Determined Suicide.

Manawatu Herald, 3 May 1904, Page 2

Determined Suicide.

BODY HANGING TO A TREE. While walking through the Victoria Esplanade reserve, Palmerston, on Sunday morning, Mr J. Morgan, manager of the Dairy Union Creamery, came across the gruesome spectacle of the body of a man hanging to the branch of a tree. Without investigating further Mr Morgan reported the matter to the police, who immediately proceeded to the spot and took the remains down. Evidently the body had been hanging there some considerable time. The face and extremities were much decomposed, the features being quite unrecognisable. On a rough estimate the police are of opinion the body had been there for at least three months. It was clothed in a light grey suit, in the pockets of which were a flask of whisky, half a bottle of beer, a doctor’s or chemist’s prescription (obtained in Wellington), and a new watch with Stewart, Dawson’s brand upon it. Beyond these articles and a small parcel of ham there WBB nothing to give a clue to identity. The remains were those of a man in the prime of life. The case is undoubtedly one of determined suicide. The bough from which the body hung was about eight feet high, running horizontally over some thick underscrub, and the deceased had evidently climbed up, tied a short stout rope in a running noose round his nsck, and jumped off. The fact that the rope was rotten and parted when the police handled'the body will giro some idea as to time that has elapsed since the deed was committed. —M. Times.