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Full Details

Surname
MUNRO
Forename
William
Day
22
Month
04
Year
1938
Age
Occupation
Labourer
Mine/Quarry Name
Aitken
Mineral Worked
Coal
Owner
Fife Coal Co. Ltd
Location
Kelty
County
Fifeshire
Details of Event
22 April 1938: “Suicide From Pain” - Fife Compensation Claim Coalowners' Denial - At Dunfermline Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff Substitute F. A. Umpherston heard evidence in an action under the Workmen's Compensation Act, in which it is alleged that a labourer committed suicide because of the overwhelming pain he was suffering as the result of an injury received at his work. The claimants are Mrs Hannah Malcolm or Munro, 6 Council Houses, Keltyhill Road, Kelty, widow of William Munro, labourer, and Thomas Malcolm Munro, their son. They are suing the Fife Coal Company (Limited), Leven for an award of £250 of compensation in respect of the death of Wiiliam Munro. It is alleged by claimants that Munro, while working at the respondents Aitken Colliery, Kelty, on February 7 1938 was injured by a piece of wire entering the middle finger of his right hand. Subsequently it became septic, and a portion of the finger was amputated at Dunfermline and West Fife Hospital. Claimants aver that on the morning of April 22, Munro committed suicide by throwing himself, in front of a railway train between Kelty and Blairadam Stations, and they allege that his suicide was a direct result of the overwhelming pain from,which he suffered as a result of his injury. Respondents deny that the death of Munro was a direct result of overwhelming pain from which he was suffering, or that his death was a direct consequence of the accident They plead that Munro's death not being due to injury by accident arising out of his employment, no compensation is payable. Mental Condition - For the claimants, evidence was given by Mrs Munro and by acquaintances of the deceased that prior to his injury, Munro was a normal, cheerful man but that owing to the pain he suffered he became nervous and depressed. Mrs Munro said that on one occasion her husband said to her, “I am afraid this finger is going to be the death of me.” He seemed to feel, she said, that it was more than he was able to bear. Doctors who treated Munro at the hospital , stated in cross examination that they did not see anything abnormal in his mental condition. Professor David K. Henderson, Edinburgh University, Physician Superintendent of the Royal Hospital for Mental Disorders, Edinburgh, giving evidence for the respondents, said, that from the evidence and from his examination of the reports, he could not come to the conclusion that Munro was insane. Asked if he thought a man who was quite sane could fling himself in front of a train, he replied Yes. I think there are sane suicides. It was possible witness agreed, that Munro might commit this act on a sudden impulse. The evidence might indicate that the man had a neurosis, and witness would consider that that condition was directly due to the injury to the man's finger by causing a certain preoccupation with that injury. In cross examination, Professor Henderson said that a suicidal act was a thing that was very uncommon in a person merely suffering from a neurosis. Sheriff-Substitute Umpherston made avizandum. [Scotsman 10 December 1938]