A STRANGE SUICIDE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 57, 29 August 1911, Page 3

A STRANGE SUICIDE

. An inquest was held at the Court.'house \ I's.tordav morning concerning the , death (if the Maori named Poe Mo- . lumii. a farmer near Waitara, who died in tilt- New Plymouth Hospital from wounds alleged to be sulf-iullictcd with on axe, on Friday morning. Dr. IT. A. McCleland, acting-Coroner, conducted the inquiry, and the following jury was empanelled:—Messrs. Ceo. Griffiths (foreman), K. A. Oolding, 11. Hurle, S. J. .Jackson, A. Lovegrove, and H. Ward. Totara Pui, Okawa, identified tlie body as that of a nephew of his, about 45 years of age. For some time past he had been very eccentric, sometimes he would speak and sometimes he would not. Witness did not see him on Friday prior to the accident, hut was one of the party who helped to convey him to the hospital afterwards. Deceased did not .-.peak from the time they put him in the express until they got him to the hospital. To witness' knowledge deceased had r.ot previously attempted to injure] himself. Pni'y Pue. sixteen years of age, said the deceased was her father. She lived with him at Okawa. On Friday Morning he had breakfast pretty early, and she did not see him until after ten o'clock, when he was walking up from a piece of bush which they could see from the house. ITe was staggering, lie climbed over a fence near a haystack and then fell down. She ran to fetch assistance, and then went with another Maori to where her father was lying. In the meantime her mother had run down. Her father was covered with Wood and did not speak to anyone. To the Coroner: She had never heard her father say lie would kill himself. At times he had been very peculiar. He went away on Friday morning without speaking to anyone. John Patu, farmer, of Okawa, said that at times deceased was melancholy and seemed wrong in the head. He had . not beard him say he would kill him-Ri-'f. On Friday morning, between 10 a'l 11 o'clock, he was working afoout h-'f a mile from the homestead, when Polly Pue came for his assistance. They went down to the place where the deceased was. lie was lying on" the gTound. His head was all covered with blood and he did not speak. Witness helped to l take him to the house on a sledge. A doctor was. fetched from Waitara and attended to deceased, and ordered him to be taiken to the hospital. Tamati Pue, a son of the deceased, paid his father was engaged fencing last week. Among the tools he used wn-- an axe. He did not know whether his father was engaged fencing on Fridav. The axe produced was the one his father had been using in erecting tli<* fence. Witness was present when Detective Boddam found the axe on Sunday. His father had been verv queer nt times lately. He knew, of" a deal in cattle deceased had had lately, and also that he was disappointed about it. Mr. Wylie, surgeon, said deceased was admitted to the hospital at 11 o'clock p.m. on, Friday, the 24th, and died at 12.40 a.m. on the 27th. On examination of the deceased shortly after admission to the hospital he was found to he suffering from extensive injuries to his head, which necessitated the performance of an operation. The deceased was conscious, •nd before the anaesthetic was adminisered witness asked him who had caused the injuries, and his replv was that it was all his own work. He ako told witness he caused the injuries .with an axe. | Dr. Home administered the anaesthetic and acted as interpreter during this conversation. Witness then described the injuries. There were evidences of manv The operation consisted in cleansing the various wounds as far as possible, and in the removal of a piece of bone which was pressing on the lirain and its membranes. Pieces of grass and fern were also removed from" the surface of the brain. The wounds were brought together -as' f:\r as possible, the bleeding stopped, and suitable dressings applied, and then deceased was removed to lied. T.ater lie showed signs of acute septic inflammation of (lie brain following on the injuria, and this wik the cause of death. Witness was of the opinion that Hie injuries were selfinflicted. The direction of the different wounds suorrested (hat thev were selfinflicted. The man must have been in a condition of intense frenzy at the time, and so far as witness knew it might he described as an unique wav of committing suicide. Tt was quite possible for deceased to have walked as described by the 'witnesses. Detective Boddam save evidence to the effect that he had visited the Okawa pah in companv with Constable La Ponple. of Waitara. He explained the position <>f ,\t>.;- : ,<->\ ] nnsr , i., 11(1 jts surroundings, and wen* on to describe the finding ef Cie axe in the bush. Witness made a >-oiv careful examination of the srronud where be discovered patches of blood, and there were no signs whatever of any strusmle having taken place. He considered the story told bv the witnesses perfectly consistent with what he saw. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.