Singular Suicide of a Ruined Gambler.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3403, 7 January 1890, Page 2

Singular Suicide of a Ruined Gambler.

! Mr Cavtei'y coroner,held aii inqhest , on November il, at : Greeiiwich,' on the body of a- man supposed to bo . Francis Sumnar Eose, aged from 40' to 50, who ooinmitted suicide at his lodgings, 49, Devonshire Koad, Greenwich. Mrs Woodinga, the laudlady, said the deceased had been with herfor three weolts. ' "When he ■.) came he gave the natuo as William Summers, but afterwards corrected it to Francis Sumner Eose, In the afternoon s of 6th, the deceased went upstairs, saying-'ho had to do an hour or two's writing. On Thursday he did hot come down, and in the afternoon. she. went into. the room, and found him'dead upon the floor., . The bed, had not been ; ';... slept in, and tho caiidlo had 'turned ; ' out in tho' socket. • Peceased had told hor he had friends in Australia. Two packets, two lotos, and two postcards had been received by tho deceased whilst atliijr house. ;Police< Constable Hay ward,•coroner's 5 officer,* produced two boxes which had been tied up by t% ; arid addressed to the coroner and tlie" jury. Tho words: person in,authority is, to'open this box, Signed, Francis" Sumnar Eose," were ~mitten on a, scrap of paper on the box. In one of the bQxes.ps found/the foUo\yiiig,, written on foolscap paper East Grreenwiol) Koyember r >Gtli ( vJßß9. (The figure 6 had evidently been -written subsequent to the other " portion of tho letter.) This is tq .

certify that I, Francis Sumn&r lioso, fchavo committed suicide by swallowing an overdoso of strong Turkey opium, and that no person in tins bouse or any oilier- has 1 had either hand, or act, or.part,, dircotly or indireotly in my destruction. The whole business is my own,, My reason for ' cojiiraittinpf snioido is because I have ruined myself with . the cursed . lioi'SQ racing I lmd nude a fair little fortuuo at tbo game for.years and years; but easily got easily spout, until at last I liavo lost all. I canMVe up n»unind to go hack to -*stralift t|o rnf tfricuds, and comfortable. homo, although 1 have got the offer several times front a few friends in London to procure a passage and outfit for mo on loan at six months' sight; but when I come to think the matter over and over, no, I would sooner face death, yes, even ■ ' w ' c o over again. • I have tried to accept the offer, but my mind would , not listen to it on any account.' So I' must now throw up tho sponge. Comiidering tho most decent style of destroying my iifo, I applied strong opium us tho best means, as I always . those beastly methods of sumo, snoli as shooting, throatcutting, drowning, and;all tho rest; but of course I am well aware that all forms' of suicide aro bad enough ■But I now think that this stylo of -, destroying lifo is tho best, as it is the most decent, cleanest, and quietest style that I know of. Now, having a fair knowledgo of this mighty drug and its olfeots, I have swallowed the contents of this box, containing 870 ouiuiu pellets, minus !15, whicn I am woll aware, is ten times tho amount required to kill an idult person. But to be doubly sure of my end I have taken this extraordinary amount of opium. My motive of taking this amount is to lull all pain, bo, as you. can understand, I will actually die with apoplexy, leaving the world in' a sleep of peace, without pain, ache or sigh. Now, to assist the coroner and his jury to give their verdict I havo taken these means—namely, I have put a sample of the opium that 1 have already taken —I have put that into two, tin boxes, enclosed in two wooden boxes. I have posted them at two different offices in London for my lodgings, at 49 Devonshire Road, East Greenwich. I havo taken this precaution in order tliay>e jury may see that no other pafiynad any handliug of this drug but myself. Now the coroner's jury will havo very little doubt in this matter, that is, I think so, that . Francis Sumnar Bose did kill himself ■by fallowing an overdose of strong Tufljty opium with Ins own hand and free will, knowing the same to be iar more thair doubly sufficient to cause death. Signed this Cth day ol November, 1889, Francis Hijmnau Rose." On another paper was written: "Notes for the cononer's jury. I request that the jury will give orders for the destruction of tliis mighty drug, as it may fall into the hands of Home person not acquainted with its effect. Notice.' Lot the jury compare the lettor addressed to the coroner with all papers, found in my bedroom, , and they will see that all tho handwriting is mino," The two post cards addressed to the deceased wero signed "Fosper," and had reference to his pnposed return to Australia, Dr Adams said death was due to apoplexy, following opium poisoning. -Such ; opium as that produced (crude) could not be bought in England.. Constable Hayward said ho had seen natives in India pellets liko those produced. Helfcnd 242, so that the deceased swallowed 128, Dr Adams said that number was sufficient to kill fifty adult persons. A verdict of suicide while insano was returned by the jury. The" City Fathers" at Buenos Ayres. Municipal proceedings at Buenos Ayres seem to be diversified by some curious incidents at times, if we may judge from'the following extract taken from the Buenos Ayres Standard Tho honorable corporators held a sitting on Friday, and got through some unimportant business. Alderman Garcia afforded some fun by proposing that the honorable Councillors should abandon their bad habit of smoking while making ; laws for the town, is the atmosphere was sometimes unbearable with the smoke of bad tobacco. The motion was rejected with ironical groans and laughter. Nothing daunted Alderman G, returned to the charge with a motion that the Council should ataffiton another thing dear to hearts— the boxes in the the theatres which the impresarios were kind enough to place at their disposal, More groans and laughter, acmmpanied the unanimous scouting idea also. Then Alderman Piera sailed in with an unhappy inquiry about paving at Flores, Aldorman Boniface intorposed with a mild remark to-tho effect that his colleague's question had better been left unput; upon which he was told by Brother P. to mind his own business, as the question had been put to tho Lord Mayor, and not to him. Tho Lord Mayor then roso, and with a bland smila told Alderman P. not to ask impertinent questions. < The ; worthy Alderman warmly denied the soft impeachment, and this little, appetising breeze over, the Council adjourned to five o'clock tea, in the bosom of'their families. A Herd of Steers Running . . Amuck. Tlia Guion Line United States maiHTtcamer Alaska, .wliich arrived at Liverpool on November 14, brings particulars of a most extraordinary Bcene which was witnessed at Kansas City on November 8, when for five hours the town was practically in possession of a herd of steers. The animals were being driven by eight cowboys from the stocks, in order to bo taken across tho Missouri river; but when they got to the bridge they toned 'round anff the whole bord wide for the city, the cowboys on tueir horses being in hot pursuit. The infuriated beasts cleared the streets. - . Going round one block of buildings thoy were intercepted by four of tho cowboys, who headed them and succeeded in • drawing all but eight off to the nyer's bank. Tho eight .remaining .animals went careering through the. streots, upBetting everybody who gob in their way. One of the, animals' ivas lassoed by a cowboy, and the stser, the hovso. andlfoo cowboy were'seon tearing awaptflwards the river. Neither tho horse nor the stoor could bo got to stop, but the cowboy, on seeing this; jumped off, leaving tho steer and the tee to rush madly over the bank, They had a fall of 25 feet, but, strange to say, both : reached the opposite baiik, after a ' good swim, without being injured, lathe meantime, the other animals in the streets had got all ovor tho city. Several were shotdead, and'one charged up a oable way, hoAd downwards, . In its onward'rush it did riot raise its

head, and came- into collision with o cablo car coming, down,, The impact was simply terrific,' aiid (ho animal 'lay dead in a he'ajv So great indeed was tho conouiisioii that the : eiid of tho iron car was bent, It was not until five hours ofthe greatest oxoitoment that the animals were either killed or else driven out of the town.' No one was seriously injured, but at loast a dozoii 'porsoiifc' Woro suffbring from; iho untimely visit of, tho infuriated,beasts, -,