A difficult problem remained to be solved following a shocking tragedy at Rushden House Sanatorium on Wednesday morning, when Mr George Edward Church Woollard, the head gardener there, was found dead in his office, having received the discharge of a shot-gun through his right eye.
Mr Woollard was 56 years of age, and had been gardener at Rushden House since his boyhood, serving at one time under the Browning family. He was about his work in the usual manner early on Wednesday, but at 8.30 one of his assistants, with whom he had been planning garden operations, found him prostrate, an old sporting gun in one hand, and a ramrod in the other.
A jury was called for the inquest in the evening, and, having seen demonstrations with the gun and heard striking evidence as to Mr Woollard’s character, returned a verdict of ‘accidental death’.
The Divisional Coroner (Mr J.C. Parker) conducted the inquest at the Sanatorium on Wednesday evening, and Mr J.C.J. Simpson, solicitor, represented the Northampton County Council. Councillor T.F.B. Newberry was elected foreman of the jury, and PC Ashby was the Coroner’s Officer. Dr J.H. Crane, Medical Superintendent of the Sanatorium also attended.
Before evidence was called, the Coroner said the jurors might be somewhat surprised at being called together for such an enquiry, but the case might present some little difficulty, and there might be some question as to how the deceased came to his death.
Widow’s Evidence
Evidence of identification was given by the bereaved wife, Mrs Edith Emily Woollard, of Rushden House Cottage, who said her husband was 56 years of age. About 7.30 that morning he left home to go to work, and was in his usual health. He made no complaint about anything. He had been attended for some time by Dr Greenfield, and had been a little depressed, but lately was in better health. She had never heard him threaten to commit suicide and there was no financial or other difficulty. When her husband left the house, Mrs Woollard added, he said ‘good morning’. He had risen at 6 o’clock, his usual time.
Dr D.G. Greenfield said he was called by Dr Crane at 9 o’clock on Wednesday morning and went to the gardener’s office, adjoining the potting shed. The deceased was lying curled up on his right side. His left hand was clasping a gun near the muzzle, and his right hand was grasping a ramrod. It was a very old muzzle-loading gun, and looked entirely unsafe for anybody to have.
There was a large pool of blood coming from a huge wound just about the right eye. The deceased’s spectacles and false teeth were lying on the floor a yard or two distant.
Violent Discharge
Coroner: Would the force of the blow from the discharge of the gun be sufficient to knock the teeth out of his head? Dr Greenfield: I should think so. Coroner: What I am trying to get at is that he had not put them on the ground? Witness: No I shouldn’t think so. There was no outward wound from the charge? No. The doctor said death must have been instantaneous and was compatible with a wound from a gun shot.
We attended him in July and August. He had a sort of nervous trouble with his heart a very fast heart beating. It was not enough to lay him up, but he did not sleep very well. He had been away we recommended him to go for a holiday, and came in about a fortnight ago to say that he was perfectly well again. He looked much better. I saw him again one day last week, and he told me he was going on very well.
Outstanding Man
Coroner: Did he show any sign of suicidal tendencies? Witness: None at all. I was very surprised indeed. Coroner: Why? Dr Greenfield: He was an extraordinarily fine character really an outstanding kind of man, and not the sort of man I should have thought would have taken his life intentionally. He was not seriously ill, and carried on his work all the time. Dr Crane suggested that he could be let off his work if he liked to go away for a holiday; but there was nothing to drive him away of course added the doctor, he was grasping the gun. It might have been that he was holding it towards him and doing something to it. Coroner: I know. That is one of my difficulties. The doctor added that there was no sign whatsoever of insanity, although Mr Woollard was a little depressed at times. In answer to the Foreman, the doctor said the wound was right in the eye. Mr Simpson: The wound was just as compatible with accidental death as it was with him having shot himself intentionally? Dr Greenfield: Oh yes, quite. And you think he was a most unlikely man to have committed suicide? Oh yes, I do.
Planning His Work
Charles Brown, of 88 Park Road, Rushden, an under gardener at the Sanatorium, said he saw Mr Woollard at 7 o’clock on Wednesday morning when he was about his work as usual. He took me down the garden, continued the witness, and told me where he was going to have seeds another year. I was to manure the land and get it ready for him. He left me at ten minutes to eight and went towards the potting shed. The Coroner observed that this evidence was important. Resuming, Mr Brown said he did not hear any sound from the shed. He went there at 8.30. The door was three parts open, and he found Mr Woollard lying on the floor. He thought he was dead, and went to fetch his mate.
Coroner: Did you know that he had a gun in the shed? Witness: Oh yes, he has had a gun for two or three years, but this is a double barrelled one, and he had had it perhaps two years. Had you seen him cleaning it before, or loading it? Oh yes, I had seen him cleaning it in the shed. Have you seen him use a ramrod for that purpose? I did, a year or two back when he had a single barrel gun.
The Fatal Gun
He used to keep the gun in a corner of the shed, added witness. He used to have a go at the starlings and try to stop them getting the apples, but I haven’t seen him doing it this year. Coroner: You have known him for seven years? Oh yes, I’ve known him for 20 and worked with him for seven. I suppose you often had conversations with him? Oh brothers, sir’. And did you think he was the sort of man to commit suicide? The last man in the world. He was a downright good living man, sir. You know of no reason why he should? No, I have no idea. And he seemed quite as usual this morning? Aye, just the same as he ever was. He set my mate and myself to work as usual no different whatever.
The Foreman: Were there any birds about this morning? Was there any particular reason why he should be at the gun this morning? No, not that I know of. Mr Simpson: He knew quite well that you would be going at half past eight? Yes, I always spoke to him just before he went to breakfast. Sgt. Wright: Had you heard him discuss this gun or say whether he was nervous of it? No. Sgt. Wright: I understand that he had passed remarks that he was frightened of the gun, and I wondered whether he had said so to you? No.
Ramrod In Hand
In evidence Sgt. Wright (H.G.) said he received information about 9.30 a.m. and at once visited the Sanatorium. He saw the deceased in the office adjoining the potting shed, and was told the body had not been moved. The deceased was lying on his right side facing the entrance door, and the legs were slightly flexed, the feet being near a bench under the window. Witness formed the opinion that he was standing close to the window at the time the gun was discharged. Coroner: Facing it? Witness: Yes. Coroner: Was there any looking glass close to the window? No. Nowhere in the place? No. Producing the gun, Sgt. Wright said the deceased was grasping the barrel in his left hand, about six inches from the muzzle, with the lower part of the gun resting on his left thigh. The muzzle of the gun was about a foot from his face. The ramrod was clasped in his right hand, just as a person would hold it when using it, and was lying across the body, underneath the gun. His cap was lying on the bench underneath the window. His broken spectacles were lying at his feet, and small pieces of glass from a lens were lying near. Part of his upper denture was about two yards from the body, and the remainder of the denture was in the mouth.
Empty Barrel
Sgt. Wright then exhibited a shot pouch and another containing black powder, used for loading the gun. These, he said, were lying on the bench, just above where the body was found. The deceased was fully dressed, and a bunch of freshly gathered parsley was lying on the bench, together with a bunch of freshly gathered grapes. Witness said he examined the gun and found the left barrel had recently been discharged. A portion of the cap was still under the hammer, and both hammers were down. Coroner: Was the other barrel empty? Yes. Sgt. Wright added that the gun was rusty and apparently had not been used for some time. He saw a mark on the butt which appeared to have been caused recently by striking the concrete floor of the shed. I tested the gun, said the sergeant, and found I could release the trigger by dropping it on the ground.
Sergeant’s Test
At the invitation of the Coroner the sergeant then took the gun and ramrod in either hand, as for loading or cleaning, and showed that the trigger could be released by contact with the point of the ramrod. Continuing his evidence, he said no writing was found in the clothing, and no letter had been the left at the house. The right lens of the spectacles was broken, and the left shaken out of the deceased man’s jacket, where it was found, unbroken. Coroner: So the gun was discharged close to? Witness: Yes, the whole of the shot entered the head, through the right eye. There was none of the shot on the ceiling. Coroner: The doctor said there was no mark of exit. A juror asked if it was possible to discharge the gun by catching it with any part of the clothing, and the sergeant replied by pointing out that the trigger had a guard. Mr Simpson: The door was open, we have heard. Do you know the key was in the door? Sgt. Wright: Yes. Also inside the shed is a cellar place a very convenient place for anyone who wanted to commit suicide? Yes.
Mystery of Cap
The Coroner, summing up, said the evidence of the wife was rather important. She said her husband had been ill and a little depressed at times, but lately he had been much better. That was confirmed by the doctor, and all the evidence showed that the man was normal. They had too, the evidence of Mr Brown, who said the deceased took him down the garden and showed him where he was going to have the seeds next year. That hardly looked like the movement of a man who was about to take his life. Dealing with the difficulty of ‘this unfortunate gun’ which Brown said he had not seen about for some time, the Coroner drew attention to the fact that it was not only loaded, but had a cap on it. The proper way of loading such a gun, was to put the cap on last. Pointing out that the time from when deceased left Brown and when he was discovered was very short, the Coroner said it might be that at the time the wretched gun was last used, the right barrel only had been shot off, and the gun left in a hurry. The deceased may have got it out to clean it, and they had been told that by dropping the gun on the hard floor, it could go off without the trigger being pulled. On the other hand there was a possibility of the ramrod being used to discharge it, but it did not seem a feasible matter, if a man was looking straight down a barrel, to discharge a smooth trigger with a rounded ramrod.
The Verdict
The jury deliberated in private, the Foreman afterwards announcing that they had gone carefully into the matter and had come to the conclusion that death was accidental. Mr Simpson said he was desired by the County Council to convey their sincere sympathy with the widow. The tragedy has greatly distressed all connected with the Sanatorium, for Mr Woollard was one of the original members of the staff when the big house and its extensive grounds were taken over by the County Council. Rushden House was up to then a private residence, and Mr Woollard was in employment there continuously since boyhood, serving the Browning family for many years. He was highly skilled in his work, and among his other interests was the Independent Wesleyan Chapel at Wymington. A widow and one son are left.
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