ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXX, Issue 13045, 10 April 1913, Page 3

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

+ HORSE TRAINER TAKES STRYCHNINE. . i Constable Doyle, of Te Karaka, advised Senior Sergeant Hutton this morning that Thomas Butler, a horse trainer, had attempted to commit suicide ; by taking strychnine powders. It .appears that Butler, who was stopping at the Te Karaka hotel, was playing billiards during the evening, and there was nothing about his condition to indicate that he was m suoh a mood as would lead him to commit a rash act. He played with much skill, and some of his shots were brilliant. He went up stairs about 8 o'clock, and those he had been playing with Avere astonished at learning shortly after; wards that the man had taken strychnine. Everything possible was done lor the sufferer, and the effects of the poison , was such that it took several men to [ hold him down. His condition early ; this morning caused some alarm, but he • rallied slightly. Butler was brought m y to the Gisborne Hospital to-day by Con- > stable Doyje m Mr A. M. Lewis' motor [ car. The patient was conscious Avhen [ he arrived there about noon, and stated » he had taken three powders, although s only the papers of two were found. The ! powders Jne took consisted of the preparation used for condition purposes m connection with the training of horses. , They are muqh milder than the real strychnine. Enquiries from the hospital this afternoon elicited the information that tlie man wafc still m a critical condition. His wife and family are at presout m Napier,