FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 226, 29 October 1887, Page 5

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDEA WELL-KtWWN RESIDENT CUTS HIS THROAT-

Mr Fr\nz Kummek, a gentleman well known in business circles here, attempted suicide at the Governor Browne Hotel at an early hour this morning by cutting histhroat with a razor. Mr Kummer came to> the hotel ten days ago, and took possession of a bedroom upstairs. His fellow lodgers learned from him thai he was a widower, and that he had three children, who were in a boarding-house further down Hobson-street. Mr Kummer frequently stated to Mr Houlihan, the landlord, that he was pressed for money, and for a week past he had acted rather strangely at times. He complained bhat he was constantly troubled about various matters, and the fact that his three children were unprovided for appeared to cause him much uneasiness. Once he told Mr Houlihan that he heard strange voices over his head when he was Avalking about, but he never expressed any intention of ending his career in the terrible manner subsequently attemptedMr Kummer sat in the billiard-room of the hotel for some time la^t evening. He read the newspapers, and, although he was ap parently in low spirits, nothing unusual was observed in his demeanour. He retired to his bedroom about 10 o'clock, when the hotel was closed. Mr Houlihan and Mr Campbell, a lodger, did not leave the hitting-room till about midnight, and Mr Campbell went to his bed in a roo.n adjoining that occupied by Mr Kummer. He did not go to sleep till about 1 o'clock, and was then startled by a gurgling noise. He got up immediately,, entered the room of a fellow- boarder, Mr Kerose, and found him awake. Both of them then Avent to Mr Kummer, and finding the door locked, they burstitopen. They found the occupant lying on his bed undressed, and with his throat cut, blood running from a very dangerous - looking wound. A razor, which had evidently been used, being stained with blood, was on a dressing-table at the head of the bed. Mr Kummer was very weak. He was unable to speak, although he attempted to do so. In the meantime, Mr Houlihan, who had heard the door being burst open, appeared on the scene, and other occupants of the hotel were aroused. Mr Kummer was placed in as comfortable a position as possible, and messengers tvero despatched for medical assistance and the police. Drs. Evans and Hooper, and Detective Herbert and Constable Martin, were promptly in attendance, and after Mr Kummer's injuries were dressed he was removed to the Hospital in a cab. This morning tho patient was progressing favourably towards recovery, ior, although the razor had penetrated the windpipe, the latter was not severed, and the injuries are not* expected to. prove fatal. Mr Kummer formerly occupied a prominent position as the senior partner in the firm of Kummer and Co., wine and spirit merchants, of Fort-street. Having become financially embarraf sed, he has for some time past been a commercial traveller in the same line of business, and continued failure has, it is believed, led to the perpetration of the ra&h act now recorded.