PECULIAR TRAGEDY

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 31 May 1923, Page 7

PECULIAR TRAGEDY

SUICIDE WHILE ASLEEP.

“It is possible that this unfortunate man was in a state of somnambulism and was guided by some sixth sense. This statement was made by Mr n. R. Oswald, the coroner, at a Paddington (London) inquest on a man wiio committed suicide by cutting his throat after making an attack on his sister. He was William Bond, aged forty, of Paddington, a hunchback. Bond was of a nervous disposition, and suiteiecl from shock caused by air raids. A verdiet of “Suicide while of unsound mind,” was recorded. Annie Bond, his sister, said tnat Bond went to sleep in his chair, and while she was reading she received several blows on the head. “I looked round,” she said, “and my brother Stood bv with a mallet in his hand. He was asleep undoubtedly, for his eyes were closed and he did not speak to me. He followed me down the passage, and I ran into tlie\street screaming for assistance, but the passers-by took no notice of me. “I returned to the kitchen and found my brother again sitting in his chair, apparently fast asleep. I slapped his face and endeavoured to wake him without success. I left the room for a few moments, and when I returned he was lying on the floor with his throat cut.” • Miss Bond added that her brother had never shown signs of insanity, but he walked in his sleep. She once stopped him from climbing through a window when he was in a state of somnambulism. Dr' John Spurway said that he believed Bond was asleep or dreaming when the tragedy occurred. The coroner stated that he had not had a case like it among the thousands of deaths into which he had inquired during his long career. “A self-inflicted injury of that nature during sleep is _ conceivable but very exceptional,” said an eminent doctor. “The man would be in an automatic state, and would not know what he was doing. In epileptic cases it would bo more understandable.” Cases of a similar nature have at times been disclosed in the coroner’s Court. The most remarkable recently was that of Mr A. E. Bonhnin-Carter, of Bushey, who was thought to have shot himself while asleep. Mrs Bon-liam-Cartor afterwards said that her husband had previously informed her of his having recently awakened to find himself playing with a revolver.