Biography

At the inquest into the death of the deceased, it was reported that at noon on the day of his death, the deceased came into the blacksmith's shop excitedly proclaiming: 'I have taken cyanide and will be dead in two minutes.' Witnesses thought he was joking and told him to go and have a sleep.He laid down on the floor of the shop. Witness went outside and picked up the mug containing a small piece of undissolved cyanide, concluding that deceased had taken a portion of it. Witness then left two men to look after the deceased while he ran for help. When witness returned half an hour later the man was dead. The jury returned a verdict of death by taking cyanide. Deceased, who was employed as a caretaker at the Government battery, was a well-educated man, and was reported to have made a big rise in the early days of Kalgoorlie.