ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19451, 28 March 1933, Page 9

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

INFATUATED WITH WOMAN. YOUNG MAN PLEADS GUILTY. When some visitors to Caroline Bay on Wednesday last saw a young man writhing in pain they summoned the caretaker, who surmised that poison had been taken and administered an emetic in the form of salt water. The man was admitted to hospital, where it was found that he had taken strychnine, and as a result he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, before Mr C. R. Orr-Walker, S.M., charged with attempted suicide. Accused, James Fortune Anderson, aged 21, who appeared pale and weak, pleaded guilty, and was remanded in custody until Wednesday for sentence. Senior-Sergeant Mathieson outlined the circumstances leading up to accused's arrest, and stated that it was admitted by accused that he had purchased four grains of strychnine on the representation that he required it to poison a dog. Perusal of accused’s correspondence showed that he was a Flock House boy who had come to New Zealand some years ago. He had previously attempted to commit suicide in January by jumping into the River Avon, in Christchurch, and he had stated that both attempts on his life were due to infatuations with women. In the case before the Court, he said he had fallen in love with a married woman, and because he was unable to marry her he had decided to end things. He had expressed his intentions in a note left in a pad at the place at which he was staying. The night prior to his taking strychnine he had consumed a bottle of disinfectant. Questioned by the Magistrate, accused admitted all the statements. The Magistrate said that as accused had already made two attempts to end his life, he would consider the case on receiving a report from the Probation Officer. The Probation Officer (Mr G. McKessar) undertook to make inquiries in Christchurch regarding accused, but he was not prepared to recommend him for probation.