YOUNG MAN'S DEATH.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 2, Issue 133, 3 October 1913, Page 2

YOUNG MAN'S DEATH.

" Driven by Horrible Impulse." The Hunua Sensation. Ad inquest touching the of tli3 youn* man Percy Butler, who was round wiih a cut throat one evening last week on hia father's farm at Hunua, n?ar Papakura. was helJ before the coroner, Mr E. C. Cutten, S.M., 01 Wednesday. Jamdß Butler, an aged man, farmer, of Hunua, fluid the cLceassd, hia son, wa3 a labourer, and had bcei working at home for the witness. His health was good. Very often of hta he had bsen to the village a good deal, but witness never detected signs cf drink on him. On returning he would drink a lot 0? water. On Sunday, September 21st, he came ti witness just after dark and asked him if be had any money. Witness replied that he had, and asked deceased what he wanted money for. He replied that he was g0i.13 to the Labour Department in Auckland to look for employment. Witness gave him ovei £2 in money, and his son went away until Tuesday right, when he returned after dusk. He appeared to be till light, but did not ray whether he had bsen to town. Oa Wednesday he helped to plant some potatoes, and on Thureday forenoon was among the sheep, returning about mid-day. He said that he (witness) was going 10 be taken up at the Supreme Court for telling people in Papakura that th*y had been 1 oking in windows. Waving his hands, he went to his brother's claca and told the latter that they were all going to be killei, that peoplaj had come and put poison in the water, and the cattle would be poisoned He said that they would have them (the family) in the pictures in Auckland. Shortly alter dusk on Thursday be saw in n paddock a dark object approaching the house, and occasionally failing dawn. Witrcss, on getting within a half chain's distance, lecognised his son, and the latter pointed to his throat which was cut. Witness said, "Did you do this, Percy? and his son said, "Yes." Percy was abla to walk to the house, and witness wtnt for a doctor, who, on arrival, ordered the removal ot the patient to the hospital. His son later was quite consciou?, and answered the doctor's questir.ra by moving his head. It was 6 o'clock next mornirg before ho l.'ft for the hospital, Witness subsequently found a razjr near a pool rf blood in the paddock where he ;aw him tie night before. Deceased was 27 years cf age, being born two ycara refore the Tarawera eruption.

L)r Maquire, medical superintendent or the Auckland Hospital, said that the deceased wa3 admitted to the hospital at abcut 2.25, p.m. go September 26th, with a history of having cut his throat the previous evening. There was a large horizontal wound in the neck. The patient was bleeding quickly through tha wcur.cl. On the day following his admisjion, be was given a general anaesthetic, and the posterior wall was'sewn tip. It was impossible t3 treat the anterior wall similarly. The patient resisted all efforts to feed him, and apparently had made up him mind that he would die. When witness asked him the reason for doing what he had done, the patient taid that he had b:cn seized with a horriMe impulse. Witre3S considered him to be in a very depressed stata of mind, and at the time of committing the act he was probably of unsound mind. He gradually grew weaker and died at 7.45 p.m. on the 29ih ina\

Iho cause of death was hemorrhage resulting from a cut throat. The Coroner returned a verdict of death from the cause stated by the medical witness, and found that deceased inflicted the wound while of uusound mir.d.