UNKNOWN MAN'S DEATH

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 25, 21 April 1927, Page 9

UNKNOWN MAN'S DEATH

LEAP FROM GRAFTON

BRIDGE MESSAGE IN HIS COAT Ted Bell, I am going to commit suicide. 1 am going over Grafton Bridge. Jose McLennane. That was the significant message written in pencil on a piece of cardboard which was found on the body of a man who jumped off Grafton Bridge last evening. He is believed to be Joseph Lennane or Joseph McLennane, but inquiries are being made by the police in an effort to establish his correct identity. Just before 8 o’clock last evening, Mr. J. E. Inglis, of 52 Vincent Street, was walking over Grafton Bridge when he saw a man climbing the parapet above the deepest part of the gully. He shouted a warning, but there was no one near to prevent the man from making his fatal jump. Mr. Inglis immediately communicated with the police. Constables who went out found the body, terribly broken, lying in the undergrowth below the middle of the bridge.

The body was taken to the morgue, but by noon to-day it had not been identified. It is that of a clean-shaven man, about 35 years of age, dressed in working clothes. The message given above was found in one of the pockets of the coat.

A watchman engaged by the Auckland Automobile Association to watch the cars parked near Grafton Bridge, states that he saw a man walking about in Symonds Street. He appeared to be un-nerved and suddenly disappeared.

Several people called at the hospital this morning, but they were unable to identify the bodv.

The last suicide over the Grafton Bridge occurred a year ago last January.