WEEK-END TRAGEDY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20069, 16 October 1939, Page 5

WEEK-END TRAGEDY

MR. J. NELSON’S DEATH ONLY HOME FEW HOURS BODY FOUND BY FATHER Younger members of the sporting community and many other Gisborne residents will be shocked to learn of the death yesterday morning in tragic circumstances of Mr. John Francis Edward Nelson, aged 24, single, and, their deepest sympathy will be extended to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. Nelson, Willow street. The deceased, who had been on a pleasure cruise to Singapore for. the past two months, returned to Gisborne at 9.30 n.m. on Saturday and was full of good cheer when he arrived at his home, although he had complained of a . headache during the day. Until midnight lie was relating his experiences to his family and was left then to retire to recover from his journey from Auckland. Yesterday morning Mr. Nelson, sen., called his son and was shocked to find a note pinned to the pillow of the deceased’s bed. The body was found in the cow shed, a small calibre rifle being found lying nearby. Popular Sportsman The late Mr. Nelson received his education at the Gisborne High School and three and a-half years ago look over his father’s business as a carrier. He was well liked in the business community and made many friends in sporting circles, being a representative oarsman for many years in the Gisborne Rowing Club and a valuable member of the Wainui Surf LifeSaving Club, Gisborne Savage Club, BufTaiocs' Lodge, and Knox Church choir. His generosity was well known in all sections of the community and he was always ready to assist various organisations by providing the use of his lorry. The rowing and surf clubs owed much to Mr. Nelson in that direction and members will feel their loss greatly in the absence of one of so cheery a disposition. The deceased was an only son, and, apart from his parents there are three sisters, Mrs. W. Schultz, Gisborne, Mrs. Roland Jones, Pukekohe, and Miss Nocline Nelson, Gisborne. Verdict of Suicide Returned A verdict that the deceased had died from a bullet wound, selfinflicted, while suffering from mental depression was returned this morning at the inquest The acting coroner was Mr. E. Harris, J.P., and the jury consisted of Messrs. Henry Burton Gardner, foreman, Herbert Morris Hill, Norman Backhouse and Frank Wildish. The father of the deceased, John Nelson, a labourer, said that for the past- four years his son had been in ill-health and early in that period had made a threat to take his own life. At midnight on Saturday the witness retired, leaving his son, who appeared to be going to write a letter. At 8.30 a.m. yesterday the witness went to call his son and found an open letter on the bed, the letter being addressed to himself and his wife. The bed appeared to have been slept in. He gave evidence of finding the body in the cowshed about 150yds from the house, life then being extinct. There was a wound in the temple and a rifle was lying nearby. The deceased had no financial worries. Constable George Neale corroborated the evidence of the previous witness, and read a letter from the deceased giving his reasons for taking his life. The funeral will leave- his parents’ residence, Willow street, Mangapapa, for the Taruhcro cemetery, at 11 a.m. to-morrow after a short service.