CASUALTIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3726, 11 August 1925, Page 33

CASUALTIES.

AUCKLAND, August 5. W. A. M'Cormlek, married, with a family, who had been a Harbour Board employee for 40 years, committed suicide at 11 o’clock this morning by jumping from the Grafton Bridge. Ills neck was broken. Deceased was on leave of absence for health reasons. Thq.body of Roy M. Furness, of the firm of C. 11. Furness and Co., was found in Ills motor car on the Domain drive at about 7 o’clock this morning. A bottle containing strychnine was lying on the floor of the car. Deceased was 30 years of age, and had just returned from a health trip to the Great Barrier Island.

ELTHAM, August 6. A 'verdict of suicide while temporarily lepresscd was returned at the inquest on Harold North over, aged 36, secretary of tho Elthain Dairy Company, who was found with his throat cut the previous day. The company auditor stated that a request for the production of the receipts appeared to prey on deceased’s mind. His books were excellently kept, but receipts for about £l2O were missing. In a letter to Hie company directors deceased stated that his nerves had broken down, an.l he could not carry on. He bade the directors goodbye, but gave no indication that he intended to commit suicide. WELLINGTON, August 5. Ordinary seaman J. Miller fell down a hatch on the ferry steamer Wahine at 7 o’clock to-night. Death was instantaneous. CHRISTCHURCH* August 4. “I am not going to close this inquest yet. I will adjourn it for a fortnight, and the policy can make further inquiries,’* said the Coroner (Mr H. Y. Widdowson), at an inquest this afternoon into tho cir. cumstances surrounding the death of an unknown child which was found on the bank of the River Heathcote at Beckenham yesterday. Enoch Wilson, aged 77, died in hospital from injuries caused by a fall on a concrete path. August 5. An elderly man named D. J. M'Kenzie committed suicide on a grave at the Bromley Cemetery this morning by drinking prussic acid. A funeral service was being conducted 10 yards away at the time. The deceased was worried and had a large family. August 7. Charles William Burke, scrub-cutter, aged 52, met his death at Ruakakapatuna, Martinborough, on Wednesday. He left camp on Monday, and, failing to return, a search party oil Wednesday found the body in Ruakakapatuna River. The neck was broken. The approach to the bridge had become slippery and dangerous owing to wet weather, and it is surmised that deceased lost his footing and fell over the bank into the river, breaking his neck. At the inquest yesterday a verdict was returned of death from a broken neck and drowning. The failure of tho lighting system is believed to be responsible for a fatality at Lyttelton to-night, when a man was killed on the ferry wharf. A light engine was pushing a mail van on to the wharf, when the shunter felt a bump under the wheels. Investigation revealed the mangled body of a man. The body has not boon identified, but in a pocket of the coat was a steerage steamer ticket made out in the name of Moore. It is believed that the victim was a> seafaring man, lately a member of tho crow of the Karetu, which is at present in Dunedin. August 8. Joseph Mackay, a farmer, of Kimberley, was drowned in the Waimakariri River yesterday through a bank on which he was working slipping into the flooded waters. August 9. The man who was killed at Lyttelton on Friday night has been identified as George Moore, a striker in a foundry at Wellington. He had been on a visit to relatives in Christchurch. ELTHAM. August 5. At about 4 o’clock to-day Harold Northover, secretary of the Eltham Co-operative Dairy Company, was found dead with his throat cut in the bathroom of his residence. An open razor was lying nearby. Owing to his non-appearance at his office during the day, a friend and the company’s auditor visited Northover’s house, which was locked. They gained admittance through a window to make the tragic discovery. The deceased left letters to the company's directorate and to his wife, who, with her young son, is on a holiday visit to Auckland. EIGHT FINGERS "SEVERED. While explaining a cutting machine to o new workman at the Otago Preserving Company’s works, Burnside, on Wednesday afternoon, William Duncan, a single mar., aged 26 years, had the misfortune to have eight fingers amputated through his hands being caught in the machine. The four fingers of the left hand were cut off as the blade of the die fell, and the four fingers of the right hand had to be amputated on his arrival at the Dunedin Hospital at 4.40 p.m. The injured man resides at Green Island. SHOOTING TRAGEDY AT ST. KILDA. A sad fatality occurred at Musselburgh on Saturday,- when Edgar Towler Tvson. coal merchant, aged 29, and single, ended an attack of depression by shooting himself. Deceased, the holder of an M.C. and many other military decorations, was badly gassed at the war, in which, however, lie served for practically the duration of hostilities.

About 18 months ago deceased, who resided at 7 Princes street, St. Kilda, had given a blood transfusion to save a man who was in a critical condition, but since then his own health became indifferent, and at times ho was depressed. That was tho story related at the inquest conducted by Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., at the deceased’s residence at noon on Saturday. Sergeant Murray represented the police. Tn Coroner returned a verdict that death was due to a bullet wound, self-inflicted while in a depressed state of inind owing to ill-health.