Dossier concerning Nikolay/N. Voronchihin (和郎切林; N. VORONCHIHIN), a 49-year-old Russian man living in Shanghai, who attempted suicide by cutting his throat on 31 May 1945 and subsequently died in hospital on 17 June 1945. Voronchihin was unmarried and employed as a watchman at the Tchakalian Brothers French Bakery, 477 Route de Sloyes. He resided at 107 Rue Delastre, where the suicide attempt took place. The English-language Shanghai police report records that he was found in his room bleeding heavily from a throat wound and was transported by emergency ambulance to the Red Cross Hospital, 363 Avenue Haig.

The investigation documents two important circumstances preceding the suicide attempt. Voronchihin had suffered for a considerable period from tuberculosis (T.B.) and was described as being in very poor health, with little prospect of recovery. He had also saved money in preparation for leaving Shanghai but lost his wallet containing the money and personal papers on 30 May 1945, the day before the attempt. His colleague Stepan Kalashnikoff, who had known him for approximately three years, testified that the loss greatly depressed him but considered his chronic tuberculosis and poor prognosis to be the more important reason for the suicide attempt.

Voronchihin used a razor to cut his throat. Police found the razor at the scene and also recovered a written note in his room indicating that he had attempted suicide by cutting his throat. His condition initially prevented police from taking a statement because the throat injury left him unable to speak. He remained in the Red Cross Hospital until 17 June, when police were notified that he had died. The hospital information quoted in the police report gives the primary cause of death as “Cut throat” and the secondary condition as “T.B.”

The body was transferred to the Public Mortuary on Rue Ningpo pending an inquest. As Voronchihin had no relatives in Shanghai, his employer, represented by Stepan Kalashnikoff, agreed to claim the body for burial. The subsequent Chinese judicial documentation records the throat injury during the formal corpse examination and confirms the death as resulting from the self-inflicted cutting injury, with tuberculosis also documented as a serious underlying medical condition.