A DETERMINED SUICIDE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 200, 2 December 1910, Page 5

A DETERMINED SUICIDE

AN OLD MAN'S PREPARATIONS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. An old man named John Thomas Gardner committed suicide by hanging himself at Lyttelton this morning. He was an old age pensioner, about 70 years of age, and was well-known in Lyttelton, where he worked as a carpenter. He lived by himself in a little cottage, and when the milk-boy called this mornin'g he received no answer. On opening the door he was startled by seeing th» body of the old man hanging by a rope. He rushed away, and informed the police, who on arrival cut the body down. The old man had probably been dead for some time, as the body was quite cold. Gardner was blind in one eye, and he had been troubled for some time by failing sight of the other. It is considered that fear of becoming 'totally blind had preyed upon his mind. - The old man had gone about the affair in a very determined manner. By standing on a chair placed on his bed he had torn away the scrim and paper in the ceiling, and had fastened the rope to one of the rafters, and, after securing the other end round his neck, had stepped off the chair.