DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1249, 31 July 1872, Page 3

DESPERATE ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.

A determined attempt at suicide was made at Wanganui on Monday last, by a man named James Gannon, formerly a private in the No. 1 Company 18th Royal Irish. The Chronicle says that it appears Gannon has been rather peculiar m his manner lately, but not sufficiently. so to excite any donbta of his sanity. On Monday night he called Father Tresaillet to. his bedside and told him that he (Gannon) was going to die that night. After praying with Gannon some little time and endeavoring to calm his fears, Father Tresaillet went into the Catholic Church next day for something he re* quired, and on returning to the cottage occupied by Gannon, he found the rodm door locked, and heard some strange noise Inside the room, which induced him to look through the key hole, •when a ghastly sight presented itself to his gaze, (iannon was standing up hacking his throat with a pair of scissors, and spitting out large .quantities of blood, father Tresaillet at once ran acrois the road to the Victoria Hotel and tried to rouse Mr Thurston, but could not succeed, whereon he wait and called. Dr Ebb*, who at oooe hurried to the scene of the attempted suicide, when he found Gannon standing up in the room with streams of blood issuing from his throat, mouth, and neck, and his bowels protruding through a long jagged out in the abdomen. Dr Ebbs managed to get the unfortunate man into bed. and then tent Father Tresaillet to wake up some ode at the Victoria Hotel to assist him. As soon as the doctor was alone,

and had his back turned to the patient whilst he prepared hk uutraments, toe Utter «{ot up noiselessly, and before the doctor could 'stop him, had ran outside into the back; ritfd. ■ Dr. Bbbi gay«. the alarm, and alter a long ■ swroh they tracked Gannon towards the back of. the Presbyterian Church where they found; ] him perched on the top of an iron fence, with his wounds bleeding prof usely, ; and and his bowels hanging out. After some time the wretched man was got back to his bed once more, and hU wounds sewn up. Whilst this was hiring dove, the doctor saw a piece of .flesh on the floor,, which, on inspection, proved to be a large portion of Gannon's tongue that had been out off with a rafcor. It seems '■ the wretched man first tried to puncture his carotial artery or jugular vein, with the point of the scissors, but failed to cut either, merely inflicting a deep punctured wound in the neck, close to the ear. He then took up the razor and cut as much off his tongue as he could reach, finally stabbing himself in the abdomen with the scissors, and cutting a long jagged wound in it, through which the intestines escaped. As soon as l)r Ebbs had finished dressing the wounds, Gannon was taken to the hospital on his stretcher; and now lies at that institution in a most dangerous state. It is not probable that he can recover, as peritonitis will be very apt to supervene, and end his sufferings before the end of the week.