INQUEST AT TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1812, 16 February 1884, Page 2

INQUEST AT TE AWAMUTU.

An inquest was held in the railway station Te Awamutu, on Thursday 14th, on the body of W. H. Morgan, a fireman on the railway, who committed suicide on Tuesday 12th by shooting himself. Mr Groaham was coroner, and the following composed til c jury, A. White, J. W. Bridgman, J. A. Stiohbury, H. Lewis, J. Carley, W. P. Ford, H. T. Sibley, C. Innes, F. Gitson, W. Scott, G. D. 'Hunter, J. R. Wright. Mr Wright was chosen foreman. Constable Gillies represented the police and called. Michael Hicky deposed :— When I came up from the picnic I went to Te Awamutu, and returned again, I met the cleaner who asked me what was the matter with Billy, meaning deceased, who was lying on the grass, tearing it up and eating it, and sobbing very much, I asked him what was the matter. He said, he did not know. This was between 11 and 12 o'clock. I knew him for about 5 months, I asked him if he was in pain, lie said not. Deceased was a man of sober habits. He took me into the cottage and showed me a photograph ; he took out of his box some letters and burned them. I knew the person whose likeness he showed me. Deceased asked mo to count his money, which I did, and he put it in his box. He then went outside and pulled up grass again with bis hands. I told him to come in, as it was cold. The photograx>h was that of a female. On his return to the house he took up the gun, which I took from him, remarking that lie did not require it. I asked him what the meaning or all th's behaviour was, and he struck me on the shoulde r with his hand and said, "It is all love, Hickey." I then took off his clothes and put him to bed. Neill McMillan and another weve with me in the cottage. After sitting up for about an hour we went to bed. Nothing happened during the night. I left the house at half-past eight next morning. Deceased seemed to be fast asleep when I left the house. McMillan told him to get up and get ready for work, but lie said he would not go to work that day. I did not see him alive after I left the cottage. By the police : Deceased did not seem disappointed about anything that took place at the picnic. A friend named Kennedy told him the girl with whom he kept company was flirting with .another. I bsheve his agitation arose entirely from that information, and not from drink, no sign of which was on him. The letters he burned were all in the same hand-writing. He said, " I am done now, I have burned the letters." Ho had no drink during the night to my knowledge. His disappointment was, m my opinion, caused by the conduct of the gul. Robert Sullivan, 10 years of age, son of a porter on the line, was next examined. He deposed : I saw deceased ali\e just before dinner on Tuesday. I saw him in his house. I spoke to him. I gave him .some sugar my mother sent up by me. 1 asked him if be was going out rabbit shooting, and he said his gun was empty. Deceased had his working clothes on when I saw him. I then came home. I did not see him alive after that. His manner was quiet. He didn't take up the gun while I was theie ; it stood in a corner. By the police ; Deceased was leaning against the bzi with Ins anus croased covering his face when I went in. Neil McMillan sworn, deposed : I am an engine cleaner on the railway. When we returned fioni the picnic on Monday deceased seemed rather excited. He told me on the pl.itfoim that night he would leave Te Awamutu before a fortnight ; and that he would leave it a coipse. He refused to do the hhunting on our return and I had to go on the engine in his place. I lived in the same cottage with him. He .sometimes said he would die standing up. He said it to the others. I took no notice of it, as I thought he was only joking. I saw deceased pulling up the grass. I saw him binning the letters. I and another tiied to get him to bed, but he would not go. He seemed quieter with Hickey than with anyone else. He was in my opinion quite sober. He had not sufficient drink to pi oduco the state of excitement he was in. He never showed me the photograph at any time. I knew him for two year-.. I never heard him threaten to take his life. I woiked till 4 a.m., and then went to bed for a short time. I woke at 5, and saw deceased walking about the loom and looking in the corners. He went to bedjagain as quickly as he could when he saw' me getting up. He said I would have to go with the engine, as he was rot going. His duties were those of a fireman. I returned again at about 8. 15, and asked him if he was going. He said he w.is not. That was the last time I saw him alive. T went with the engine. There wa« no one else in the house when I left. Theie was no drink in the house. On my letuin in the evening about 4.30 1 went to the house to .see if tea was ready, when I found deceased lying in the bedroom, on his back on the floor, with the gun lying beside him, with tha muzzle of it renting on his light shoulder. It is a single-b.uielled, muzzleloading gun, and was the property of deceased. I could see the wound on the right side of the mouth. I have no hesitation in saying it was a gunshoj wound. There vas a pool of congealed blood on the floor by his head. The wound showed only m his mouth. Tho top of his head was not blown off. I went and told driver Cook. I did not touch the body. Cook came up with me at once. The doctor came down a little before 6 o'clock. I went in with him ; he examined the wound and s lid the shot went upward". From the position of the gun I should think he pulled the trigger with his foot. I think he took his slipper off for that purpose. I have no doubt whatever that he committed suicide. When deceased took the gun in his hand the ni^ht before it was not loaded. I hid the ammunition under my bed clothes, but he must have seen me do so. I found it there after my return. It appeared to have been moved. By the police : I consider that the ex citement of the deceased was caused bv trouble tin ough a female. The letter.-, all came from Auckland, and were in the same handwriting. These letters he burned on his return from the picnic, one at a time. I believe that the letters were addressed in the handwriting of a female. I believe from his conversation with Hickey whilst burning the letteis, that his excitement was cau&ed by the conduct of some female. Deceased said, after burning the letters, " You can thank Kennedy for this." Deceased was speaking with Kennedy for nearly 20 minutes at Meicer on Monday last. ' Kennedy is a fireman at Mercer. Constable Gillies, sworn deposed : Between half-past five and six on Tuesday the 12th inst Jeiemiah Sullivan, a porter on the railway, reported to me that the deceased wa^ found dead in the cottage, and he supposed he had shot himself, I proceeded at once to the cottage and found Dr. Bluuden and several others there. The deceased was lying on his back in a bedroom otf the kitchen, with both arms extended, the gun (produced) lying over his right arm between the shoulder and elbow. I examined it and found it had been recently discharged. Deceased had a slipper on his light foot, the left had nothing on but a socle. I consider from the position of the body that deceased was in a standing position when he fired the shot. The night jaw was completely smashed, there was no flesh-wound of any desciiption. There was a huge quantity of congealed blood on the floor round the head. The doctor examined the body in my piesence. The right side of the face was a good deal drawn up. There was no exit of the shot from the head. Deceased evidently put the muzzle of the gun in his mouth. The doctor probed the wound as far as the forehead with his finger, showing how completely the jaw was smashed. It was quite evident the wound caused his death. Opposite where he foil there was a small table, on which were two letters addressed, and a scrap of paper with writing on it, and on this was pla.ed a shilling. On the scrap of paper were the following woids : " Will please to post these letters for me to-night, and oblige. W. Morgan." One of the letters was addressed to Mr R. Morgan, Hill-street, Newmarket, Auckland. The other was addressed to a female. I opened the letter addressed to Mr R. Morgan, and found three one pound notes enclosed. Witness then read the following letter, which was dated the day the c^ecea^ed shot himself :—: — <' My dear papa, Laura and Minnie. I hope you are all quite well, and I hope you enjoyed yourselves. I enjoyed myself very well. I got up here. I feel miserable. I am not at work to-day. I am sending three pqu.n.ds more down. I will now Sftv good-bye. AH from your only Bon, William Henry Morgan." The deceased also wrote a letter to the young lady in question, in which he said Angus Kennedy told him several things about her, which tended to show she no longer loved him. In con elusion he bid her " Good-bye for ever." The jury, without retiring, gave the following verdict : — " That the said William, Henry Morgan, on Tuesday, |ha J^th 'day of February, in $\f\ ysir "afqreswd U 884) ,' Wl#t iq a etftta gf temporary inanity,'

killed himself by placing the muzzle of a fowling-piece, loaded with gun-powder, into his mouth, and then discharging, and shooting off the said fowling.piece, causing a mortal wound, whereof he, the said W. H. Morgan, then instantly died."