INQUEST.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VII, Issue 628, 21 July 1882, Page 3

INQUEST.

An inquest was held on Tuesday on the body of Matthew Robert Thomson, who died on Sunday, 16th inst, at the house of Alexander Thomson, Okuto Valley, Little River. The inquest was held at the house of deceased's father, before J. Aylmer, B--*q., Coroner, Mr Wm. Coop being foieirnan of the jury. The following is tho

evidence taken :—Mary Thomson, sworn, said :I am mother of deceased. I remember the evening of the 16th July, 1882. At about 3 p.m. that day the deceased came inlo the house. I took deceased on my knee ; when I took him up he was choking. I asked my eldest daughter what was the matter, and she replied that deceased must have picked up a marble that was lying outside the door. I turned deceased over, anel put my finger down his throat to try to relieve his throat. I called for deceased's father to help, and he camo, but could do no good. I then sent to Mr Joblin for help. By the time Mr Joblin arrived, deceased was dead. Deceased was fourteen months' old. He lived a quarter of an hour after coming into the house. Alexander Thomson being sworn, said : lam the father of deceased. I remember Sunday, July 16. About 3 p.m. that day I was starting for the River, when mv wife called me back ; when I got back my wife met me at die door with deceased. I took deceased and turned him over on my knee, with his feet up. I tried to relieve deceased of what was in hia throat. I could not get what was in deceased's throat out, so I tried to push it down. Deceased only lived about 15 minutes after I saw him. Francis Elliot Corbet Singleton sworn, said : I am a legally qualified medical practitioner, residing in Akaroa. I have this day made a post mortem examination of the body of Matthew Robert Thomson. The body is that of a well nourished male child. There are no minks of violence on the body. On opening the chest the heart was examined in situ. The right chambers were empty, the left being filled with dark fluid blood. The lungs were congested, but otherwise healthy. On pushing the finger up behind the larynx and through the posterior medrastinium a round object, about the size of a marble, could he felt lying within tbe larynx. This object could be pushed up into the throat, and so into the mouth, and in extraction proved to be a glass marble. From the foregoing examination, I am of opinion tbat ihe child's death was due to suffocation, caused by the impaction of the glass marble in the larynx. No other organs were examined. By the jury : I believe that if there had been a medical man present at the time there would have been a difficulty in removing the object, owing to the smoothness and rolunditv of the object.

This concluded the evidence, and the jury returned the following verdict:— ''That the deceased, Matthew Robert Thomson, was accidentally suffocated at Little River on Sunday, the 16th of July, 1882, by a marble being impacted in the throat, and notothenvise."