DUNEDIN SOLDIER'S DEATH.
DUNEDIN, May 3. A wireless message has been received that Private Dan Bardsley, of the Second Reinforcements, who had been invalided home, died at sea on April 29, during the voyage. Private Bardsley, whose parents reside at North-east Valley, was single, aged 25 years. -Cromwell Argus, 3/5/1915.
The brief announcement of Dan Bardsley's death is the truth, but not the whole truth. Dan committed suicide, after being sent home having made a previous attempt. His Army record contains the note: "Tried to commit suicide in Egypt Feb. 1915 by cutting his throat. Suff. from melancholia with homicidal and suicidal tendencies." A further note states: "Found in desert on 5 Feb with cuts on throat and left wrist which he stated were self inflicted. Progressing favourably."
On March 15, 1915, a New Zealand Medical Corps doctor wrote, on a Medical Case Sheet: "Pvt Bardsley has just been returned to these lines from hospital where he has just been under treatment since his attempt at suicide, by cutting his throat and wrist, some weeks ago.
"I have investigated his case, and he informed me that his trouble commenced when 11 years of age. He became irritable and his mind 'became a blank' at times. He was kept from school for some months. At 14, he was studying for a scholarship, but could not control himself or remember things at time, and was sent into the country. He did not improve, so consulted an opthalmic surgeon, without benefit. Since then he has followed various occupations but has had to give them all up after a short time.
"For the past few years he has suffered from headaches and lapses of memory. Occasionally, when running, he looses all feeling in his legs, and when people speak to him he finds he cannot speak sometimes to answer them. If he goes near a window he feels he will fall through it, and similarly he can never approach the edge of a cliff. On the transport he often felt that he must throw himself overboard, and coming up on the train he had great difficulty to refrain from jumping off. On the night he attempted suicide, he says he could not restrain himself and says he had homicidal impulses. Even now he feels intensely irritated momentarily against some of the men, and has difficulty in keeping his hands off them.
"He is a respectable fellow, and quite straightforward, but is not responsible for his actions and I consider him dangerous both to himself and those around him.
"His mother, 2 brothers, and 1 sister are all 'nervous.'
"I beg to ask that a Medical Board be held on his case as soon as possible.
"At present he is living in the Guard Hut at his own request.
"C T Baigent, Captain, NZMC."
Dan was placed on the Troop Ship Tahiti and guarded 24 hours a day while the ship sailed home with its invalid soldiers. Presumably, the guards failed in their duty and Dan was able to jump to his death from the ship. Local papers reported that he had "died at sea."
The coroner (Mr H. Y. Widdowson) held an inquest on the 5th instant into the circumstances surrounding the death of Matilda Bardsley, of 7 Arnold street, N.E. Valley, aged 70 years, who died in the Hospital the same morning. The evidence of her husband (John Bardsley) and of her daughter Maud was that she was about the house as usual on Saturday. About. 5 p.m. she was in the bedroom with her daughter, and left the latter to go to the back of the house. At 5.30 her husband went out to the back yard, and found her sitting on a box with a wound in her throat. She was assisted into the house, and Dr Fitzgerald was sent for. Dr Fitzgerald (who had been attending the deceased off and on for the past two years) stated that the deceased had been depressed, particularly since the death of her son, who had been killed in action at the front, and by the fact that she was suffering from an affection of the throat. Dr Gibson, one of the house surgeons at the Hospital, gave formal evidence. The coroner returned a verdict that death was the result of injuries self-inflicted while deceased was in a depressed state of mind. -Otago Witness, 13/9/1916.
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