SAD SUICIDE OF AN ACTOR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1171, 29 April 1884, Page 3

SAD SUICIDE OF AN ACTOR.

John Henry Clifford, an actor, committed suicide at Hobart on the 4th March by taking opium. He had been drinking very heavil}', and was requested by his friends to knock it off, but said he could not. One of the witnesses at the inquest said that on the day of the occurrence he found witness reading De Quincey’s ‘ Suspiria de Profundis,’ a sequel to his well-known ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater.’ Deceased was passing out of the door, when he turned back and asked witness to lend him sixpence. [With this money he afterwards purchased the fatal dose of opium.] Witness complied, and tried to cheer him up, remarking that lie was all right now and would be able to get a good night’s rest. Deceased replied, ‘No, no; never again,’ and burst into tears. On leaving, deceased said ‘Good bye.’ Witness replied, ‘ No, not good-bye, good night;’ but deceased insisted on ‘ good-bye,’ and witness repeatfd k to please him. Witness asked him what was the matter, and he said he would write to him and tell him all. By (lie lirst postal delivery next morning witness received the fo'lowiug letter, bearing Friday’s postmark;—‘Hobart, 29th February, 1884.—Dear Andy,—You are the only man in this good city of Hobart Town who really sympathises with me. lam mad, and 1 know it. 1 hope by the time you receive this 1 shall be ■-_-v., I cannot resist the fatal influence, and as 1 am now perfectly well assured that I have lost my last chance, I doom my body to destruction and my soul to . 1 am sick and weary of it all, and resign it without a sigh ora tear. Ten thousand thanks, dear Andy Kirk, for whatever you have clone for me, and if there is any other region where we have to continue this worry and bother, 1 will take stock and look out for you when you come. Deserted by wife and child, what have 1 to live fori A victim to the most terrible disease with which man can be afflicted, I look on death as a relief. Dear old Andy, that all good may attend you is the sincere hope of poor foolish J. H Clifford.’ Deceased was a native of London, but entered the theatrical profession in Victoria, where he first officiated as manager of a dramatic club. The jury

returned a verdict ‘ That deceased died from an overdose of opium, taken while labouring under an attack of temporary insanity, brought on by excessive indulgence in intoxicating drink.’