Biography

The deceased arrived in Kookynie three months before his death and was employed by the Electric Light Company for a few weeks. He then went to Niagara and remained at the Great Western Hotel until the time of his death. Deceased was in Kookynie late on the Sunday night and although apparently in his usual health, he insinuated that he contemplated suicide. Shortly after six o'clock on Monday morning, he was heard to call out and Mr Thompson and Mrs Moore entered his room and found him lying on the floor. They lifted him on to the bed, where he soon expired. When Constable Dunkley searched the body of William Shackell, he found a piece of cyanide, a number of letters, a watch chain. A small piece had been cut out of the cyanide. A letter addressed to Constable Dunkley was found on the body, stating that he had been driven to commit suicide and also enclosing his wife's address in Sydney. Dr Miskin, District Medical Officer, examined the body and performed a postmortem. In his opinion, death resulted from failure of the heart, produced by cyanide of potassium poisoning. The jury returned a verdict of suicide by means of cyanide poisoning, self-administered. The deceased had lived at Mrs Moore's hotel for the previous three months. His wife, Fanny, died in 1924 in Neutral Bay, New South Wales.