SUICIDE OR MISADVENTURE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2118, 30 October 1890, Page 3

SUICIDE OR MISADVENTURE.

Becently a railway labourer named John Hickson, aged 30 years, and a native of Hobart, came by bis death under very singular circumstances. He had been in poor health, but had recovered sufficiently to resume work, Hying m a tent on the line. He messed with his mates, however, and when a boy went to call him for dinner,^ he found Hickson suspended by the neck by his belt. One foot was on his bed*, the other touched the floor. The right hand was held aloft over his head, while the left was held out before him, bolding his watch, on which his eyes, glaring, were steadily fixed. The body slightly swayed, and a convulsive tremor showed that life was not quite extinct, but the man died immediately after he was cut down. His relations are strong believers iu the theory that he accidentally strangled himself while experimenting, and state, in proof of this, that he was very fond of experiments, including trials upon himself, ( and on one occasion read aloud to hie mother, evidently with great interest, an account of a man who tried an experiment to demonstrate how long he could hang by his neck without losing consciousness. The surroundings of the case also favoured this view, as the tent was only 6ft high, and deceased had kept his right hand over his head, so as to be able to seize the ridge pole and save himself, but owing to his weak state of health he fainted, and so fell a victim to a foolhardy attempt to test the sensations that accompany strangulation.