POISONED BY GAS.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17995, 14 April 1930, Page 5

POISONED BY GAS.

NEW ZEALANDER’S FATE. IN TOUCH WITH THE SPIRITS. United Press. Assn.—Elec. TeL—Copyright. LONDON, April 12. The body of an artist, W. H. Atkinson, who is believed to have come to London from New Zealand, was found in a lodging house in York, Marylebonc. Death had been caused by gas poisoning. Deceased had been living in York Street for some months. His landlady believed ho was a clerk from Manchester, but he was said to have relatives in New Zealand. He was of a very retiring disposition and the door of his room was always closed, though a light was visible there until the early hours"’ of the morning. Atkinson had claimed that bis work was inspired from the spirit world. Soon after his . arrival in .London he made friends in spiritualistic circles and had conversations with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. According to the Daily Express a hook dealing with psychic matters was found on a table beside deceased's bed. It was open at a verse describing a meeting with a spirit. Some of the lines had been heavily underlined with a pencil. An artist named W. H. Atkinson was for some time a resident of Wellington, where he suddenly developed an extraordinary faculty for drawing automatic pictures, supposedly under spiritual influence, although he had never received any lessons in drawing or design. Subconsciously lie is said to have produced most unusual drawings, and he also wrote automatically while he was in the same condition. . Mr Atkinson came to'the Dominion from Sheffield and took up a position in Wellington, and after he had been a short time there commenced to draw subconsciously. He did not go in a trance, but was said to be able to execute drawings without watching his hand or the paper. Most of his subjects were antique objects, such as early Roman galleys and warships. Only rarely did he reproduce modern objects. At first Mr Atkinson was worried by this power, which he did not attribute to spiritualistic influences, and he consulted a doctor. He then came to Auckland, where he submitted a number of drawings to Mr A, J, C. Fisher, of the Elam School of Art. It was on Mr Fisher’s advice that he returned to England. Prior to Mr Atkinson’s departure several firms had given him commercial work to execute, and this he had been able to do, using conscious effort, "successfully, although he had no knowledge of design. These drawings, it is stated, were not comparable to the unusual results he produced when he worked atuomatically.