LABOURER'S SUICIDE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15456, 19 September 1914, Page 7

LABOURER'S SUICIDE.

AT WASH DYKE. THE INQUEST. 1 " I Yesterday morning about 10.20 the botiy ot a. nu.n was tound m a shir.gie pit about 20J yardi north ot "\\ aslulyKe Mat tun i'n the side ot the man railway line. The guard of the 10.5 a.m. train from north saw deceased with bloodstained iiaiuls, by the railway s.ui-, and intornu'd the stationmaster r.t '\\";;shilyke. Edward liogers. pjrter. was sent tip the l.ne and found the body ot" a lnp.it lying face ilownu ar !s in tile sliinfdo pit. Tile man was still breathing. H° informed the police at Timaru, an i on Mounted Constable J lay wood arriv.ng on the scene found life extinct. '•'he budy was conwved to the Donors ter Anns Hotel, and was found to bo tint of Thomas Carson.. a farm labourer. from Cat:!o Valley, aged about 39. . An inquest was held in the afternoon, before the Corom r, Mr V. G. Day. S.M. Senior-Sergeant Kins conducted the inquest. Edward Rodders. porter, said that from inforinat'on received from the guard of the 10.3 n.in. down "train ho proceeded to a slvng'e pt, north of \Vashdvke and found a man lyiii'z face downwards, in a pool ••f blocd. He was bre::'th"ng slightly at that time. "Wit ne<i= saw deceased about 12.45 a.m. that mom'ng on returning f'-oni Geraldine. losoph Peebles. f:-.rm labourer. AYashdvkr-. said lie saw demised standing in the shine'e pit about 9 am. He heard suneono crying out sliortlv afterwards, b-t it to bo so'i>e rh'ldrcn. Tie afterwards went to the slrng'o p : t- and ►"on-d deoe-sed I'-'ng fa-e downwards. He d'"d not interfere with the body in anv way.

.Mounted Constable Ilaywar.i spoke to finding llie body lying in a pool of blood in the siting;? pit. He turned the bcdv ov.-r anil found the throat out on each s ili" Tiioiv was an i-pen pocket knife held between tin- thumb and linger of the left h. iul. Deceased was quite dead thvn. but tho body was still warm. Ho found a bload-stanied pocket handkerchief in deceased's left pocket. _M:-.rgaret Carson, wife of deceased. sa!'.l that sito with her husband were eii.pHycd oa a farm :-t Cattle Valley. Fait lie. Hor hvsband had of late been n a very inuflrerent state of health and of an unsound mind. She decided to ltaro him mrd'cdlv exrmined, and cnmc to Tiniaru for thai purpose, staying with triends at H'uhfie'd. Her husband cot nut of ''el n'mnt 9 30 on Thursday evening saving he wou'd bo : n shortly afterwards. He was n "ong time away and she djseovered thir. he had shened away. With her friend she searched fch» streets of Tinmrii could nor find hm. Her lirsbmul said he might go down to thn harbour to see the sliijxs. l>r Dryden jr re medical evidence tbrtT deceased's throat was cut on both sdes s-Tcinrr the tissues. The c>ts «-or<> a'-ont th-re inches long. The ,wind run" w«<= not severed nor wns the f~>r-tM nH«rv. Ail the other vessels ■n-ri-f .covered r>nd deceased b'ed to ,Wh _ l,ad line! n 0 sleen for ' rl ~ Kronr-I>t ir a th-fc suicide wli'le temrwrarilv insine.