DIED IN HER ARMS

NZ Truth, Issue 1213, 28 February 1929, Page 4

DIED IN HER ARMS

; (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative) Eighteen gTains of a certain, potent and poisonous drug were found m the internal organs of Harold Jackson Clark, a young business man, who had a shop m the Strand Arcade, Auckland, when they were analysed. Dr. D. N. W. Murray, the police surgeon, told Mr. J. K. Johnson, who had requested that the doctor be called at the inquest to give his opinion as to the possibility of Clark's death being due to accumulated action, that a quarter of a grain, or'ten minims, 1 would be the usual dose. .

A FATAL dose of the drug m question would be two grains, and this young man had taken enough to kill nine men, it would seem. The coroner's inquiry, held by Mr: "W. R. McKean, S.M., failed to give any enlightenment as to why Clark should have taken the last fatal- step. On the evening of January. 24, Miss Beryl Palmer, aged 22, of Grey Lynn, went to call as usual on Clark at his boarding-house m Symonds Street. It was her custom to call and spend the evening with him two or three nights a week, and this night she noticed that he was as depressed as he had been for the previous three weeks. M,iss Palmer, who appeared m court In deep, but becoming, mourning, told "If Anything Happens" - ■--'•■'■•■'■ ; .) the coroner that at one time during their long acquaintance they had made it a habit, to go to the pictures, but lately Clark had ceased to do so. : Though 6he had repeatedly asked him what was the matter, he had replied: "Just a little bit of worry; we business men have our little bits of worry." He had opened one bottle of beer on the evening of January 24, and drank it while she sat and read one of the daily papers. . Not long after, about 7 p.m., he left the room, and as he. went she noticed that the top of a whisky flask was sticking out of his hip pocket. She said she had often remonstrated with Clark on .Ihe question of drink, but without effect. ■ On Clark's return to the room he eaid he felt ill. "Beryl," he said, taking the girl's hand, "If anything should happen that Illlllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

would separate us you will not think harshly of me?" The girl confessed that she was puzzled, and asked him: "What should separate us?" He replipd: "You never know; there might be some worry or other." Presently, Clark's appearance began to alarm the young woman, and she helped him to the bed and made him lie down on it. "I thought he was ill, because he had been drinking; he began to breathe heavily and his face went very blue." As Clark did not improve, Miss Palmer rang up Dr. Tewsley, who told her he could not come just then, and told her ,to ring later if it was necessary. Other efforts to obtain a doctor were fruitless, and the troubled girl went for assistance to a ship's officer, who was m the house. ' 6 He mixed some salt and water, which was given to Clark. The officer said that he had seen plenty of men m that condition and. evidently thought it was due to drink. Miss Palmer tried to get Clark to (iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiuniiiii

Mimiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmniii talk, she said, but was not successful. He seemed to have dropped into a lethargic state and his eyes were closed. Questioned as to the conduct of Clark, she said that before he left the room the gramophone had been playing, and though he had not been dancing — she herself was sitting down reading the daily paper — he was swaying about the room. This she attributed to drink. When he had opened the second „ bottle of beer she had tried to dissuade him. A day or so before the fatal night, when she had been tidying his table, and had removed the table cover, she had found a small bottle. Asked what it contained, the deceased had replied that it was "only a. sleeping draught." Mr. J. K. Johnson, appearing for the family of the dead man, ventured the opinion that the actions of Clark were Miss Palmer's Story hardly those of a 'person who intended to commit suicide; thei'.e was the question of insurance involved,' and he requested that Dr. Murray, . might be called. When questioned further, Miss Palmer reverted to the time when she returned to the room after trying to get a medical man, and Clark was then very white m ; the face. More alarmed than ever, she placed her hand over his heart, and found that it had ceased to beat. Mr. W. R. McK'ean, reading, from the medical report," stated that there was nothing to indicate that the heart was abnormal, but some of the organs were congested. Dr. Murray, being" present the following day, was asked by Mr. Johns6n as to the possibilities of, the accumulated action of the drug the deceased had taken, and he replied that he could not say whether Clark had been m the habit of taking it over a period. From one grain upward would be a lethal dose. He could not say from his examination if the man had been m the habit of drinking, but, he added: "I saw a lot of bottles there." "His actions hardly show that he had, any, intention of committing suicide," said Mr. Johnson.

"He was dancing not long before, and he may have taken the drug to liven him up." "I can't say' that it was taken by misadventure," retorted the coroner; "m fact, it seems quite otherwise." A full bottle of the drug was found m his room, it was said, and this had on it the name of a well-known Glasgow firm. v Mr. Johnson submitted that Clark might not have been m a condition to know whether he was taking a small dose or an over-dose. "I would not give more than a quarter of a grain, or ten minims, as a sleeping- draught," remarked Dr. Murray a little later. "A sleeping draught is not supplied Sleeping Draught m this form — it might be m tablet form or liquid." This drug was not often used as a sleeping draught, said Dr. Murray; opium was tihe usual form of opiate used for thar purpose. While he was unable to give a finding of accidental overdose, Mr. McKean said he would bring m a verdict that death was due to an overdose of the drug self-administered by the deceased. To this lie added: "I haA'e no definite evidence of any pronounced worries." Had Harold Jackson Clark, for some considerable period, been a drug addict and had he procured his supplies ; by some underground channel, for the ' quantity which was found m his room ; was certainly very extraordinary? That is the problem. Why he should have taken . his life, if that was his intention, is still therefore unexplained.