SUICIDE IN TEMUKA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1175, 17 November 1883, Page 3

SUICIDE IN TEMUKA.

Much consternation was created on Thursday .morning by the spreading of the report that a girl in the employment of Mr,Kirk,, of the Crown... Hotel, Te- .;,. .0, muka, <had committed suicide by taking .poison, It has transpired that the girl, 1 whose name was; Honorah Falvey, and who had for some weeks been suffering , /r from lowness of spirits, went to bed as < usual a few minutes before ten o'clock, her,fellow servant,, Mary Kerrin, taking something out of a ■'•'! fu4^B* '■'•' — c y Kerrin, suspecting that i( < I'iallwas not right, immediately told Mrs EjJ!sfc .abo'flt, it, and Dr Campbell was speedily sent for. The doctor came, and } remained with'the patient the part of the night, but though ";', hq .used. ,the most approved methods of J 1 counteracting the effect of the poisoning . rtl proved useless, for at 7 o'clock the .jcji' fpUojying' morning the girl died. b•■"'■ 'An inquest was held yesterday mornII" ing at 8.30, a.m. in the Crown Hotel, touching her-death, before J. Beswick, 1 *'\\, Esq., Coroner, and a jury, of whom Mr u;; i E.ifiv brewer was chosen foreman. ( ~ Afj;er the jury had viewed the body, [nl theifollowing evidence was taken:— '' " Henry William Campbell, a duly qualified medical practioner, deposed :' I , wass'ent for on Wednesday evening by Mr Kirk, On arriving I was shown

soiiieihiiigin'acufibyMr Kirk; Told t j :f .,,biipiifc'might'be arsenic. The girl was ovt-fJvoinitingv' I promoted the Vbmitiifg > Vri'th ihe white of an egg, milk and water, and she vomited a large quantity pf white ! 'and yellowish matter, 'After , ; muoh hesitation she confessed'to having I ■' taken airsenic, with th'jJ View .of putting n '-i''!an;end to her life, I remained with her

ior 9 bout two hours', anclgave 'full direc-. .j°., tipns for her treatment,.; I had no great '"■• '"■> hopes of'her recovery from the first, as She bad taken ,j a large,, quantity. She

•said she purchased it from the chemist ft here, produced ,was found in her bbx; 1, i'wa3 called down at, 7 •o'clock' 1 Wxt; morning 1 and found v her ;?>r,', just dead, > She was still warm.' T •^'ha|eno doubt'as to jihe cause of death oii! being rarsenical poisoning, t fShe had "" •consulted me the taorning previous to tier,'death. '•<'■ '" Mary Kef rin: lam cook in the Crown ; Hotel, and was a fellow. servant of. the * deceased. About ten minutes to ten o'clock on Wednesday night I,went upi - stairs. We slept in the same bed since I came to the house, but Ibis night she was sitting up in another bed in the samp room. I asked was she tired of i. Jhe.'other bed? She said 1 'No. ,! I

'asked her to come and sleep with me, in .-•bat she said it did not matter/for '' f ''bn3 ; "night; I then went to bed, , and saw. , her stirring a , cup. I asked .'her if that was medicine ? ( She made an answer which I cbuld not

hear. Tasked if it was salts. She said ' No.',' I asked if it was oil, and she sajg '^No. 5 I then jumped out of be|, "and said let me ape it, but" she sallowed itflpyand said, ' You won't /<&¥ it, Mary, my girl. It will > put jin <iind trj me.'" I told Mrs Kirk, aijSh when Mrs Kirk a3ked she had taken, she said, ( It did not matter. Only a little medicine she had in her box.' She had been low spirited for a long 'time before. ! ■ Leonard Thos. Rayner had charge of his father's 'shop on the Ist inst. Knew the deceased. She came to the, shop for one shilling's worth of arsenic on the evening of the Ist inst. It was ice Entered in' the book as arsenic for killing.rats. There were no witnesses

•to.the signature. '' The witness was then cross-examined -: < as to whether there should have been c witnesses, but he answered that when he (,) knew a person well he did not require ' i ' ■' anyone to'witness a signature for arsenic,

Andrew Ross "Kirk, "landlord of the

' Crovm Hotel, deposed : The deceased ? was a'servant of mine. About 10 J 5 "•o'clock on Wednesday night Mrs-Kirk a>j,Jijaine to rae with a cup containing^ itairta'.white powder in a liquid state." I suspected |it was poison and I Bflni «t r . once for the doctor, Dr-.QarapMP V:>U with her * until between 2 and 3 o'clock; • . » « i 1 ' •/- i ' , ~, next morrfing, when' he Tinfarrheij, ,me, that he had doneeTerythingdie conk*for* her, an(J" that luT Wottlrt ( call itie first is-/ >m thing I, again sent for/

him, when I fpnnd her getting- ' Worse? * f: (J. 30 but the girl djed ''before lie reached the place.'.,She was POivi;;penectlfißenß.ibjofto;!the;last,7 ~■ ;

The jury returned a verdict of death {■^'3^J^s^|^ ; taken while Buffering under temporary insanity.