284 The Life of Fred Archer 
me he should die. His temperature fell on Sunday after- 
noon, and he was better on Monday morning. A little before 
eight his temperature was much lower, and he was better, 
though very low-spirited. He still had the idea that he must 
die. I had a long talk with him, and left him about 9.30. 
He spoke sensibly. I did not see him again alive. 
" I went to the house again at 2.30. I met Mrs. Coleman 
in the garden. She told me the facts, and I went upstairs into 
the room. I saw deceased on his back on the floor. He was 
covered with a sheet. He was quite dead. Finding no ex- 
ternal wounds, I looked into his mouth, and found that there 
was a wound at the back of the mouth. On examining the 
back of his head I found an opening between the two upper 
cervical vertebrae. I was shown the revolver. It would be 
possible for him to fire it with his left hand as described by 
Mrs. Coleman. I have seen the bullet found on the dressing- 
table, and have no doubt it is the bullet which passed through 
the spinal column, dividing the spinal column and causing 
instant death. 
" He was not delirious in his fever, but disconnected in 
his thoughts. It seemed from the commencement to take a 
form of depression. I consider that in the weak state that he 
was in, followed by the fever, his brain was so disordered that 
he was not accountable for his actions. In other words, he 
was temporarily insane at the time he committed the 
act." 
After some remarks from the Coroner, in which he stated 
that in his opinion the evidence, more especially that of Sar- 
jent, went to prove that the rash act was quite unpremeditated, 
he left the verdict in the hands of the jury. Without leaving 
the room, they unanimously returned a verdict " That the 
deceased committed suicide whilst in a state of unsound 
mind." 
The revolver, which was a six-chambered, formidable 
