchurch, on. Tuesday next. The Hon. G. J. Smith, M.L.C., George Bowron, and William Bowron, trading as Bowron Bros., tanners, Woolston, are to be charged with having made wilfully false returns under the Land and Income Tax Assessment Act, for the purpose of evading the duty payable under the Act. Defendants are liable, if guilty, to a penalty of £100 and treble duty, and some thousands &f pounds are involved.