GERMAN DOCTOR’S SUICIDE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3979, 12 July 1915, Page 3

GERMAN DOCTOR’S SUICIDE.

"I am passing out of this world voluntarily. I am now dying. I first | thought of hanging myself, but I • thought this a miserable way, and ; prepared to die in the Roman style. j Have cut my veins with a razor. I ; hope to die in about two hours.” This j remarkable letter was one of three ; which Werner Emanuel Hand, aged forty, a German doctor of philosophy, j penned before taking his life at Thornhill Square, Barnshury. At the j inquest Miss Marion M. Hood, a ; school teacher, of Bothwell, Lanark- ; shire, stated that Hand was a search- ;■ er of ancient history and a doctor of , philosophy in Germany. He had suffi- j dent means for all his wants. When she saw him last, at Christmas, he was depressed on account of the war. He had relatives in Germany but none in England. Deceased’s landlady said that he had lodged with her for the last four years, and was engaged in research work. Until the outbreak of the war ho, had “a seat at the British Museum.” For a long time he had not been out of the house, but re- ; mained indoors studying. His reason j for not going out was that his nerves ( were bad. A constable stated that he f found deceased hanging by a scarf at- j tached to the cupboard door. In ad- j dition to the scarf, a piece of boot- j lace and a piece of cord were around j deceased’s neck. In a basin was a j quantity of blood, and on the table . were a glass and . a poison bottle, j Both wrists bore cuts. A post mortem j examination disclosed no traces of poi- ! son. Death was due to hanging, said i a doctor, and the deceased evidently j attempted to cause death by cutting j his wrists, but ho could not have had any knowledge of anatomy, and, failing in his attempt, hanged himself. A verdict of felo de se was returned.