SAD CASE OF SUICIDE. THE INQUEST. DIOCESAN FESTIVAL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2320, 18 August 1898, Page 8

SAD CASE OF SUICIDE.

THE INQUEST.

DIOCESAN FESTIVAL.

About 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon Mr Samuel William Gibbs, who was well-known as an accountant in the employ of John Eclmond and Co., committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver at his residenco in Cargill street. For some time past deceased had been' suffering from insomnia. lie had been lately under the caro of Di Ogston, who advised him to take a re&t. He did so for a time, but seemed to be unable to keep away from his office, and, against the wish of his medical attendant, ho returned to work on the Bth. He, howover, was at home on Friday, and about 4 o'clock his wife and servant, hearing a report as of firearms in- his bedroom, went to the room and found him lying on tho floor with a revolver 'by his side. He was bleeding from a wound in tli& lie'Atl, and had evidently shot. himself behind the left ear. Dr Ogston was immediately sent for, but on arrival ho found that life was extinct, and expressed his belief that death- had been instantaneous. The deceased was about 37 years of age, and leaves a wife and four children, his wife being a daughter of the late Mr Isaac Martin, tailor, who for many years carried on business in Princes street. Deceased took an active interest in Masonry, being a member of Lodge Otago Kilwinning, of which ho waa auditoa

An inquest was held on Saturday afternoon by Mr Coroner Carew and a jury of six, of whom Mr J. Connor was chosen foreman, concerning the death of Samuel William Gibbs, who shot himself on Friday afternoon. Tho inquest was held at tho residence of deceased, 3p Cargill street, and the following evidence was given: —

Alice Gibbs identified tho body as that o£ her late husband, who was born in London, and had been about 20 years in this colony. Ho was 37 years of age, and was accountant m the firm of John Edmond and Son. He hacl not been well for the last threo or four months, and had been attended by Dr Ogston. Tha doctor said his trouble was a sort of breakdown caused by sleeplessness. He had only, been at work intermittently of late, having been at home on several occasions, onco for a fortnight. He was only at work on Wednesday of that week. Ho kept his bed on Friday, and tho day before and on Tuesday. He constantly complained of his head. 110 took medicine, prescribed by Dr Ogston, to induce sleep, and also got some laudanum. He was very much depressed on Friday morning, and! complained very much of his head. On Thursday night he took a sleeping draught aucP changed his usiial bedroom for one which would bo quieter. Witness last saw deceased alive at about S or 10 minutes to 4. Sho va3 in his bedroom, and deceased complained about his hea-d, and said he thought he might get some rest if she went away and kept tho children quiet. Witness went away to her own room. After she had left her husband about five minutes she heard a noise which, she took to he tho report of a gun, and she wonc at once to her husband's bedroom, whero she saw that her husband had shot himself. Mr Ling came to tho houso within fivo minutes of the occurrence, and Dr Ogston was sent for. Witjiess did not know that her husband had a pistol in tho house. She had never seen him, with oao. Sho had never noticed anything *o indicate that her husband's mind was deranged, except that in his sleep he was continually adding up figures. That never happened when he was well. Deceased had had no regular sleep for three or four mouths, and that was tho only thing to which she could attribute the deed.

Patrick Ling, butcher, residing in Cargill street, deposed that ho knew deceased. ,On Friday afternoon Mrs Gibbs's servant came over to witness's place with tho two children, and afterwards came again and told him that he v/as wanted at Mrs Gibbs's. Witness went over, and was told by Mrs Gibbs that Mr Gibbs had shot himself. She showed witness into the bodroom. Deceased was on tho floor, with his two arms extended. He was dressed in shirt, tiousers, and slippers. Witness saw a rovolvcr. Deceased v/as lying on his stomach, and theie was a great deal ot blood under Jiia head. Tho revolver was lying near the right hand. Witness raised deceased, and found a wound in the head at the back of the left temple. Witness felt the heart, and found the slightest pulsation, and said to Mrs Gibbs thatr deceased was dead. Nothing was done after that till the aruval of Dr Ogston. Witness reported the matter to the police.

Dr Ogston deposed that he had known decoased for seven or eight years. Attended him on Monday, when ho was suffering from sleep-" los'sneES and headache. Witness prescribed a sleeping draught for him, and advised him ta ion for a day or two if he could. He said he could hardly do it, as it was balancing time"Witness had seen him in a similar condition, twica before, and a couple of nights sleep hact put him right. Deceased was very much upset; at the fire- at Edmonds's, and suffered a good deal. Ho said on the Monday that he had not quite recovered from tho effects of that lire. He was a nervous man, who Look things anxiously, and always seenicci to have too much on his mmd, which seemed to bo overburdened. Witness came to the house of deceased on Friday, about 20 minutes past 4 o'clock, and found the body lying in the back room,as described by last witness. There weie no maiks of any struggle. On the sheet at the end of the bed nearest tho body there were a few drops of blood, just about where the revolver was lying. If deceased had been sitting on the bed, or leaning against it, ho could have fallen as he was found. Witness found a wound on the left side of the head, about an inch above tho left ear, and a little behind it. The scalp wound was very large, as if the scalp had been somewhat tain away fromt the skull. In contrast to this the bullet vvounce w-is very small, merely admitting the little finger. There was no exit wound, but the bones at the opposite side of tho head seemed to be shattered. There was bleeding Ironi the right; car, and evidently into the eye-sockets. From this witness judged that the weapon hact been fired at point-blank distance — quito close. Tne bullet had blown up the skull instead of pej etiatmg it. The wound could have been self-inflicted. Deceased was a ve^y nervous man, and was easily upset and excited, anc£ worried about his work. Ho was not insane from a medical point of view, but had, to a certain extent, lost command of himself. Witness kne.v that he took everything excitedly. It was not an uncommon thing for suicide to follow insomnia. The act was not tha act of a man of sound mmd. The mind was unhinged bjj sleeplessness to a certain extent at the time. One chamber of the revolver had been exploded, and tho bullet from that would causo the wound.

"William Fraser Bdrnond stated that deceased was employed with his firm as accountant. He had been irregular in attendance at the office lately, aud witness understood that it was owing to hi 3 being unwell. He had been on the best of terms with witness. So far as witaess knew, there was nothing wro/ig with his aoCOl'.llts.

To a juryman: Deceased practically made his own hours, and did his work well. He took an interest in his business. Witness mentioned thai two competent accountants had given it as their opinion that an accountant could do deceased's work and. have a couple of houra a day, to himself.

The Coroner said the evidence went to show that the cause of death was a gunshot wound, and it was for the jury to say whether it was self-inflicted. There seemed to be no other way, of accounting for it, and if the jury found that that was so, it was for them to say what stale of mind deceased was in at the time.

After a few minutes' consultation the jury returned a verdict that deceased died from a bullet wound self-inflicted while temporarily insane from sleeplessness.

While seven cases of plants were being fumigated at Brisbane, three of them 'were found to have false bottoms, which contained 700 rooted grape vines. Tho importation of grape vines is prohibited.

" Not long ago a farmer who lives threa miles from here came to my store before breakfast and bought a bottle of Chamberlain's Cough Remedy. He said their little! boy had a bad cold, and as they had used what they had in the house, his wife \Tould not let him go to plough until he came and got another bottle. The little boy, who waa with him, remarked : ' Now I will soon be well, for Chamberlain's " toff " medicina always cures me.'— R. 0. M'Elrov, BlackHawk, Pa." In speaking of this romedyy Mr M'Elroy said people came from far and wide to bis store to get it, and many ofi them would not know what to do without ife< For sale by all loading Chemist*

] A largely-attended meeting, in the nature of a ' diocesan festival, was held in the Garrison Hall on the Bth inst. Bishop Nevill presided, and was supported on the platform by Mr Justice ; Pennefather (Chancellor of the Diocese), che Yen. Aichdeacon Robinson, the .Revs. Canons ; Bichards and Sing, Dr Hocken, and Mr C. H. j Ststham. Apologies were expressed for the absence of the Very Rev. Dean Fitchett and the Jiev. W. Curzon-Siggers. The Chairman expressed the gratification [Winch he felt, in common with the promoters ;of the meeting, •at its magnificent success I co far as attendance was concerned—(applause)—and said that was the more pleasing, inasmuch as it was the first occasion on which th«y had met on purely diocesan business, lie aacl anxiously looked forward ior some time past to the possibility of a gathering of a nvuleitucle of his fellow Christians and churchmen us that night, for he had always felt the danger j which beset them in their chinch work when ', they conhned themselves too closely to paro- ,' chial lines. The church worked on the prm- , oiple of circles —a circle within a circle, 'lbere jvas first of all the family circle, then the paroishial circle, then the diocesan circle, and so far is they were concerned, lastly, the piovmciai ■ sircle, but it must always be remembered that" i ihese were not outside the one of the other; | ihey were touching at the margm oi the cir- J sunJlerencc —in contact at a single point, as it . jvere —but, circle within a circle, they all had i Diie common centre, and the radii ioimd their j icntre in one common locus oi iutere&t. It was j oart of the conditions which belonged to them , is a young diocese, only struggling into exist- | mcc, that there were necessities ot parishes — ' pf the smaller area, the more limited sphere— ; ivhich appeared to be antagonistic to j ;he diocesan requirements. That ap- j pearance of antagonistic interest was I only an appearance. All must suffer i if one suffered, and all suffeied first and j most of all if it was the head and centre that j rtas wrong. That seemed to teach them, in the j •iirst place, to set right those interests and piomote those undertakings that belonged to the j centre of the diocese so that foicc might radiate j from that centre. He was aware —he said it \ with boldness, thovgh, perhaps, with some j hesitation—that it had been suggested that j some of the diocesan enterprises were injurious i to those of the parithes, and he, in putting forward the necessities of, say, the cathedral, or the importance of having a house for the J bishop, had been suspected of putting forward , his special interest to the disadvantage of the people at large in the diocese. It had seemed to some as if he had been acting somewhat sel- j Sshly and in a cruel manner in introducing his personal interests and things that were sup- j posed to conduce to his own advantage when clergy in the parishes were struggling against great difficulties. Such was by no means the case even with reference to the question *o which he had just alluded, of a see house for the diocese. That was a question that had en«a<*ed the attention of the diocese ever since it j was formed, and the diocese could only be con- j sklered in process of constitution until such a necessity was supplied. Until that time al&o the question must be a hindrance to parochial interests, for each time it came up it must be brought into contact with some other movement that was then forward. He did not hesitate to say that it was now time that such a see house was acquired, for, having been their ■ bishop for 27 years, it was right that he snould , look forward to the termination of his career m , office, and he earnestly desired that his successor in office should not be placed m the unfortunate position he had had to occupy m having his personal necessities and requireinonts dragged from time to time before the ■oublic, and in having it supposed that they wore inimical to the requirements of the diocese at large.-(Applause.) He again cmpnasised the importance of the diocesan gathering such as the one of that evening, and concluded by uiging that their prime motive should be the advancement' of the Divine Kingdom and their -orimc motive in the obtaining of that object— the devotion of all their minds and hearts to the common Lord.—(Applause.) "Mr C. H. Statham (diocesan treasurer) delivered the financial statement of the cauhedral chapter, showing that the receipts for the year ended on the 30th June last had been £1471, and the payments £1-444, leaving a balance m hand of £26, with, however, liabilities to the amount of £61 The debt extinction fund had £19 to its credit, with which he proposed to pay two debentures of £10 each. Those deVentures had, however, been presented to the cathedral, and he thought, therefore, that he -was entitled to take that money now into the cathedral fund. The liabilities of St. Pauls, ■when taken over by the cathedral, were £3910, against which there was a sinking fund of be■fcween £500 and £600, but they had paid oft all the old debentures and refloated new ones at a reduced rate of interest on the Ist Jxily, . and the liabilities on these was £2310. In the subscription list they would not find any from outside the immediate vicinity of Dunedm except one of £1, and that sum was the extent to which the diocese had supported the cathedral during the year. On the Ist July aj friend of the church, whose name was not to | fee mentioned, handed him two cheques ior j over £50, to be put into, the offertory plate in | order to stimulate some one to follow his ex- j ample. The speaker also submitted reports irom the cathedral ladies' guild and the ca*hedral choir, the former showing that the guild had presented the chapter with £70, and put £10 into special offertories, and had also j assisted two country churches for sales of work. , The Yen. Archdeacon Robinson submitted , a report on the spiritual work of the cathedral, j stating that the advance, if slow, was steady, and that there was not wanting signs that the church life was growing. There was ground for thankfulness that during the year more _ . than 2490 communions had been made m ']* the cathedral, although he longed to see more ' of the regular worshippers of the early celeand more men among the communicants. He bore testimony to the work done , hy the communicants' guild, in the Sunday school, by the choir, and the girls' mission j guild (which had been able during the year to ( hand over £37 to the Melanesian Mission), and i Hie concluded by expressing gratitude for the . assistance he had received from his coadjutor, j the Rev. H. Brooke. | ''Mr Justice Pennefather moved — " That i this meeting, while recognising the faithful ' labours of church people on behalf of their > several parishes, commends to thejr sympa- . thetic support the various institutions of a more diocesan character." Ho was, he said, , glad of that opportunity, &o soon after being ; raised to the office of chancellor, of being present at a gathering of his fellow-churchmen j and of proposing a resolution with winch he so heartily sympathised. lie was afraid there were many people who had very hazy notions as to what a cathedral was. A good many regarded a cathedral as a magnificent building, imsuited to the requirements of modern times, at which elaborate concerts weie given twice t\ 'day for the benefit of a lew old gentlemen ■who were well paid for doing nothing. If they had been, as he often had, at the midday seivices during Lent at St. Paul's, and seen the vast area under the dome crowded clay after flay with business men, with merchants and clerks from the city, with shopkeeper? from the Strand, with lawyers *$<w t£e Inns oi Court,

| snatching half a • hour for prayer to God, their ! ideas might soLtewhat change. — (Hear, hear.) 1 But what ho wished to speak of that night was ! not so much of the catlipdral as a building--much though he should like, as a lover of arciii- ■ tec-lure, to see some of the magmnceuL structures of Western Europe reproduced in Ihc^e I new countries — but of the cathedral as an inabi- ; tution. The cathedra, as an institution, was much older historically than the cathedral as a bui'ding. The cathedral system was far older thaa the parish system itself, for to find its origin one must go back almost to sub-apostolio ages — at any rate, to the early times of Christian life. He showed how the parish system grew j out of the cathedral system, and said that if they spoke of history alone, there was no more glorious history that any institution could have thaM the history of a cathedral; but it was not for them only to show that their church was the oldest in the world, but that it was also the newest,and able to meet the requirements of every age— the present, as I well as the past. He was afraid there were I people who regarded a diocese as a collection oi j parishes And the cathedral as an excrescence. 1 They w uld nnd people who said, "I have a > parish church; I pay for a seat in it; I give a small donation once a year which is about enough to keep the clergyman's body and soul together ; Igo to church occasionally myself oil i a Sunday evening, if it is not wet; and so L thnik I have done my duty." — (Laughter.) A position of that kind must be first attacked on the lower grounds, and, taking that low paro- ; chial view, surely something more was necesj sary. A few years hence the clergyman might i die, and where were they to get a successor? ! If the Church of ISTew Zealand was to be a ; national church, they must look* to the growth ' of a native ministry. — (Hear, hear.) In other [ woidsjthey must have theological halls. Then, when families grew up., were the boys who i pushed their way out into the hitherto j unsettled parts of the colony to go !to districts where the sound of the church i bell was never heard? And were they to lose I all the influences they had learnt in the ChrisI tian home? No; they must go to places where ! the church must go too, and if there was not a regular parochial organisation, a missionary | organisation must be sent out. That constant I giowth mubt come from one common centre, : and that could be supplied by the bishop's church — the cathedral. — (Applause.) But he took a higher ground, and he hoped he would not shock them when he said what he knew was felt by his honoured teacher — the late Bishop Liglitfoot, of Durham — that they had a great deal to learn from the Salvation Army. — (Applause.) There might be many things in the Salvation Army which they might regret, and in which they could not co-ojserate; but ]t taught two grand lessons — the necessity of a central organisation and that every man in the church had his work to do — (Applause.) He must confess that it had shocked him already during the short time he had been in Dunedin to find how many spheres of work there were in ; which the -church ought to be engaged that ! were left untouched. It was not for him, as a layman, to "bring these forward in detail at that time, but ,there were many that had struck him, and he had no doubt there were many more that had struck the clergy who laboured in the diocese. Those great works could only be undertaken by a central organisation. If there was a danger in England of parochialism— and it was a danger — it must always be remembered that there was something to be said for it, for the English parish was tak^n to include all the people who lived iv that parish. But in New Zealand there was a danger of something narrower — a danger of Congregationalism. lie did not wish to say a word against the noble-hearted men and women who were engaged in congregational work in New Zealand, but if the cathedral was to be a real centre of work it must be something more than at present. It the bishop's council were to do something more thai advise the bishop, they must have more time for it. It was impossible for the clergy who were taken up with the arduous duty of their parishes to take up such work as he had indicated — they must have a body of clergy who were relieved of the constant pressure of parish work. — (Eear.) Then, if the cathedral was to be a free church, where everybody might sit down or kneel and worship God, it was impossible that it could be kept on depending for its daily support on pew rents; it must be a free and open church for rich and poor alike. — (Applause.) There was one other aspect of the question. If there was a danger of selfishness in the way of parochialism and Congregationalism, there was another danger of selfishness in point of time. There were people who thought that if they kept things going on for their lifetime that was all they had to think about. If they were merely establishing a sect to reflect the views of their own generation thit might be enough; but they had a greater and grander work than that. Men might come and men might go, but the river of God flowed on for ever ; and it was for them to do what they could to lay a stone or two in the building of that temple -which was laid on the foundations of the apostles and prophets — the temple of which Jesus Christ Himself was the cornerstone — that temple which they knew would last not only through time but through eternity. — (Loud applause.) The resolution was supported by the Eev. Canon Richards, who spoke briefly on the subject of the general church fund, and by Dr Hocken, who addressed himself to the question of a see house for the diocese, and was carried by acclamation. During the evening a pianoforte solo was played by Mrs Blandford, and vocal solos were rendered by Mrs Manson (who received an encore for her singing of " The Carnival"), Miss Treseder, and Mr Blenkinsopp ; and refreshments were handed round towards the close of the festival.