SUICIDE OF CAPT. GOLDSMITH.

Waikato Times, Volume XII, Issue 994, 5 November 1878, Page 2

SUICIDE OF CAPT. GOLDSMITH.

Foil several (Lays Lut week fcliovo hul been runinurs at- CxrabsiTnstown thiit rli^gracaful eh ir^os avctc likely to bo ma lo ii»-iinst a well known <Toklfiold oftici il. The nature of those cliarg-es bona-me k(ir»wi), mil 'lie facf t]iat theg'uiUy i>i\vtv

was no other than the Mining Inspector, Captain Goldsmith. The charge was that of criminally assaulting- a girl, about 10 years of age, the daughter of Mrs McGregor, of Davy .street, Grahamstown. The occurrence took place, it is supposed, on Thursday afternoou, the 24th nit., and ho is said to have enticed the littjbe girl into his house on the beach, H atf&Sthore committed the offence. Proceedings not taken for a few days, and' Captain Goldsmith was not to bo found. Mbv some time it was thought that he^ad iled from Grahamstown, being 1 un^le'to face tho accusation, but tho presumption that ho might bo m his house was freely canvassed on Saturday night at several places m Grahamstown, and about midnight on Saturday it was determined to enter Captain Goldsmith's house and sec whether he was there or not. Jhis was done by the polico and several others, and the door being forced, a horrible scene presented itself. ;.The unfortunate man was found lying dead, and the moans by which ho had committed suicide were at once apparent. He had. cut the main artery of the left arm, from which he had bled copiously, and he had also fired a pistol into his mouth. The body was partially decomppsed. Captain Goldsmith, who has came to this shameful and dreadful fend, had, avc' leara from the ' Herald,' seen considerable service m the field, having fought m the Schleswig-Holstein war, of 18i8-<U. He was a captain of the Ist Waikato E«gimont, and sGrved fora considerable time m the Waiknto and at Tauranga. Shortly after the discovery of gold at the Thames, ho commenced business as a surveyor, and was m that line for several years, until ho was appointed Mining Inspoctor. He must have been over f>o years of age. Ho was of a cheerful and kindly disposition, and many of those who knew him will feel greatly shocked at T|tho dreadful circumstances attending his death.