LONELY MAJOR.

Waikato Times, Volume 101, Issue 16946, 8 November 1926, Page 4

LONELY MAJOR.

LAY DEAD FOR A WEEK An inquest was hold at Ilolhorn on Major Edward Ernest Henry Atkin. f>s, a barrister, of Cranlcigb House, Addlestone, Surrey, who was found dead in a room he occupied in Devonshire Street, BloomsburyMr Arthur Ernest Phillips, his stepson, said he last saw-Major Atkin alive on September 5, the day before he went, to London. Major.Atkin failed (o return, and he (Mr Phillips) ..went to London, and found his stepfather lying dead, fully clothed, on the bed. It was stated that Major Atkin had been dead from six to ten days. He was G feet in height and weighed about 20 stone. Death was duo to heart failure. The verdict was death from natural causes. The last person to see Major Atkin alive was Mrs Votta, who has occupied rooms in the same house for 13 years. “The room he occupied,” she said to a reporter, “was .next door to one of my rooms. The night on which lie was last seen he told me about his big .house in the country. He said he would be going there in a few days and would bring me some roses. “He occupied that room for four years, but no one ever visited him. I saw Mrs Atkin (the widow) for the first time at the inquest. “When he came here he always talked to me and my two little boys. “He would talk to me about Byron, the poet,, and quote from his poerns. He would talk, too, of his big-game hunting expeditions in India, but lie never mentioned his family during the four years he was here.”