FOUND DEAD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18514, 27 March 1922, Page 6

FOUND DEAD.

The South Dunedin police received word late last night that John Bell, an elderly man. who had been conducting a secondhand furnishing business at 179 King Edward street, had been found shot dead at his shop. The deceased, who was about 62 years of age, lived with his wife and daughter at 49 Reid road, South Dunedin. It waa usual for him to go for a walk in the evening, but when he did not return home at 11 o’clock last night inquiries were instituted, and when a back room of the shop was entered the tragically startling discovery waa made. The man was found sitting in a chair, with the left side of his head blown away and with the barrel of a shotgun lying on his chest, while the butt was supported by a sewing machine. A stick with a nail at the end of it, which was 'lying nearby, had evidently been used to push the trigger. The deceased had been in bad health for some months past, with occasional periods of depression, and he had been receiving medical attention. The body was removed to the Morgue, where an inquest will probably be held to-day.