SUDDEN DEATH MR H. W. ROBERTSON
The death occurred suddenly on Wednesday night at Papakaio of Mr Hector William Robertson, aged 39, a grader driver employed by the Waitaki County Council. Mr Robertson was a married man with a family. About 9 o'clock, it is stated, he felt unwell and called to his wife, who sought the assistance of a neighbour. Mr Robertson, however, died about 11 o'clock. Mr Robertson was of a quiet, unassuming disposition and had a likeable personality. He took a keen interest in several town organisations, among which were the Douglas Social Credit Movement and the Theosophical Society. Much sympathy will be extended to Mrs Robertson, who has taken an active part in country women's affairs in North Otago for many years past. -Otago Daily Times, 4/3/1938.
NORTH OTAGO
ACTIVITIES OF THE DISTRICT
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)
PAPAKAIO TRAGEDY CORONER'S INQUEST
POISON SELF-ADMINISTERED
The inquest concerning the death of Hector William Robertson on March 2 was concluded before the coroner (Mr A. W. Woodward) yesterday morning. Senior Sergeant McGregor conducted the inquiry for the police, and Mr J. E. Farrell appeared for Mrs Robertson.
Dr R. G. S. Orbell stated that at about 11 p.m. on March 2, Mrs Robertson called at his surgery and informed him that her husband, Hector William Robertson, had taken a bad turn, and it was thought he might be dead. He immediately went out to Papakaio, arriving there at about 11.20 p.m. On entering a hut on the roadside, he found the deceased lying inside on a bed. In his opinion he had been dead about an hour. He examined the body and found no evidence of violence. On the following day he assisted Dr Smith Morton in performing a post-mortem examination of the body. No obvious cause of death was found. Some five to seven years ago he was called to attend to the deceased. It was in the daytime. On his arrival at where he had been working on his grader, he found him on the road. He was very distressed, and was crying because he could not start the grader, and he feared that he would be dismissed on account of that fact. His condition suggested to witness that he was suffering from an hysterical attack.
David Stewart Bain, chemist, Oamaru, gave evidence that at about 3.30 p.m. on March 2, Mrs W. Robertson, of Ferry road, Papakaio, called at his shop for a prescription he had made up for her husband. It was Dr Fitzgerald's prescription for a nerve tonic, which consisted of three syrups. She told him that her husband had asked her to get some poison for their two dogs as they were disturbing his sleep at night time. He supplied her with about 40 grains of poisons mixed together and coloured with soot. He instructed Mrs Robertson in the use of the poison, and told her to destroy what was left over, if any. He entered the sale in the poisons book, and Mrs Robertson signed for it.
Dr R. S. J. Fitzgerald stated he knew the deceased, and remembered him consulting him about something trivial over a year ago. He supplied him with a tonic. He had no recollection of anything being wrong with him except, perhaps, some trivial matter.
Arthur B. Nuttall,. foreman of the Waitaki County Council, stated that on February 28 he spoke to the deceased about some petrol, which he had said was missing. He refused to listen to witness, and lost his temper. From his actions, witness formed the opinion that he was not quite normal. He had had previous arguments with him, but had never previously seen him take up the attitude he did on this occasion.
Stephen Hill, labourer, stated that at 9.45 p.m. on March 2 Mrs Robertson asked him to hurry as her husband had something wrong with him. When he entered the deceased's hut he was in bed. He asked witness to hold him up in a sitting position. Witness did so, and every now and then his body was jerking forward and backward. He vomited and seemed to have several bad turns. When the deceased heard witness suggest to Mrs Robertson that she should get a doctor, he objected to a doctor being called. The deceased said it was a fit, and that he would tell witness later. Witness thought he must have had these turns before, and knew what was wrong with him. He had spasms of pain, but in between these spasms he was quite rational. He kept singing out to hold his wrists, and witness tried to hold both. The deceased told witness several times that the grader job was getting on his nerves. The deceased made no remark just prior to his death which would give an indication as to what he was suffering from.
Alec Telfer Morgan, surfaceman employed by the Waitaki County Council, stated that the deceased, for about two months before his death, was indifferent about his work, and seemed to be downhearted at times. He took fits of crying. On one occasion he said all he was looking for was death.
Evidence was given by Gordon Maxwell Robertson, son of the deceased, that on the night of March 2 he heard his father calling out, and then his mother also called him. When he went to the hut, has father asked him to told his wrists, and witness did so. Witness gave similar evidence to that of the witness Hill, as to what occurred in the hut. His father told witness that a doctor was not to be called, and also that the grader work was seriously affecting his health. On March 1, his father said that he would have to poison the dogs if they made too much noise. He appeared to want quietness.
Winifred Robertson, widow of the deceased, stated that there were two children of the marriage, and they lived in three seperate huts. Her husband slept in one hut by himself. He was born at Brixton, London. He served in the Great War as a private in the Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport from June, 1916, until April, 1920. He had a pension of 8s a week from the Imperial Government owing to suffering from a head injury which he received in a bomb explosion during the war. Witness gave evidence concerning her husband complaining that he was not able to sleep on account of the dogs barking, that the dogs must be got rid of, and that by his instructions she obtained poison from Mr Bain, who instructed her how to give it to the dogs. When she arrived home she said to her husband: "Here's your tonic, and I've got the other." He told her, after looking over the outside of the packet, to put it in the shaving cabinet in his hut, which she did. She gave her husband and her son a glass of milk each about 9 o'clock, and they consumed it in her presence. He asked for the tonic, and she took it to him and he drank it. She sat and talked to her husband, and he seemed to be thinking a lot. He said he would soon be put off, as the road was being tar-sealed so far along. He was worried over that. She went to bed about 9.30 p.m., and she was not long in bed before he called her. He seemed to be very upset. She had seen him in tempers end in a sort of collapse after. Her evidence followed on the same lines as that given by the witnesses Gordon Robertson and Stephen Hill. Her husband was very urgent in his demand for another drink of milk, and she gave him one from the same lot as he had had previously. The glass was clean when she gave it to him. Shortly after he drank it he vomited. She went back to her own hut. Gordon called her, and she went back and Hill said the breathing had stopped, and she went for the doctor about 10.50 p.m. She did not believe her husband was dead. Her husband had never threatened to take his own life. He had no fear of death. He often said he wished he was dead. He was a Theosophist. They did not get on well together at times. She put that down to his nerves. She tried to save his nerves as much as possible. He used to cry at times when he got annoyed at anything. She felt that his mental condition was definitely changing. If poison were found in her husband's stomach she had no idea how it got there.
Constable J. L. Patterson gave lengthy evidence concerning his inquiries into the sudden death of Hector William Robertson, and his interview with Mrs Robertson concerning the purchase of poison from Mr Bain, and as to what happened at the hut on the night of March 2. Mrs Robertson stated that her husband asked her for a drink of milk, which she got for him, and after he drank it he was sick. The smell of the vomit was troubling the deceased, and he asked her to empty it, which she did by throwing it on the grass outside. Witness searched for the vomit, but could not find any trace of it, owing to the heavy rain which had fallen during the night. He found no external marks of violence on the body, and searched the hut but found no letter or note left by the deceased. In the shaving cabinet he found an envelope marked "poison," which had been cut open at one end, and contained some dirty, white powder in a piece of white paper, the envelope bearing the name of Mr Bain. He took possession of the envelope, two glasses, a bottle of tonic, a medicine glass, and a bottle of lemon drink. He was present at the post mortem, and took possession of the internal organs and other parts, and conveyed them to the Government analyst at Dunedin. He produced the Government analyst's report, which stated that the amounts of poisons found in the organs were consistent with death from poisons.
The coroner stated he had considered the evidence and examined the analyst's report, and he returned a verdict that the deceased died from the effects of poisoning, self administered while in a state of mental stress. -ODT, 16/4/1938.
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