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A Body Found.

Three boya, named Pepperell, Mollow and Hollaud, reported to the police yesterday that they had found the body of a man in a paddock of wheat on the Burnsido Estate, abutting on the Pendalton read. The body was lying in a large bunch of thistles inside the fence, and the wheat showed eigna of the man having moved about, apparently to make a bed. A fivechambered revolver was lying across his knees, two chambers being discharged, the other three loaded. There was a wound in the left temple, and, besides a clot of blood in the right ear, there were marks of blood on the light side of the face and on the ground. The body was clothed in a black suit of good quality, and a tennis Bhirb, with a white silk handkerchief tied loosely round the neck. The man wore a hard hat. Twenty-nine cigara were in the pockets, and there was a quantity of white powder in one, with two revolver bullets similar to those in the revolver. There was also a pawn ticket, bearing the name of A. Horton, a portion of a steerage ticket " Auckland to Wellington, vid East Coast," and a letter addressed to W. H. Horton, 12, Cross street, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, besides various rings and keys and some coppers. There were no signs of a struggle. The police consider that the position of the body indicated that the deceased had shot himself while sitting down, and the body had fallen backwards immediately. The body is that of a man of about thirty years of age, five feet seven inches high, weighing ten stone, and the hands show that the man has done no hard work. The following is the text of the letter referred to, the writing of which was distinct :— " Anyone finding my body, do not let my poor old dad know what death I die. The shock would kill him and break his heart. Poor old man, we shall never meet again. I have been suffering — silently suffering — for some yeare now. It is nearly ended. I am not happy. Poor old man. He does not know my trouble. I have suffered sc silently. He will not even gnesa it. But; thank God, there ia a way out of it ; the only way out of it that I know. I havt tried other ways, but they are failures Do not let my old dad know how I die. Ie mercy, spare him that agony. Let bin think I had the fever and died then. II will be all right. Good-bye, old friend for ever." An inquest was held this morning at th< White Swan Hotel, before Mr E. Beethani on the body of the man who was founa shot at Fendalton. After hearing evidence of the identiGcation of the deceased as A. Uorton, by the papers found on the body, the Jury returned a verdict that the deceased shot himself.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18920118.2.51.1

Bibliographic details

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7182, 18 January 1892, Page 4

Word Count
493

A Body Found. Star (Christchurch), Issue 7182, 18 January 1892, Page 4

A Body Found. Star (Christchurch), Issue 7182, 18 January 1892, Page 4

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