Suicide at Parnell.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3308, 29 July 1879, Page 3

Suicide at Parnell.

An extraordinary case of self-destruction was. discovered to have occurred at Parnell on Saturday afternoon. It appears that a man named Josiah Human, a civil engineer by profession, has for some time past been residing in a house owned by Mr J. M. Dargaville, in St. George's Bay. He was unsuccessful in procuring employment in New Zealand, and although in receipt of remittances from his friends at home, these wore evidently not sufficient for his requiiements, and he..was reduced to a low state of poverty.^ He was of a reticent disposition, and his near neighbours (with one exception), who were in the habit of meeting him almost daily, knew nothing of his means or manner of living. An old man named Foreman, a near neighbour, seems to have been the only one to whom he imparted his confidence, and to him he confided some part of his history. Foreman had for some time ministered to the wants of his friend. Human was last seen alive on Wednesday last by a man named Hovell, who called to request payment of rent. During Thursday and Friday the neighbours did not observe any person about the premises, and, on Saturday forenoon, Mr Foreman went to the house. The doora and windows were fast, and the curtains down. Mr Foreman acquainted Dr Home, and stated that, in his opinion, there '.was something wrong ; Sergeant Jtitkson was Bent for, and he effected an entrance through the window, and found tb^unfortunate occupant on a stretcher, dead and rigid, with evident symptoms that decomposition had ensued. Under the nipple of the left breast a wound was discovered, which had evidently been made by an open clasp knife, which was found close by. Death was evidently caused by internal hemorrhage, and does not appear to have been sudden, from the fact that he appears to have had time to wipe off the blood from" the knife with which the wounds were inflicted. It is evident that the wretched man was driven to the act of self-destruction by poverty and perhaps brooding over his former position. It is ■aid that he has occupied good official positions in Tasmania,, Canada, and other places, but in Auckland he was little known, and was evidently unsuccessful in his applications for employment in his professional capacity. An inquest will be held at the Exchange Hotel to-day, at which no'dbiibt the whole of the facts in connection with the suicide will be elicited.—Herald.