DEATH IN A WELL

Taranaki Daily News, 14 February 1921, Page 6

DEATH IN A WELL

THE FRANKLEY ROAD FATALITY. EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST. The circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs. Annie Jury, aged 58, whbse body was recovered from a well near the house at Frankley Road on Thursday evening, were disclosed at an inquest held on Saturday, before Mr. T. A. B. Bailey, S.M. It will be remembered that Mrs. Jury had been missing from home since January 23, but her husband thought she was visiting relatives. The evidence of the husband, John Jury, was that he had been married to deceased 8 years, she being his second wife. He last saw her alive on Sunday, January 23, about 6.30 p.m. He left to attend to a bull, and when he came back Mrs. Jury was gone, but he never missed her till the morning, as she had said she would be looking after a grandchild sleeping in another room. When he went in next morning deceased was not there. The child told him that her grandmother had said she was going out and would be back shortly. As she had been in the habit of going away on previous occasions without telling him, he did not make any enquiries until the Tuesday. He communicated with her sons and a number of others, but nobody had seen her. One of Mrs. Jury’s sons in Taihape was written to, as it was thought she might have gone there; but no reply was received. He did not report the matter to the police. On the evening of Thursday he was pumping water from the well near the house, and took a couple of buckets to a bull, but the animal refused’ to drink it. He had. used the well every third day. As there seemed to be something the matter with the water he decided to make investigations. There was an opening at the well which went about five feet down to a platform made for the purpose of allowing anyone to go down to attend to the pumping machinery. The opening was covered over by posts and odd pieces of timber, and witness removed these and went down. He could then see the body. Evidently deceased had replaced the covering op the top after getting down to the platform. Witness sent for a neighbor to assist in getting the body out, and the matter was reported to the police. The body was fully dressed, the clothes being the same as deceased was wearing when he last saw her. The well was about 250 yards from the house in a straight line, and : contained about 7-J- feet of water. When he first made a search of the house he found that all deceased’s clothes were gone, and this led him to believe that she had gone to her son’s place. About midday on the 'Sunday he had seen her burning what he thought was rubbish, but since the body had been found he had examined the remains of the .fire, and had discovered buttons and part of a handbag. He had come to the conclusion from this that deceased had burnt the clothes. He also found a couple of rings belonging to deceased. He was living on good terms with his wife. Occasionally she had acted peculiarly, but had never threatened to take her own life. She had some means of her own, and had left a will, bestowing the money on her two runs. The will was made the day before she died Percy John Mason, son-in-law of the last witness, also gave evidence as to the finding of the body. Joseph Cross, son of the deceased, said he last saw his mother on New Year’s Day, and she was then apparently in her usual good spirits. £»he was living on quite friendly terms with her husband. He did not know of anything which would cause her any worry, and she had never given any indication of taking her life. She was of a quiet and rather reserved disposition. He had once heard her mention casually that her father had committed suicide by drowning. One of the deceased’s sons was gassed at the war, and this had caused her some concern.

Clara Cross, wife of the previous witness and daughter of Mr. Jury, said she had seen deceased frequently, the last occasion being about three weeks before Mrs. Jury had disappeared. Witness had remarked that deceased seemed to have changed of late, arid that her conduct appeared peculiar. Constable Phillips testified as to the state of the body after its recovery from the well. Deceased was fully/ dressed, he said, and the clothing did not show any signs of having been torn, except wh..e it had been caught by the grappling hooks. The finding was that deceased committed suicide by drowning herself, and that at the time she was temporarily insane.