SUN VALLEY (Idaho): An Idaho coroner said here yesterday that he considered it useless to investigate the death yesterday of American novelist Ernest Hemingway.

He said there was no indication of any foul play. Hemingway’s wife believed his death had been an accident, and no one had been with Hemingway at the time of his death, the coroner said.

Mrs Mary Hemingway said that her husband killed himself accidentally at 07:30 local [time] yesterday while cleaning a gun.

The coroner, who was assigned to determine whether Hemingway’s death should be investigated, said he had taken his decision after consulting with Idaho’s attorney general.

The coroner said: “There is no indication of foul play. His wife thought it was an accident, and there was no one with Mr Hemingway at the time.”

According to a Washington report, President Kennedy on Sunday declared that few Americans had had a greater impact on the emotion and attitudes of the American people than novelist Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway ranked among the leading contemporary novelists and was one of the most picturesque and surprising literary figures of [this] century.

Described by famed French literary critic Emile Henriot as “perhaps the most remarkable of the writers of our time”, Hemingway, through his concise style and enormous command of the English language, has greatly influenced the modern novel. — AFP