MELANCHOLY SUICIDE. LETTER TO DECEASED S BROTHER. NO FEAR OF TORMENTS. Napier, this day.

Te Aroha News, Volume VIII, Issue 394, 17 August 1889, Page 5

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE. LETTER TO DECEASED S BROTHER. NO FEAR OF TORMENTS. Napier, this day.

J. P. Balle, formerly captain of theschooner Frank Guy, and retired from a seafaring life with a competence, committed suicide by shooting: himself with a revolver. The deed was done on Sunday night, but, living by himself, was only discovered yesterday afternoon. He has -been suffering from low spirits. On a table a letter was found saying he preferred going to hell than to where ranting, howling Salvationists were to he found. He did not dread the future. The following is the text of the letter written by Captain Balle, found in his room after his suicide, addressed to his brother :—: — " Well, I guess I hare run the length of my tether and failed. I have nob been at all well for a long time and seem to get worse. Sometimes I feel quite giddy and feverish. Perhaps I could get well again by going to the Hospital, only to get sick again. I think it far the best plan to pack up and avoid ifc all. I would have done ifa long ago, only it requires courage. We have all the instinct to cling to life, miserable though it may, be ; expecting something which never comes. At any rate in my case there can be no crime. No one is depending on me for a living ; no one will regret my departure. I was never blessed with the gift of making friends. ' ' I found outyears ago that I was a crusty, disagreeable fellow, whose company people did nob much care for ; so J have kept pretty much to myself for the last five years 1 think that the blow I had many years ago has had a lot to do with it. I could never torget her. I never told you much about it— well, never mind ; let it die with me. " Life has not been a pleasure to me for many years, and I am sure there is no pleasure to look forward to in poverty and a miserable, lonely old age. I reckon it is far more sensible to pack up and skip now, before I lose what little I have, than wait till it is all gone. What little I have will help you on your dreary journey. You may be able to take in a reef and sail a little easier. You will find a will in a tin in the top drawer. " I know your troubles will be that I shall go to hell. Well, if I believed in such nonsense I should prefer that place to the company of idiots, ranters, Salvation howlers, etc. Well, you and I never agree on that point, but you remember what I told you before, that the only difference between us is this. You try (as I did for years) to make yourself believe that you know all about the future, and I have come to the conclusion that I know nothing at all about it. I have tried to do what is right and sometimes failed. I never posed for a saint. "The future I dread not ; and the eternal Sabbath with psalm singing and harp playing I have no wish for. Yet, if the Sabbaths were the same as when we were at Home, with music, singing and dancing, I would say ' yes ' by all means ; but the English Sabbath — no thank you. No, that would be hell indeed, a purgatory. Well, you will pUase me by wearing no crape." There was no fear of deceased dying in poverty, as he had land and property in Napier, money in the bank and at interest. Deceased was a Dane.

Bunched-up overskirts are going to be worn. They are in exact imitation of a Dresden-China shepherdess. H „ An easy way to spoil the evening meal is ' for each member to tell the sad tale of all that has gone wrong during the day.