BOY’S TRAGIC DEATH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 2 October 1934, Page 11

BOY’S TRAGIC DEATH.

Hanged After Reading Books of Sensational Type. MEMBER OP “CRIME CLUB.” (Specitil to the “Star.”) LONDON, August 22. | At an inquest at Dover on the body > of Samuel George Alfred M’Ghie, six- ! < ■J teen, of Clarendon Street, Dover, it was i [ stated that the lad, . who was found > ; | hanging, was a member of a “ crime club” attached to a library from which : ! he borrowed books. - Police Constable’ Horn said that M'Ghie’s eleven-vear-old sister told him - that her brother was behind the cup- | board door in his bedroom. The wit- j ness found the boy hanging with a i - j piece of thin rope round his neck, one ] - j end being fastened over the top of the j 1 door and held by the door, whiefc ! - stopped it from slipping. In the living- j room he found a novel about night- ; : mares. ; Inspector R. E. Pay, of th 6 Dover i Police, stated that he had examined i the book and read a story. This told : of ghost stories, and ended by the j - occupier of the house hanging him- j self. Another story told of a case of . i an untimely death. ; : I The witness added that he found ) that the boy was a member of what ' ; , j was known as a “ crime club ” attach-J j ! ed to a library from which the boy had \ .j a book a week. There were indenta- j ]; tions on the top of the cupboard door, ' , j suggesting that experiments had beerH ’, made as to what weight a rope would [ | carry and its effect on the experi- I : , menter. The books with which the bov ! had been filling his mind confirmed his ; . (the inspector's) theory that he had j ' I teen experimenting, and the conditions f. II suggested sudden impulse rather than i j premeditation. j | Dr 11. Stevens said that the inspec- ; , 1 tor’s theory was borne out by his own I ! examination. lie had attended M’Ghie b * j for small ailments, and found him a 1 rormal, healthy, nice lad. Edmund Horace Marsh, manager of 1 the grocery stores- where .M’Ghie work-:' ; ed as an assistant, said that he was one ! i cf the smartest lads he had. i | The Deputy Coroner (Mr R. E. . ] ' Pain) said that the boy was apparently , obsessed with the books he had read. , ' , and particularly with the incident of 1 , the man hanging himself. • He had pos- ; . i siblv tried to experiment on the same i i i lines. The jury might have some obser. j, ! ; rations to make for the public good as 1 : : to the too-easy way in which boys , : i ; could get hold of the type of books j ■ • j referred to. I • The jury returned a verdict %of j ■ “ Death by misadventure.” They added i: , a rider advising young people to refrain ] : i from reading such types of novel, and • : ; appealing to parents to restrain their i- : children from bringing such books into ‘ . their homes.