Guitar Prelude to Youth’s Suicide

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 786, 5 October 1929, Page 32

Guitar Prelude to Youth’s Suicide

PLAYED TO FRIEND BEFORE TAKING POISON j DRAMATIC SCENE IN WOOD An Intensely dramatic story of a brilliant young student's tragic end, j and of his 15-year-old girl friend's unavailing efforts to prevent him com- j mitting suicide, was told at a recent] j inquest in Kent, England, on Donald j Alfred William Cook, aged IS. A hint of a love disappointment was i given in the evidence, mention being j made in three letters—which were I not read in court —of Cook’s associa--1 tion with more than one girl. Cook, who was captain of Dartford | Grammar School, was found fatally I poisoned in a house off the Sidcup- j Dartford by-pass road. His father, Mr. S. E. Cook, told the ] coroner that the boy was of a quiet j disposition, and had been very happy ] until the last few weeks. Lately he j had semed depressed at times. I “'Have you any idea what was on j j his mind ?” asked the coroner. Mr. Cook replied that he had not, adding that in course of chats with his son the latter would sometimes go deeply into psychological subjects. "He seemed to think deeply—too deeply—and carried me often out of my depth. He got out of his own depth, j j too,” said Mr. Cook. About a month ago, said the father, j continuing his evidence, the boy en- j lered for an examination, but failed in i Latin. He took this to heart, but gave j uo sign that he contemplated committing suicide. Reference was made to three letters which Mr. Cook found in his son’s ; bedroom. These were not read, and j were stated to contain nothing in the ! form of a farewell. Mr. Cook said he knew his son had been keeping company with a girl for about two months, but he had heard nothing ; bout any engagement. ‘‘He told me that he had asked her to corqe to the house, but she never ] came. Last March he told me that she I had given him up, and this seemed to ] depress him more.” j On the day of the tragedy, said t Mr. Cook, his son appeared quite I normal, and in the evening went out

in bis car to take electors to tbe polling booth iu a local by-election. Girl’s Dramatic Story Dramatic evidence was given by Violet Gibbins, a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who said she had been friendly with Cook in an ordinary way for about a year. She thought him a cheerful boy. On the day of the tragedy, Miss Gibbins continued, she saw Cook on her way from school, and he asked her to meet him in the evening. “He met me outside my home,” continued the girl. “He was in the car, and we went electioneering till 7.00, taking voters to the poll. Donald then said that he was going to Dartford to a friend’s house to get his guitar. We did so. and then drove in the direction of home. “Suddenly he pulled up and said, ‘I am fed up with life': then we sat down on the embankment, and he took out his guitar. He played one tune and then showed me some sticks of white stuff in a matchbox. He said, ‘Goodbye.’ and dashed into the woods. “You Can’t Stop Me.” “For a moment, I thought he was just joking. I went sifter him a few minutes later, because I suddenly realised that he might have been serious. I caught him up and told him he must be insane. “He said, ‘You can’t stop me,’ and rushed away. Once again I went after him and caught him up again. He said ‘lf you don’t go back I will tie you up.’ He sat down and smoked a cigarette.” When first she noticed the matchbox, said Miss Gibbins, she noticed Cooke take out some white stuff and put it in his mouth. The Coroner: And when you went up to him again he was smoking a cigarette*.—-Yes, and suddenly he lurched forward on to his face. I rushed to the road aud the police were called. There was no reference in the previous conversation, said the girl, to indicate why he was “fed up with life,” and there was no mention of any girl. The conversation was of a general nature, and Cook seemed quite normal. Medical evidence was given that llie substance found in the matchbox was cyanide of potassium, death being due to poisoning caused by it. Mr. T. B. Price, the chemistry master at Dartford Grammar School, said that Cook had a good knowledge of chemistry and might have got the cyanide of potassium at the school laboratory. In the course of his summing-up, the coroner said he had three letters which he did not propose to read. They clearly indicated that Cook was keeping company with more than one girl. There was undoubtedly a friendship with one of these girls which Cook regarded as more binding than the general firendships he had. The girl referred to was not Miss Gibbins—there was nothing more than ordinary friendship between her and Cook. A verdict of suicide while temporarily inanse was recorded.