INQUEST AT PIGEON BAY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 226, 17 September 1878, Page 2

INQUEST AT PIGEON BAY.

An inquest on the body of Edward Goodwin, who committed suicide on the 11th inst. by hanging himself in tbe slaughter-house at the rear of his dwelling in Pigeon Bay, was held on , Friday last, before Justin Ayhner, Esq., Coroner, and a jury, of which Mr James Pitcaitbly was chosen foreman. Margaret Goodwin, wife of the deceased, deposed she last saw the deceased alive on the 11th inst., at about twenty minutes ..past four o'clock in the afternoon. He had been strange for some time, and low spirited. When the : sons' returned from , work on the date mentioned, about halfpast six o'clock, they asked where their father was, to which she replied that she did not know. Had heard the; deceased, say ;" it was no wonder a fellow made away with himself when he was so" wretched." • • -•'■•" m I ' ....!>.' H. Goodwin, son of deceased, said that on his return from work on the llth.inst., about 6.30 p.m., he went to look for his father in the slaughter-house, and opening the door discovered the deceased hanging by the neck from one of the rafters. He immediately closed the door to keep out his mother, who was just hehind him, while his two brothers, who were close at hand, cut his father down. The deceased suffered from pains in the b6dy, and had told him that if-they'went to his head he should go mad, and hang,himself. Had kept a careful watch over his father for some time past. J, Goodwin, a brother, of the deceased, deposed that he was with him in Christchurch about a fortnight ago, and that deceased then suffered from extreme mental depression. Had heard him say he would do away with himself. Deceased said he would like to throw himself under the train, and that he felt bad. but did not know what was the matter with him. Price Goodwin deposed to having cut the body down, and found that deceased was then dead. J. Aylmer, sworn, said he had met the deceased on Friday, the 6th inst., when he fold witness that he (deceased) was going mad from rheumatism in the head, and was at times in great pain. The jury found a verdict to the effect that deceased had hung himself when suffering from temporary insanity.