TRAGEDY AT ROSLYN

Otago Witness, Issue 3475, 19 October 1920, Page 6

TRAGEDY AT ROSLYN

SAD END OF AN OLD RESIDENT. A tragedy occurred at 14 Charlotte street, Roslyn, shortly after noon on the 13th, when Duncan Malcolm MaeGoun, 80 years of age, a retired civil servant, formerly of the Lands and Survey Office, fatally shot himself _ with a rifle. The simple facts of the case were made known at an inquest conducted in the house at 4 p.m. by Mr H. ' Y. Widdowson, S.M. (coroner). Constable West represented the police. Evidence was given by Frances E. MaeGoun, daughter of the deceased, who said she had been keeping house for her father. He had lately been 10 weeks in the hospital, and had undergone two operations. After returning from the Hospital he seemed very bright up till the last day or two. He had been depressed since Sunday, but seemed much brighter that morning. He was a man of good physique, but of late he quickly got tired. She last saw him about half-past 12, when she left him sitting on the verandah, and went in to town. He had never hinted that he would take his life. She knew there was a gun about, but did not know there was any ammunition. When she returned home at 1.30 p.m. she found him in the shed re- j clining on a pile of papers with a gun j ', beside him. She could see he had shot • himself. He was quite dead, and she at ; , once communicated with the police. Dr j • Riley was his doctor. I : Susan Smith, who lived next door, said j she had never seen the deceased depressed. ! Some time before 1 o'clock that day she • ■ heard a noise coming from the shed, like ! , the sound of the discharge of a gun, but ■ , she concluded it could not be that. j , Ruth Every, niece of the deceased, said : , he had been very depressed the previous j ; evening, and she had been alarmed at his j condition. He, did not, however, hint in any way at being tired of life. i ■ Constable West said he had known the j deceased for some years. He was a man - of cheerful disposition, but his years were ] telling on him. Witness was summoned to ] the house about 2 o'clock, and found deceased lying in the workshop with his head - against the wall. There were marks of ]

a bullet wound through the left eye. The shot had evidently been fired at close range. Deceased was fully dressed. There was an empty shell in the gun found alongside. The Coroner returned a formal verdict that the cause of death was injuries to the head from a bullet wound self-inflicted by deceased while suffering from depression brought about by illness.