N.Z. GIRL’S SUICIDE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 1

N.Z. GIRL’S SUICIDE.

Last Letter to Lover She Parted From. HAD BEEN VERY DEPRESSED. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received February 17, 10.40 a.m.) LONDON, February 16. “ I am going to gas myself. It is a small room and should not take long Please do not reproach yourself for what I am doing.” wrote Antoinetta Marquiretta M’Grath, aged twenty-six. an actress and journalist, formerly of Napier, New Zealand, to a former lover, living in Bristol. Miss M’Grath was found dead in a gas-filled room in a Bloomsbury board-ing-house. A verdict of suicide whilst of unsound mind was returned. The evidence showed that Miss M’Grath had several small debts. She was very attached to a lover from whom she parted six months ago, after which she was depressed and frequently threatened suicide. Her last letter added: “It is not the hopelessness of my relations with you. but the general state of affairs, which causes my suicide. You made me happy in the past and I do not want my death to make you unhappy. I cannot bear to be parted from you any longer ” In a letter to the Coroner, Miss MGrath said: “I wish my father and ( sister to know that, although I wrote little, I have always been happy in my heart to die.” “It is 3 a.m. Good-bye.” A diary, which was concluded while she was dying, describes her childhood in Otago and incidents in her later life. Miss M’Grath refers lovingly to her parents and friends, and then says: ‘‘lt is funny to be cutting strips of paper to cover the door and windows. I hope that the gas will not inconvenience people. I will wait until the next flat is quiet before beginning. All is quiet now, so I turn on the gas. Lt is getting stuffy and writing is a little difficult. I wonder what the next world is like. Death comes slowly. I think I will lie on my bed now. It is 3 a.m. Good-bye.” The signature was almost illegible.