Jealous Lover’s Letter: Suicide after Attack on a Girl: At the inquest on Friday Horace Pinsent of Leicester, who on Wednesday shot himself after firing at his sweetheart and seriously injuring a passing cyclist with another shot, the coroner read the following passages from a letter, dated the previous Saturday, which was found on Pinsent: “This to wish everybody good-bye. I thought that she was true to me, but I found out just lately that she told some of the biggest lies she could think of. I helped her out of difficulties. Ada used to say if I fell out with her, she would see that nobody else should have me, so I have taken the same precaution.” The girl, Ada Smith, said she had been keeping company with Pinsent since last November. They had been on the best of terms till just lately. On Tuesday he said that if he did not have her, neither should anyone else, and added “I will shoot you as well as myself.” The next morning, he repeated the threat. She told him not to be silly. He asked her to meet him that night. They walked to the Stoneygate tramway terminus. Pinsent pulled something out of his waistcoat, ran away, but he caught her and put his arm around her. She heard a shot, and the bullet grazed her cheek and went through the brim of her hat. There were more shots, and she saw a cyclist fall. The jury returned a verdict that Pinsent shot himself but that there was not sufficient evidence to show the state of his mind.
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive
Referenced
GRO0431 Tiverton: Horace Pinsent: 1893 – 1913