EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 312, 19 December 1862, Page 6

EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE.

' (From th^ Leader.) An kiquest was held by Dr Yuul, the coroner, on Saturday, "at the Excelsior Hotel, Melbourne, on the body of George S..Sharpe, who committed suicide' on Friday, the 28th instant, by taking laudanum under the circumstances stated in the following evidence : — Mr Andrew Macarthur deposed that the deceased, whose name was George Shorthorne Sharpe, was a connection of his by marriage. His age was about fifty years, and he has left a wife only. He has been of intemperate habit^for many years. He had been employed in the Provident Institute for five weeks, ending a week before his death, but was dismissed for inattention to business. Witness last saw him alive on Tuesday last. He called at his office to see if there were any letters, for him. He was apparently sober, and handed witness a written memorandum, saying that he intended to go the bush and hire himself, for he was ashamed to look any one in the face, from his conduct. The letter produced was in his handwriting. Witness did not know that he took laudanum. A letter was found 1 upon him. addressed to witness, in which he says he intended to commit suicide. He has had delirium tremens. Mr John Brodie was the next witness examined, who said :-~Yesterday, about four o'clock, I was in a room down stairs in this hotel. I saw the deceased sitting in a chair. His face appeared quite yellow. He wa,s not breathing. I called the attention of the landlord to him. The landlord sent for a medical man, who pronounced the deceased to be dead. . •• • Mr Daniel Antrobus, accountant, said: I was in the room down stairs. I came here ■with the deceased, whom I had known for some time. I saw him take some laudanum yesterday morning at seven o'clock. He took a dose out of a bottle he had with him. He took some the day previously. I had no idea that the deceased intended to poison himself. I thought from what he said that he was in the habit of taking it. I remained in the room with, the deceased all the time until he died. The deceased appeared to me to be in the same state as he was the day before, when he took laudanum. He had not drank to excess for two days. I did not think of saying that he had taken opium when the last witness called attention to him. I never heard the deceased say he would commit suicide. I did not see the deceased take any laudanum after the dose at seven o'clock in the morning. We were walking about together the whole day. We came into this house at about 11 o'clock, and remained all the rest of the day. The deceased was melancholy but not incoherent. We talked together for some time after we came into the hotel. He never breathed loudly. I saw nothing peculiar about the deceased to make me think he was ill. He appeared to be dozing in his chair. William Mooney, constable, said : I was gent to search the deceased yesterday afternoon. I found him dead in the hotel. I found upon him the bottle marked and containing laudanum, some letters—one addressed to the coroner, one to Mr Macarthur, and one to his wife. I found no marks of violence upon the deceased. The following are two of the letters referred to. The first, addressed to the coroner, was blurred and blotted throughout, being in many cases almost undecipherable :— "To the coroner, whosoever he may be, who sits upon my body.—You are perfectly welcome to it. It has been rather a troublesome affair to me to maintain it on cabbages, potatoes, beef, mutton, onions, and all the other components of what is commonly called body. Let it rot, fester, and decay. What is that to me? The spirit that animated it has fled to the God that gave it; the carrion that remains behind belongs to the undertaker. The soul—the glorious soul—that emanation from the divinity—returns to the Almighty as true as that every drop of quicksilver is absorbed into his neighbouring drop. To the God who made me—to the same God I return, and although I might anticipate the time of my existence, that is no business of yours. It will save you and your jury a great deal of trouble to know that I commit this act of suicide in as sane a state of mind as yourself, and saner, I daresay, than many of your jurymen. I procured this laudnam long before I put this pen to paper, jmh when I take it, it shall be for the purpose of decreasing the great battle of life. In simpler words, I took the laudanum for the express purpose of leaving a miserable lot of humbugs, perhaps yourself among the number.—George S. Suarpje." The other letter was dated the 25th November, and enclosed in an envelope, addressed— " Andrew M'Arthur, Esq., Bear's Horse Bazaar, Great Bourke-street, Melbourne." It is as follows:— " Dear Andrew, —You have been a good friend to me, and I thank you for it. Before I pass on my great journey, allow me to express my gratitude for all you have done for me. I had resolved upon the step lam about to take for a long time, but after the few words that were spoken at your door after Gibson came into the office, I found that I was utterly cast off in-this world, and made up my mind to try the next. Thanks to my own folly,! have no home and no friends. I felt disconsolate, miserable and wretched. I had a bottle of laudanum in my pocket before I called upon you. Your remarks decided me. I shall drink it; and God have mercy upon my soul." The letter was signed Geo. S. Sharpe, and was written in a neat hand upon a sheet of note-paper. This was all the evidence taken, and the jury immediately returned a verdict that deceased died in Bourke-street on the 28th ult, from the effects of a dose of laudanum, taken by himself whilst in a state of temporary insanity. The following letters, addressed by the deceased to two friends, will more clearly show the cause of the suicide: — "My dear Mr , If you Avould like to save a soul from perdition, you have now an opportunity. I have no excuse to offer for my reckless folly. I have squandered all my money, have been out of ray mind for some days, and am now in the Immigrants Home as a pauper. I am in debt to my landlady, and wandered the streets for two nights without a morsel to eat, until I applied to this place for shelter. I am surrounded with people of the very lowest class, and have not one single coin in my possession. I know I have incurred the contempt of yourself and all mv; friends, and the utter contempt* of myself. Were it not for my poor wife, who j would look upon 'the crime with horror, I would not remain long in this world. I cannot be allowed to * remain here longer than a few days. Where to go after that I know not. "What T want to ask of you is, to devise some meaiH to send me into the bush, away '\ from all temptation to drink/ At any rate, let me get out of this vile hole, if you have one spark of Christian charity. v This is the la*t appeal I shall make to your generosity. J find Melbourne is no place for me. I long to be in the bush (Gippa Land or anywhere); and had I means of walking Mp the country, I would not delay an hour. .-Macarthur, who has been a good friend to me thitherto, refuses to countenance mo; and there ;is not^ being within hundreds of miles of'rue that I havg the slightest hopes of assistance /from besides yourself If take pity on me, you ..can show it iq siny way you think proper. Wou know my condition : if you assist me, 1, ishall be grateful; if not, God help me. /* ___ " Ono. S, Sbaepe,"

" Melbourne, 25th November, 1862 "My dear Donald,—Had I seen you on your way from this to Sydney, this hid not happened. I am about to commit suicide—a dreadful word, but not dreadful to me." Search all the Scriptures through, and you wOTnot find anything 1o prevent a man taking his own life. "The command "Thou shalt do no murder" does not refer to me; t>u t0 a £)erson taking the life of another. Therefore, in the hopes of meeting you and ali my friends in the regions above, 1, with prayers and tears of. repentance 'tor all my., manifold sins and iniquities, throw myself on the merits and intercessions of an all merciful Saviour, and have the hopes of a joyful resurrection. Now, my dear Donald *;! Farewell. A few short years and you will enter. into the dark valley of death as I am doing. Your path through life will be easier I dare say, and I dare hope, but after all there is a time appointed for all men to die*, Whether we meet in weal or woe—farewell, Donald, farewell." . ■ ■'. . "Geo.S. Sharpe."