ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 693, 8 September 1876, Page 3

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE.

The Wellington Evening Pout, of the 4th, says :

A painful sensatioD wag caused in town this morning by the rumor that a man had shot himself near the railway station. This report proved only too true. It appears that a man working on the railway noticed a person walking along the road and behaving in a very strange manner. Suddenly the latter drew out a revolver and aimed it at his left breast. The witness at once rushed forward with the intention of arresting the hand of the would-be suicide, but the interposition came too late, for instantly the revolver exploded, and its contents were lodged in the body of its owner, who provpd to be an Italian named Pietro Corrado, who had been some months in the colony, and had been employed latterly as a Government messenger in the Public Works Department at a salary of 6s per day. On being picked up he was found to be all but speechless, and evidently bleeding inwardly. He was removed at once to the Hospital, where he was carefully attended by Dr Johnston and Mr Monteith, but his case was considered almost hopeless, He spoke a few words in Italian, apparently in allusion to one of his fellow-messengers, who he said had driven him to suicide by making a false charge against him. A letter which was found on Corrado, addressed "To anyone who shall find me," bears out this impression. The letter ran as follows :—"To anyone who shall find me—l die victim of those who so unscrupulously have darked around me with the most heinous and false charge. I hope to find in Heaven right justice, what I couldn't have got among men on this earth. The unfortunate P. Corrado. Wellington, this 3rd morning of September, 1876." It seemed that lately a letter despatched from the Public Woiks Office miscarried, only the envelope reaching its destination. On a search being made, the letter itaelf wasdiscovered in the waste paper basket. The only circumstance which in any way connected Corrado with the affair was that on the letter being examined, it was found to have some of his handwriting on the back. It is stated that Corrado was in the habit of scribbling sentences in English and Italian on any loose pieces of paper he got hold of, and it is conjectured that in this case the I writer of the letter hastily closed up the I envelope without inserting the letter, and j threw the letter by mistake into the basket, « where it was picked up and scribbled on by Corrado after his usual custom. This conjecture, however, is not supported by the evidenceat pre.-e t procurable. Unfortunately owing to some remarks made by the other messengers, he beciime possessed with the idea that he would be charged with stealing the letter, and this fear preyed on his mind, ultimately leading to his attempt at self-ties truction. Corrado was well educated, and had been employed as interpreter to the Italian immigrants who arrived by recent vessels. The unfortunate man's conduct, prior to the committal of the deed, did not indicate any intention of his doing harm to himself, except in one instance, and then the news of his attempted suicide came simultaneously with the suspicion that he had a design upon his life. For some time past he had lived with a countryman or his own, Mr Agorio, who has a store in Molesworth street, and to him and others he had expressed himself as deeply hurt at being rudely excluded from the Government Buildings on a charge of which he was innocent, and he mentioned the name of one official with whom he felt particularly aggrieved. Whether or not hu was turned out of the Buildiugu in the manner stated may remain to be seen, but it ia alleged on other authority that orders had been given that he should not be permitted to be on the premises. During Sunday, he betrayed no unusual manner, or signs of melancholy. He had been engaged by Mr Cemino, who lives nearly opposite the Hospital, to teach his children the Italian language ;, he had dined with Mr Cemino in the afternoon, and in the evening he went to Church service with him and his family. After returning to his lodgings, he had apparently sat up all nights writing letters and preparing packages of small items of personal property as mementoes to friends. One of these was addressed to Mr Cemino, and another to the Besident Agent at Jackson's Bay, Mr M'Farlane, whose guest he had lately been when on a visit to that locality, in company with others of his countrymen. Early in the morning he told his landlord, Mr Agorio, that he need not prepare any breakfast for him, but suspicion was not aroused until a later hour, when some letterß were

found lying on his table. Almost immediately afterwards the information was conveyed to Mr Agorio that he had shot himself.

Very shortly after he was seen to shoot himself, which he did almost within view of the hospital, Sergeant Ready was present with the hospital authorities, and had him conveyed to that institution. He has continued weak and sinking, but apparently without loss of intelligence, and has repeatedly said that he wished to die, as it is to be feared he will do. The bullet seems to have entered the left breast beneath the heart, and the rapidity of the effects will much depend upon the direction which it took. The suspicion is that he is now dying, if he is not already dead, from the effect of internal hemorrhage, caused by the selfinflicted wound.