A FATHER'S GRIEF.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXI, Issue 2724, 28 November 1910, Page 3

A FATHER'S GRIEF.

TRAGEDY OF A CHILD'S

ILLNESS.

A father's grief over the illness ot his favourite child was suggested at an inquest held at Battersea some six weeks ago as the cause ot the suicide of Frank Augustus Gahagan, aged 37, of Lavender Road, Battersea. Emily Gahagan, the widow, said her husband had good health and regular work, and was in every respect contented and happy. Of late, however, he had been worrying because his favourite child was seriously ill. On Sunday it dinner time he was in the best of spirits, but in the evening she found him hanging behind the bedroom door. He had been nursing the child during the atternoon. On Saturday, while sitting on her father's knee, the child looked into his face and said : " I am not going to die, am I, daddy ?" This, said Mrs Gahagan, upset her husband so much that he was unable to finish his dinner. Mr Clement B. Broad, governing director of Messrs Dawson and Co., Ltd., Battersea, said that Gahagan had been employed by them for 14 years, and was a most steady and intelligent workman. He had good work and good wages, and his death was one of the most extraordinary things he (the witness) had ever heard of.

The Coroner said the case was a very peculiar one, and they must always be cautious before saying that a man had taken his life. Nobody knew exactly the full history of any other human being, and there might be something serious which was unknown to other people. Perhaps Gahagan had an impulse which he could not resist. The illness of a very much loved child might have shaken him and caused him to lose sellcontrol. The jury returned a verdict of suicide while in a state of unsound mind.