THE LATEST WELLINGTON SUICIDE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4637, 1 February 1894, Page 3

THE LATEST WELLINGTON SUICIDE.

The Inquest

The Coroner (Mr James Ashoroft) and a jury, held an enquiry yesterday afternoon into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs Annie Vendt, whose dead body was found in her bedroom about half-past 7 that morning under circumstances which led to believe that she had committed suicide,

Inspector Pender represented the police, and Mr Bolton appeared on behalf of the relatives of the deceased. Martin Maurice Vendi, a Government Life Insurance canvasser, the husband of deceased, stated that that morning about 8 o'clock he found the door of his wife's bedroom locked. He knocked but could get no reply, and he thought as they had only gone to bed at 2 a,m. that alio was asleep. He knocked again, and then got in by the window, Ou entering he saw his wife kneeling by the side of the bed, with a scarf round her neck, one end of it being fastened to the bedpost, He cut the scarf with his knife, and immediately called for assistati'c.o and went for a, doctor. Dr Jarpea came in a minute or two, and after examination pronounced her dead. They had only been married 10 months. She whs a half-caste Maori, and suffered from hysteria very much lately, on account of her di - appointment al not being a mother That prayed on her mind, Oftentimes in these fits she seemed not to know whut she was doing, She had asked him to adopt a child, and he had promised to do so, It bad been arranged that they should go to Auckland, and she was going up yesterday, but was .unable totet a berth on tbe Waibora. That disappointment alto seemed to prey on her mind, and she became excitable and hysterical. She had packed up everything, aud in consequence he did not occupy the same room, She bad eaten something on Saturday which disagreed' with'hej and thb'ugh| the waa'p 1 ajspned,' |nit did epr b> a fjpetor, a,? she thought she would get welj in a day or He h»d do idea when he parted from her that Bbe would do herself any harm. There was no out on her wrist when he parted from her. She had made up her mind to go by the s,s, Australia.

Dr James deposed that when he saw deceased her face was very dark and livid in colour; high up in the neck, close under the jaw, there was a constriction which might have been caused by strangulation by su.ch a, Bparf, pjte had 'evidently been 'dead for sprno' hours. "Qn the "left wrist there'wKs a wound' about an mob. and' a' quarter in length, wju'c'h had, evidently been made py some ra(|]er blunt cutting iqstiiqtfyetjt. o.n" searching 'the ro'orn he' found qgderjb'e pillow? a b|oo'd,-stainpd tpweij wbM had been folded iifld placer} there. Be found two razors on the d(essing-table but there were no ei|o« of blood on them,and tbo w»" J •;;„. 00nm .. ,1.~- .uuuaidnpt seem »» ut it bad been done by a very sharp instrument, There was also a small pair of fojdipg scissors, whioh might haw been capable of producing the wound, bat it presented no stains of blood, The oauso of death was undoubtedly asphyxia Irom atrangulatioo, and there was evidence of considerable determination, All pie surroundings were onjy consistent wjtb'solf-destruptipni

Sarah Maud Buokland stated that deceased and her husband had been living with her as lodgers for the past nine months, Before Christmas Mrs Vendt was very ill, and went to Auokland for six week She had not been well for soma, tiropj she waj very hysterical, and Seemed rather worse when she came baok. She had expected to be confined, and was very muoh disappointed when she found that such could not be the case. Mr Vendt was very fond of his wife, and she bad never heard any serious quarrel between them, At 8 o'clock that morning ehe (witness) woke up, and heard Mra Vendt turn the key lof her deor—at least, she thought it i was Mrs Vendt' Deceased had never said anything which would lead her to auppose the would taka her own life. She was very excitable and hysterical at times,

The Coroner in.summing up said these suicides were becoming exceeding common, and in some oases were veiy deliberate. There were, however, speoialcircumstanoesin this case to lead to a disturbance of the mental balanoe, and be thought it was quite within the functions of the jury to find that deceased was temporarily insane when she committed the deed,

The jury returned a verdict of suicide durjpg temporary insanity.— SX Ikes. .