A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12411, 28 November 1908, Page 2

A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

; BODY FOUND IN _ST, VINCENT : I SXUEEX OHCIIAIID. j ! A SUPPOSED SUICIDE. ! Last eyeumg, about a quarter to ; eight o'clock, Jlr William Birdie, a ; i vHI-known and much respected resi- • dont of St. Vincent street, was | found dead in the orchard property known Us Brown's, situated on the hillside in St. Vincent street, opposite the railway line, and near to the juhfctlon of Parere 1 street, with. St. Vincent street. Mr Biddle lived in St. Vincent street behind the railway station, and it appears that he left home in the forenoon with the intention of making one or two business calls,' and he also spoke of going to the brickworks to interview j someone who had been reported to j him as on the lookout for a house j property. It is stated that Mrs Biddle i spoke to him about the necessity for j spraying the fruit trees round about j j the house. . ! i He met Mr . B. Earl, who leases ! -Brown's orchard, in the street about i a hundred yards below the orchard, j and asked him if he had procured any arseuate of lead for. spraying. Mr Ear) replied that he had still some left from last season, which he would use before getting fresh. He also j asked Mr Earl if ho knew a man at the brickworks who kept his mother, | as ho understood; that this man was asking about a house he had recently sold, and he would try and sell him la. big house (the one Mr Biddle was. himself occupying). He then left Mr Earl turning up the street in the direction of the " brickworks. Mr Earle did not watch him, and cannot say whether or not he then turned into the orchard. Mr Earl heard no more till towards evening, whfen Jie learned that Mr BiddJe had nob been homo to dinner, and in the afternoon Mrs Biddle, becoming ansious, had made enquiries, and : later on she, in company with her sister, proposed visiting the orchard in consequence of what had been 6aid about spraying. Mr Earl, in company with Mr Mallamo, then went to the orchard, fortunately preceding' Mrs Biddle, whom they found at. the foot of "the hill as they descended after discovering the body. The police and Dr. Bett were comnumicated with, and the doctor found the body cold and stiff, death having taken place some hours earlier. The body was discovered about two hundred yards up tlio hill above a hawthorn hedge which divides the property, and not far from an open shed, in which Mr Earl kept a jar of arseuate of lead covered over with some dry grass. The jar had been taken from the place in which it was hidden, and it was apparent that a lump had been cut out of the cake of material in the jar. A lump of arsenate was found- in one of deceased's coat pockets, and there were traces of similar material about the mouth. ' '•■•>' The body was subsequently removed to the morgue; and an inquest will, of course, be held. Mr Biddle was formerly in the railway service as an engine-driver. He resigned from service about five years ago, and' complained then of his nerves having broken down. For several years past he has suffered severely from insomnia, and during the past week has suffered more than usually, as lie was worried about the failure of a business trip to Christchurch. He had been taking very little food latterly, practically none yesterday, and was looking very unwell. Mr Biddle was in fairly comfortable circumstances, and his worry was in regard to his health, about which he had taken medical advice from time to time. Great sympathy will be felt for Mrs Biddle, who is left With a family of three very young children.