Dead Man Found In Nurse’s Motor-Car

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1077, 15 September 1930, Page 1

Dead Man Found In Nurse’s Motor-Car

TE AROHA SENSATION JOCKEY CLUB SECRETARY From Our Own Correspondent TE AROHA. Today. A sensation was caused in Te Aroha yesterday by the finding by a night-watchman at G. 30 a.m. of the dead body of Mr. George Arthur Bush, 50, in a two-seater car outside Norana Private Hospital. An empty soda-water bottle was

found in the car. The bottle had contained whisky, and a fluid of a nature unidentified. Letters found on the clothing indicated Mr. Bush's intention of ending his life. The car was owned by Mrs. Haughton, a professional nurse temporarily on duty at the hospital. Mr. Bush was seen about town on Saturday afternoon and evening and appeared to be labouring under some mental strain. Mrs. Haughton went on duty at seven o’clock on Saturday, leaving her car outside the hospital, which she did not leave until after the finding of the body. At the iuqnest this morning before the coroner, Mr. J. Motley, August Lipsey, billiard-room keeper, said he last saw deceased about 7 o’clock on Saturday, when he came into the billiard-room and wanted to shake hands with witness. Witness was very busy and turned away momentarily. Mr. Bush walked out. He appeared flushed. This was possibly caused by witness’s unintentional neglect to take the proffered hand.

Hr. Wallace Main said Mr. Bush had been dead two hours when found. He was sitting upright in the car with one hand on the wheel. A postmortem failed to reveal the cause of death, though the stomach smelled slightly of aieohol and contained a thick brownish fluid which had been forwarded to the pathologist for analysis. A soda-water bottle found in the car contained a small amount of whisky, which would probably kill the odour of any other fluid that might have been taken with it. The inquest was adjourned pending the receipt of the analysis. Mr. Bush <was 50 years of age and was a married man with one son. He was an accountant and was secretary of the Te Aroha Jockey Club, the Te Aroha Trotting Club, the Thames Valley Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and the Te Aroha Building Society. In his younger days he was a Piako Rugby representative. An inquest will be held tomorrow.