ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 7

ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES.

SUICIDE AT MENTAL HOSPITAL. ( THE INQUEST. 1 At tho Porirua Mental Hospital yesterduy morning the Coroner, Dr. A. ' Jl'ArthUr, held an inqueJt concerning the death of Andrew John Somorville, I an elderly inmate of the institution, J who was found hanging from a rafter in ! tho hayloft on Thursday night. _ ' Tho evidence of Dr. C. Hassell, Medical Superintendent,' was to tho offcct j that deceased was transferred to Pori- J rua from the Napier gaol on July 7, 15)01. He had been a well-behaved patient. He suffered from mild dementia, and his reasoning power was not quite normal, but ho was never melancholy, and showed no suicidal tendency. After t-ca on Thursday, about 5.30 p.m., lio wont to the farm buildings with some other liberty patients. At 7.30 p.m. he waß missed, and on a search bijing made he was found hanging in tho hayloft. Deceased was unmarried, and it is believed that he has no relatives in tho Dominion. He was about sixty years of age. Ho had appealed unsuccessfully to the Executive for his liberty. A verdiot was returned that Somerville, while of unsound mind, committed suicide by hanging, no blame being attachable to anyone. "THE LANDLADY MADE A DEMAND." (Br Telegraph.—Press Association.! Auckland, December 2. Richard Ratcliffe, an elderly man, was found dead in bed at a boarc]inghouso with a half-emptied bottio of carbolic acid near his bedside. The landlady last evening made a demand for payment, which Ratcliffe 'apparently had a difficulty in 1 meeting. DROPPED DEAD ON A CAE. Christchuroh, December 2. At the inquest on Thomas Mitchell, who died suddenly on tho Opawa tram last night, the police report stated that deceased was believed to bo a broker, of Elliot Street, Auckland, but very little was known of him in Christchurch. Ho had only been in the city two or three days. Claudo Forrier stated that ho had known deceased for over twenty years. Yesterday he appeared to be in excellent' spirits and health. Witness had never heard him complain of being ill. Mcdical evidence was given by Dr. Symes, who had made a post-mortem examination. Ho' found the heart greatly enlarged and fatty, and' l all the valves were more or less diseased.' Deceased presented tho usual. signs of death from heart dis.ease. Tho coroner returned a verdict or death from heart disease. FOUND DEAD IN A CHAIR. Wailli, December 2. George Smart, hairdresser and tobacconist, was found dead in a cliair in his saloon. His premises had ty:cn closed up for two days, when the police forced an entrance last night. Tho , circumstances of death' are not rightly known. Tho police are investigating, i Deceased leaves a wifo and young fain- . iiy- • •