On Rag Bed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 916, 8 March 1930, Page 18

On Rag Bed

Wealthy Recluse Who Lived in Pc ve rty KM ARK ABLE stories of tiie habits of ail elderly jjj barrister, who lived as a in his 1--7nl roomed house in Ash- \ JF- ':i bury Gardens, South Kensington. and was found dead on a bundle of rags in the basement, were told at the inL quest, conducted by Mr. H. R. Oswald, j The subject of the inquiry was John j Wilkins, 71, whose nearest relatives 1 are two sisters. He was well known in the neighbourhood owing to his shabby dress, eccentric behaviour. and abusive tongue. A young domestic next door, seeing him for the first time go up the steps, thought he was a tramp, and stared at him suspiciously. He turned upon her with an epithet, aud, ! to her amazement, let himself into j the house. A tramp with a front- | door key so impressed this young ; Irish girl that she could never forget ! it, and she told the coroner all about ! it.

The state of affairs inside the house ! was worse even than the shabbiness jof its owner might have suggested. | There was not a stick.of furniture, aud not a bed to lie upon, and evi- | denc-e of an invasion of mice was | unmistakable. Between live and six ; hundred pieces of candle were found j about the filthly apartment, and many | of these had been nibbled by mice, jlt was by candle-light that the old j man groped his way about, the electric light and gas having been cut off j because he would not pay the accounts. The water supply remained as a sanitary necessity, but there was no indication that it was used for washing or drinking purposes. “Dead Marines.” There were stacks of empty bottles, in a row like a regiment of soldiers, as Divisional Detective-Inspector Horwell described it, and as there was not a glass or cup in the house, Mr. Wilkins must have drunk out of the necks. He was possessed of an income of probably about £SOO a year, and the house in which he lived he held upon trust under his father’s will. At the inquest, Emily Francischini, a married sister, living near Paris, stated that her brother was a barrister of the Middle Temple. As a young man he practised law in Northumberland. He was on the j Northern Circuit, but she did not know when he gave up his practice. His lather died in November, 1593, after which her brother became independent and retired. He first lived in looms at Fulham with another man She last saw him in 1911 in Paris when he stayed with her. He was then well and not at ail eccentric. All the letters he wrote were on nice paper written, and he sent pretty birthday cards. She could not account for the condition in which he was found, or for his living in a 12-roomed house with little or no furniture. He suffered from gout, but she never saw him the worse for drink. To her knowledge, her brother was not married, and had no children.

Sergeant Spiers described how he gained an entrance by breaking a window and unbolting a door. The condition of the house was filthy in the extreme. The body of Mr. Wilkins was lying on a bundle of rags and all around were dust and dirt of long standing. The man appeared to have been a heavy whisky and port drinker and he was in the habit of throwing empty bottles into the area next door. He -would often abuse people in the street from his balcony window. He used to walk with a big stick, and was not too steady his legs. He was a big-made man, and his legs appeared too weak for, his body. When was not on good'terms with his neighbours he would hammer at their doors with his stick. He repulsed anyone who sought to get into conversation with him, or w r alked alongside him. J Peculiar Conduct Mary Fitzsimmons, a servant next door, spoke of the alarm she felt at the strange conduct of Mr. Wilkins, who often became very noisy and a nuisance about midnight. Divisional-Detective-Inspector Horwell gave evidence that several dozen i port wine bottles were found. There 1 was much evidence on the walls of I Wilkins having slid down while in a j drunken state. On many occasions j he must have been In an unconscious j or drunken condition. There was a j stone projection at the bottom of the i fireplace, and it was apparent that this w r as a place on which the dead 1 man could have hit his head when falling on the rags. There were no signs of a struggle or bloodstains. Dr. Travel's, police surgeon, stated that apparently Wilkins had been dead about five days. On the head were two marks which were consistent with his having fallen on the stone projection. Death, in his opinion, was due to heart failure following the wounds on the head. P. C. Coward, the coroner’s officer, stated that on the body was found a wallet containing 15 £1 notes, as well as some loose money and stamps. There was also a cheque made out by Mr. Wilkins to himself for £lO drawn on the National Bank and dated April, 1927. In a dirty envelope were found 11 cheques, nine being blank, signed by Mr. Wilkins’s sister, with whom he had a joint account. The coroner recorded a verdict that death was due to heart failure, owing to the diseased state of the heart, and accelerated by injuries received accidentally.