LEAP TO DEATH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 904, 22 February 1930, Page 1

LEAP TO DEATH

TRAGIC SUICIDE OF. LORD WESTBURY "CURSE OF THE PHARAOHS?** United P. A.—By Telegraph—Copyright Reed. 12.30 p.m. LONDON, Friday. Lord Westbury, clad in his pyjamas, fell 70 feet from the seventh floor of his flat, St. James’s Court, at 7.30 o’clock this morning. He crashed through a glass canopy and knocked down a charwoman. Lord Westbury, who had been in illhealth and whose condition required alleviation by drugs, was attended by day and night nurses. He sent one from the room just before the tragedy. He has been worried about the recent death of his heir, the Hon. Richard Bethell, who was associated with Mr. Howard Carter in the excavations . of King . Tutankhamen's tomb in Egypt. From this a discussion arose regarding the “Curse of the Tombs of the Pharaohs. At the inquest the coroner returned a verdict that Lord Westbury committed suicide while of unsound mind. He read letters stating: "I really cannot stand any more horrors.” Richard Luttrel Pilkington Bethell was the third Baron Westbury. He was born in 1852, and in 1882 married Lady Agatha Manners Tollemache. Previously he was a lieutenant In the Scots Guards, retiring In 1879. Lord Westbury’s only child was the Hon. Richard Bethell, whose death a short time ago revived the rumours and stories of the series of mysterious deaths which has been associated with the opening of the famous Tutankhamen tomb In Egypt.