INTENTION TO COMMIT SUICIDE.
AN OAMARU SENSATION
(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) OAMARU, October 12.
The receipt of letters by several local residents yesterday afternoon, written by A. G. Clarke, secretary of the Oamaru Repatriation Committee, caused a painful sensation. The purpose of the letters was to advise the recipients that Clarke had put all his affairs in order, as he was "about to depart from this wonderful world of love and hope," owing to his great trouble.
The police were communicated with, and a wide search instituted, with the result that Clarke's hat and walkingstick were found on the steps close to the water's edge at the end of the wharf, just at the entrance to the harbour. Clarke, who was working in his office until two o'clock yesterday morning, had arranged his business and private affairs in a most methodical fashion, and left complete instructions as to the disposal of his possessions, and also made his reports to date to the chairman of the Committee. Clarke informed the recipients of the letters that family reasons alone prompted him to end his life, and although a thorough search is being carried out, no trace of Clarke or his body can be found.
Clarke enlisted in Auckland in the Main Body, but, as he was a competent bank official, he was kept back with the rank of sergeant-major to do clerical duty. Clarke eventually sacrificed his stripes to go away with the Third Reinforcements. He took part in the Gallipoli campaign, and was badly wounded, his leg being severely shattered. He spent long months in hospital in England and New Zealand, and suffered much from his leg, and only a few months ago had to undergo hospital treatment. Clarke, who belongs to Auckland, was appointed secretary of the Oamaru Repatriation Committee on the inauguration of the scheme, and has proved a conscientious, capable, and popular officer, and the news of his intention to take his life came as a painful shock to the whole community. Prior to his appointment in the Repatriation Department, Clarke was secretary of the Oamaru Returned Soldiers' Association, and only the other day he won the junior championship of the North Otago Golf Club. -Press, 13/10/1919.
MYSTERY SOLVED.
(Per Press Association) OAMARU, This day.
The body of A. G. Clarke, a returned soldier and secretary of the local Repatriation Committee, who disappeared mysteriously eighteen days ago, leaving his coat on the breakwater, was found this morning in the harbor. -Waipawa Mail, 30/10/1919.
DEATHS.
CLARKE. — On October 11th, at Oamaru, Albert Garland Clarke, beloved eldest son of Gideon Clarke, of Auckland, aged 25 years. Deeply regretted.
Friends are invited to kindly attend the funeral, which will leave the Returned Soldiers' Association rooms, Itchen street, on Friday, 31st inst., at 2 p.m., for the Oamaru Cemetery.
R. POLLOCK, Funeral Director. -Oamaru Mail, 30/10/1919.
WAR TRAGEDY
A JURY'S RECOMMENDATION,
[Per United Press Association.] OAMARU, October 31,
At the inquest on the body of A. G. Clarke the jury returned a verdict that the deceased met his death by drowning himself in Oamaru Harbor while in a state of unsound mind. They added a rider — "That the attention of the Government be called to the frequency of cases of mental distress among returned soldiers, followed by tragedies which were occurring in various parts of the Dominion. The jury beg respectfully that more sympathetic attention be given to these cases, and that a special institution be equipped to deal with them." -Evening Star, 31/10/1919.
Albert Clarke's wound, in his Army record, is described as a "gunshot wound in right ankle" and a recommendation is made for an orthopedic boot and/or splint. It must have been a serious, crippling condition.
Oamaru Cemetery.
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