SECRET OF FAREWELL LETTER TO FRIENDS

NZ Truth, Issue 1128, 14 July 1927, Page 7

SECRET OF FAREWELL LETTER TO FRIENDS

THEY DRUGGED?

I pAMILY BURDEN

'"*' J ;' HAD ENOUGH \ *

AN THE VOYAGE' Jflt§ ■■■. ■ .\j 7*7 . ■ — 7 '. ."

THE methodical manner m which* Ernest Whitly Kiddell had set his affairs m order some days before '■ the murder of his family and his own 1 suicide would perhaps indicate that he \ had every right to announce to the '. world-^-when on the eve of leaving it — " that he was sane. Arrangements were made regarding* ' the disposal of his effects and estate, \ and although it has not so far been confirmed officially the information comes from an authentic source that Kiddell had made further provision by which the owner of the property, Mrs. Clark, would be compensated for the ghastly legacy that must remain attached to her charming little bungalow for a long time to come. Some time during that fateful night Kiddell penned the following note, ' which he addressed to the police, as ■ well as a further communication to >the i owner of the cottage and other letters the contents of which have not yet i been made public: [ "I am not insane, but this is the only way out from our troubles. "There is money m my breeches pocket sufficient to pay burial expenses, about £25. "I have made arrangements with thfc Bank of New Zealand, Napier, for the disposal of my cash here. "Please post all letters, giving Mrs. Clark the unstamped one. ; THE DEATH PACT "My reasons are: (1) My son bought . a farm at; Manga weka a month ago, s and through nervous breakdown has [ not been' near the place for three weeks ; — all stock suffering; he can never work it, he says; ; "(2) My daughter has also had a bad j breakdown; * ' i "(3) My own health is failing— ■ operation recently, removal of kidney; "(4) My wife is broken-hearted at these troubles." 'No doubt when the inquest is'icsumed the information m the possession of the police will reveal the members of the family who were actually parties to the death pact. As "N.Z. Truth" stated last week, ' certain outstanding facts associated | with the manner m which the daughter . retired on the night of June 22 indicate ' beyond much doubt that she was unaware of her father's terrible intention. Again; the manner* m which the , mother and . son met their end and '. their respective positions pointy— from logical reasoning — to the ' fact\ that both were drugged with their consent bef ore .being slain. • The son was shot through the face, the bif llet entering near the nose, while the mother had been shot through the head. In reconstructing what took place m the West Street bungalow that night, it would seem feasible to assume that Kiddell, his wife and son had entered into the death pact.

The absence of; any .'struggle and the fact that, the mother and her son were found lying side by side — her arm around his neck — indicates that they assumed this position after taking a powerful drug to bring about sleep from which there would be no awakening. It hardly seems possible that if the • mother had been conscious she could : lie peacefully m bed, her arm about her son's neck, and retain this position • while her husband fired the shot which i killed the young man. . On the other hand, the same may be ■ said m the case of the son. The attitude of the bodies gives uiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

3- .. ■ : , ( rise to the impression that when the shots were fired both mother and son were asleep or drugged. From the position of the daughter's fatal Avound — the bullet Entering behind the left ear— everything points to ' the grim deed having been carried out by the father on entering the sittingroom through the glass door leading on iiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiimiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

to their daughter during the voyage from England. It is quite possible that a drucf was also administered to the girl, , Lorna, just before the tragedy, sinee — m the father's letter to the police — he states that'she was suffering from a breakdown. The possibility he would have -to face triiiif(iirfiiit»cr»iiii*fii»»*iti***ii*ti*f*if»*jii#Jii»JJii*JJiiiiiiiJJi«iJuiiiuiiiiin».-T»»»n"»>i»

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiuiiiuiiiiuiiuiiiiimuiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii to the small verandah of the .bungalow. Apparently he fired after placing tne rifle close to the head of his sleeping daughter. By entering from the verandah this would bring the father immediately within a foot or two of the settee on which his daughter lay, the head of the llirillllllllllllll Itlll Ml II Mill til II 111 lllil II 111 llltl II 111 I) ItIMIII Ml II llltl liMlll II It 1 1) ITI llttt

ERNEST WHITLY KIDDELL

(iiniiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiimiMiiimiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiliiliiiiiiiiliiiiliiimiiiii settee being close to the verandah doors. The girl was lying with her head at the end of the settee • nearest the verandah. An added reason to support the thebry that the mother and son allowed themselves to be drugged may b«» found m the fact that both Kiddell and his wife had administered ,drugs HIIIIIIIIIIIIIII(IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiir m her case would be that she might awaken when he entered her room to perform the ghastly deed. • .. , All this, however, is mere conjecture which may perhaps be dispelled by the post-mortem analysis of the stomach contents "Truth" understands i has been carried out. „'■■ ..-'.■ -j On 1 the other hand, the period which elapsed before the-' bodies .were discovered may raise difficulties in.".' the way of clear proof on this point. A close scrutiny: of the neat little btingalow and the personal effects of the Kiddell family, together, with their ages and /occupations I—particularly.--.'of1 — particularly .--.'of the father— provides 'a most interesting /line for. reflection.

There are'suppbsed v tp be m the life of every individual critical periods when changes m the constitution are said to take place, the: first of these. periods commencing m the ; seventh year of life and they others recurring m the years which, are multiples of that number. ""';...■ The most dangerous of vthese periods is believed to be the sixty- 7 third year. ' Ernest Whitly Kiddell had reached that age. ■ Further, two other members of this unhappy family— the mother' m her fifty 7 sixth. year and the daughter m her twenty-eighth — were also at critical periods of their lives. ....... In the medical and scientific world it is an established and well-known fact that the constitution undergoes certain changes over, clearly defined periods. It is m the lives of .women, particularly, that the gravity of the change at certain periods is more marked than m men and' the effect more far-reach - ■ ing; . ■ ■■■-. „' These facts, when considered m relation to the Kiddells, are to some extent enlightening and more so .when viewed alongside the domestic history of the family. ■ From the time he entered the public service m England, married and became the father of children, Ernest Whitly Kiddein-T life may rightly be assumed— from his ' recoi'd— to have tMlllllllMlllllinilllltlllllMlinilltllllltllllUlllllMlllllltnilllllllllllttllllllMHMllltllllMMiHllllltlllllHllHHlll . llllllillllllllUlMlllinilinil|lMlllHlltlHllUlll|lllMllMMlltllltillllllltUllMlHllllUlllllflllUlllllllllllHlUlltl

*— - — : — - — r ' :■•;. ;;; m. conformed to a daily routine m which -J^ work and recreation played their paxt^|| In the life of a civil servant: there|isj|| ho spectre of unemployment and • d|f-_i|^ sqlate, poverty-stricken old age vplay'B7|gj up part, 'since there is always s ; an|||| adequate pension to look forward to^VS^ This was so inTKiddell's case. ; -!^uiv^p|| their, the fact that he owned his o*j*ro sM honie and appeared to be m conifbijtrl^ able 'Circumstances when 'he broughit^^ Jiis wife and daughter, to New -ZealandJ||| would indicate that up to the .time^i£e||g| left England he 'had known yerylittie^l financial worry. ' -„.. ' .77^||§|

. The, father's assured position in7tHe"^ffi world , must have reacted on the hpmelS^ life and' it is safe to say that:-:ttife§|| family led a sheltered existence. . 7 ; Xj§|p It might be said that the KiddelgJ?^ family had never known adversity|*^y '-■'■m its-true- sense.. - :'■:■.-■. rA^^Yimi ■ ■•'■-' ■''■■'-:■• ' "77^T«#g§| Certainly the parents had been wqr^p ried about their daughter,. who appearff^ to have been highly ■ strung and^f|||| neurotic temperament, but their Yj^'lfgM xiety on her account seems to hi*«^>|^ been of recent origin, since Lorna ;_ot^|l lived on the Continent without^b:jK|^S parents. . „ "'.__/ ■ In departing froni England and leais'|^^ ing behind relatives, friends 'and' famij|j|| liar places to transplant .him self j '^lijß^^g wife and daughter— much against: the^J girl's will— -in a: strange .country, KliJs^^ dell looked forward with optimism $<^|| life on his son's farm. A-]:,AA^§^ It was m his despondent utterances®|i to the Rev: E. S. Harty aboard shlpvjitf Jgg route from England— -in Tivhich -he : ..inj3|l| timated that lie should never have.-ie"f£l-^ the Old Country— that kiddell revealedS^ the first phase of that mental condi&ons|||| .which was later to develop ihtp^suchpM an' acute form as to culminate 'in.vth&lJS shocking tragedy enacted on' Jujie 22ptj^ The father at a critical' period Apt ''tii^jM jife, his wife also undergoing, a serious|^ change and his neurotic daughter Int^gl her twenty-eighth year, perhaps . it i§l^i not surprising that a passing phase of 7^ adversity was magnified out of all pro-^'p"! portion. 7. _.^:,v;' 7 .■■■-■-■ • - '7^-^ With ; minds already so hyper^.7^

| -"''' ' ■■'. ~— • " f i | A SERIES of prosecutions | | against a. motor-bus com- § | pany were being heard at the | * ■■=:'. Auckland Magistrate's Court | 1 and Lawyer Macky, for the City | * 1 Council, had the floor. = | -"Now for the next charge," § ""■ | he continued with renewed for- | | titude after a lengthy and | |, monotonous debate on the = | classification of motor vehicles. I | "Hold on!" exclaimed Magis- | i |. trate Hunt with a glance at the § * | clock: "I have to be at the | t | asylum at a quarter to one and § jj; | if I have to listen to many more | isjj | of these charges, they may keep nv^ | me there!" / I*^9

?riiiniMiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiUiMiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiniiiiiiiiiS"-^*i sensitive, every little additional vi^ worry, however, trivial, assumed f"Sj abnormal dimensions. -» "^ The crisis came when the son was 4^ also found to be suffering from neHi-^ rasthenia and unable to carry onJMs^M farm. *" .It was then that the cumulative «£-..£§ feet of the burden of family troubles^ reacted so disastrously. Had they arisen in' England m( all probability <yf they would have been met and overcome.' ' With minor troubles intensified to Si^S degree, that really amounted to a fori*tf*|l| of insanity, Ernest' Whitly Kidd^rd|| could see only one way out That was jl| the gjrim and terrible step of taking^sw the lives of his family and ending his^Js own. "sßa liiliiiiiititimiiitimimiiiiiiiimiimiliiiiiiiimiMitiiiiiiiiiiiiiuHiiimiu i i n nuupimiimmiiMMmiiiiiiiimitiiiiiiiuuiiiHMiiiiiiiiHiiiitiiiiiiiiiMuitiiiiiMi v l h i i ffif*H