A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12426, 16 December 1908, Page 6 (Supplement)

A DISTRESSING AFFAIR.

BODY FOUND IN ST. VINCENT

STREET ORCHARD.

ILL-HEALTH CAUSES SUICIDE

(From "The Colonist," Nov. 30 )

Last evening, about a quarter to eight o'clock, Mr William Biddle, a well-known and much respected resident of St. Vincent . street, ..was found dead in tho orchard property known as Brown's, situated on the hillside in St. Vincent, street, opposite the railway line, and near tothe". junction of Parcre street with St. Vincent street. Mr . Biddle lived .in St. Vincent street behind tbo- '■ railway station, and it appears that ho left homo in the forenoon with the intention of making one or two business calls, and he also spoke of going to the brickworks to interview someone who had heen reported to him as on the lookout for a house property. It is stated that Mrs Biddle j spoke to him about the necessity for spraying the fruit' trees round about the house. He met Mr B. Earl, who leases Brown's orchard, in the street about } a hundred yards below tlio orchard, j and asked him if he had procured any j arsenate of lead for spraying. Mr j Earl replied that he liad still some j loft from last season, which he would uso- before getting fresh. He also, asked Mr Earl if he knew a man at the brickworks who kept his mother, as he understood that this man was. n-skiup; ahout a houso he liad recontly sold, and ho would try and sell him a big house (the one Mr" Biddle. was himself occupying). He then left Mr; Fiirl turning up the street in the direction of - the brickworks. Mr Earlc did not watch him, and cannot say whether or. not he then turned into, the orchard.Mr Earl heard no more till towards evening, when he learned that Mr Biddle had not been home to dinner, and in the afternoon Mrs Biddle, becoming anxious, had niade enquiries, and later on she, in company with her sister, proposed visiting the orchard in consequence of what had boon said about spraying. My Earl, in company with Mr Mallamo, then went to the orchard, fortunately pre- . ceding Mrs Biddle, whom they fourid . at the foot of the hill as they de- ; scended after discovering the body. ' t The police and Dr. Bett were: communicated ivith, and tho doctor found the body cold and stiff, death having taken place, some hours earlier. The body was discovered about two hundred yards up the hill above a hawthorn hedge which divides the property, and not far from an open shed. ' in which Mr Ear) kept a jar _ of avsenato 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 tlie cake of materialm the jar. A lump of arsenate was found in -one of deceased's coatnbekets, and there were traces of similar material about the mouth. The body was subsequently removed to the morgue, arid* an inquest will, of course, be held.. Mr Biddle was formerly in the railway service as an engine-driver. He resigned from service ahout 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 he 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 com-, fortable circumstances,: and his : worry . was'Mn regard to. his health', about which" lie ' 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;

•"" An inquest on*: the bodyof Mr William Diddle,- which was found lyjnpc in Brown's" orchard, St. Vincent street, on 'Friday, even ing, was held at the Cou'rthohse on Saturday afternoon, before Mr Ernest .E .Trask, J.P. (Acting-Coroner), and a jury, of which Mr"B. H. Moiler was chosen as foreman:"

Mr A. T." Maginnity attended on behalf of tlie relatives of the deceased. - ■•...'

Evidence "was. taken, no new facts being elictc.c). . •

After a -short- retirement, the: jury returned with a verdict that death was caused- by poison — arsenate of lead— self-administered during a temporary fit of insanity.