SUICIDE OR ACCIDENT?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18536, 5 April 1930, Page 8

SUICIDE OR ACCIDENT?

FURTHER EVIDENCE By Telegraph—Press Association. PALMERSTON N., April 4. Deceased’s younger son, John Price, stated that he was 16 years of age, and had passed matriculation. After dinner witness had settled down to do home work, while his father had been reading a humorous book. Witness did not remember having any conversation with his father before he retired to bed, beyond asking him the meaning of a word, and whether the clock was correct. He left the diningroom at about 9.5, leaving his father alone. His father had. switched on an electric water-heater outside the kitchen door. Witness had called out, “Dad, switch off my light,” and his father had complied. Witness thought his father had then gone to the bathroom, where it was his habit to undress. He later heard deceased walking in a passage and switching off the light in his room. Witness had not awakened until 8 o’clock next morning. In the morning he dressed in his bedroom, and then went to the kitchen to look at the time. It was then about 3 o’clock. Witness then went along a passage to the bathroom, and glancing into his father’s room saw him lying on the floor. He touched his father’s foot to wake him. The foot was cold and stiff, and he guessed it was death. Witness went immediately to the telephone and tried to get a connection with four doctors. He could not remember their names, but in each instance a woman had answered the ’phone. He remembered that two or three of the doctors had been engaged, and one was on holiday. He spent about three minutes ’phoning, and was unable to get any doctors. He then went across the road to Mr Nagel’s place. He said to Nagel, “My father is dead.” With Nagel and a Mr Brogden he returned home. Nagel succeeded in reaching a doctor, and when the doctor arrived he went into the bedroom with Brogden and Nagel. Afterwards a doctor had told witness that his father’s death was probably due to haemorrhage, following ah ulcerated stomach. Later a constable arrived. Dr. King returned with the constable and asked witness whether there was a gun in the house. He told the doctor there was a pea rifle in the garage, and this weapon had been procured. About five minutes later he was told that his father was shot, but he could not remember who had told him. He remembered a conversation with a constable at about 8.30 in the morning. He remembered remarking that he would have to leave High School in the meantime, but had said that his mother would be all right, because his father was insured. He had spoken to a little boy named Kay Wilson between 4.30 and 5 p.m., and had told him that his father was dead. Later he saw the boy Wilson again. Detective Quirke: “ Did you tell the boy your father was shot?”—“I don’t remember that.”

“Do you remember a conversation with Mr Nagel, when you mentioned the word ‘ hanged?’ ” —“No.” “Do you remember telling Miss Nagel that you could not be hanged?”—“Yes. She said ‘I would not like to come to be in your shoes, John,’ and I said, ‘I could not be hanged for that!”’ In replying to Mr Innes, witness stated that he had always been on affectionate terms with his parents. His father was on affectionate terms with, his mother. Witness knew his father’s life was insured. He remembered his father saying to his mother: ‘I am insured now. We have no need to worry about the future.” He had known that an insurance policy became void if a person covered committed suicide, although he did not know that the term specified w r as within 12 months. He did not know where he had obtained this information —it was just general knowledge. Mr Innes: “Were you out on your bicycle the night your father died?” Witness (after a perceptible pause): “No.” Mr Innes: “Why do you hesitate?”— “I am just recalling.” “Do you know any reason why your father should destroy himself?”— “No.” “He had no enemies as far as you know?”—“No.”

Mi* Innes: “Do I understand that you saw your father’s bare foot, touched it, and without further inquiry knew he was dead?”—“Yes.” The Coroner: “What was the reason? Had you seen him before?”—“l touched his foot. It was stiff and cold, and I knew it was death immediately.” Mr Innes: “You have nothing more to say about that?”—“No.” “Have you formed any conclusion how your father died?” —“My father would not kill himself.” “How do you know that?” —“Because he was in such good spirits. He was reading a very humorous book, ‘The Card’ by Arnold Bennett.” Mr Innes: “You say you were never out of the house that night. Can you explain why you did not hear a shot fired a few feet away?” Witness: “No. I sleep heavily on occasions, and I sleep sometimes with the blankets over my head.” To Mr Cooper, witness stated that he had gone only one step into the bedroom, and no further from that position. He could see the whole of his father’s body.

Mi* Cooper: “Did you say anything to him?”—“l couldn’t say. I don’t remember.”

The Coroner: “Did your father sleep on the floor without taking a mattress off the bed?”—“Yes.”

“Did you tell the boy Kay Wilson that your father was shot?”—“I am certain that I did not. I do not remember.”

“If the boy Wilson comes here and says you told him that your father was shot, would you deny it?”—“I would deny it.” One of deceased’s neighbours, Edward Wilson, stated that with his wife and Ross Meikle he returned home after midnight on the night of the tragedy. “While we were talking in the bedroom we heard a sharp report of a gun, followed by a squeal like that of a cat mortally wounded. This would be at about 12.50 a.m.,” said witness. Meikle went out on to the verandah, but returned and told witness that he could not hear anything, so they retired for the night. Coming home that night he had not seen any lights in Price’s house. At tea, at 6 o’clock on the day that the body was found, witness’s son, Kay, said: “Funny boy (John Price) said his father shot himself.”

Ross Nathaniel Meikle told the Court that he boarded with Wilson, next door to deceased’s house. On the night of March sth he returned home with the Wilsons about 12.30 a.m. They had had a view of one side of Price’s house at about ten minutes to one. Soon after they returned home they had been disturbed by the sound of a shot. Witness listened, but the night was still, and hearing nothing further he had gone inside again. At this stage the Coroner adjourned the hearing until 10 o’clock to-morrow.