A SENSATIONAL SUICIDE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2371, 10 August 1899, Page 19

A SENSATIONAL SUICIDE.

SUFFERING FROM MELANCHOLIA. A young lady named Nelly Battley, a saloon passenger on the steamer Te Anau, bound from Auckland to Runedin, committed suicide on Thursday morning by junrping through a porthole of the steamer when she was coming up the harbour, and was just off Ravensbourne. One of the stewards, Oliver Hill, happened to be looking over the starboard side of the vessel about 7- o'clock, when he was surprised to see Miss Battley jump through the port; hole of the bathroom into the water. .Heat once raised the alarm, and in about a oouple of minutes the starboard lifeboat, in charge of the second officer (Mr Lacy), was lowered A thorough, search was made over the spot, but the crew could see no sign of the unfortunate young woman, who must, have Mink immediately. The steamer was going very slowly when the affair happened.- Inquiries have elicited that deceased, who was a single woman, belonging to Napier, was in ill-bealth, suffering "" from melancholia, and was being brought to Dunedin by a hospital nurse, Miss 0. Bagge, of Wellington. The latter occupied the same cabin as deceased, who went to the bathroom this morning. She had only been in the bathroom about two minutes when she was noticed by the steward to throw herself head-first into the harbour. The bathroom door was barred on the inside, and when opened it wa3 found that deceased had left her dressing gown hanging on a peg. On the steamer's arrival the police were notified, and Constables Moore and Hickey were sent out with the dragging appliances to try and recover the body. They were assisted by Constable O'Connor, of Ravensbourne, and worked hard all day, but without success. WELLINGTON, August 3. Miss Battley, whose sensational suicide was reported from Dunedin to-day, was the daughter of a runholder in Hawke's Bay. She had been staying with some friends at Thorndon for some weeks, and about a fortnight ago she wandered away from their house, and spent two of the bitterest nights of this winter in the open air, after which ;he returned home exhausted.- She-was then placed under the care of an experienced nurse, and, being thought to have recovered from the mental derangement from which .she had temporarily suffered, was sent away on Tuesday by the Te Anau for a long tour in the south, in the hope that the change would result ia complete restoration.