A LYSOL VICTIM.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14978, 27 May 1914, Page 7

A LYSOL VICTIM.

YOUNG WOMAN'S DEATH

'-CAST ASIDE FOR EVER."

"Good-bye Perce. I cannot do what you want mc to. Itcould not go on aud knowing you are going with another woman. God forgive mc for what lam doing. Give my clothes and Jewellery to your sister. Cast aside for ever, Emily."

This pathetic note, scribbled roughly in pencil on a dirty piece of foolscap, provided practically the only evidence as to the state of mind of Emily Alice Smith, who died as the result of lysol poisoning, early yesterday morning, when being admitted to the hospital.

The inquest was held by Mr H. W. Bishop. S.M., District Coroner, at noon yesterday. Alexander Mcikle John Trotter, house physician at the hospital, gave, evidence that deceased was Drought in about 12.10 a.m. yesterday. Lite was extinct when she reached the ward. He could gather nothing from an examination of the body, except that the tongue and inside of the mouth were very white, which would be consistent with poisoning by lysol. One of the porters had said iio thought deceased was breathing \vh<}.i\ taken out of the taxi. Ho could nob say exactly how big a dose was required to be fatal to normal persons.

Mr Bishop: Is it amongst the poisons ?

Sergeant Stewart: Xo. .sir. Mr Bishop: An extraordinary thing! Dr. Trotter: Lysol is one of the carbolic acid series and is corrosive.

Mr Bishop: I should have thought itwould have been placed on the poisons list.

Dr. Trotter: it is very frequently taken.

John Pcrcival Smith, giving evidence, said he was the proprietor of the Don Dining Booms, 117 Manchester street. Deceased's name was Kuiily Alice Smith, but she was no relation of his. Sh(\ was a married woman, but witness had no idea whero her husband was. She had been living apart from him for about nino years, and had lived with witness as his wife for the" last eight years. They first came together in Wellington, lie was a single man. Deceased had no children. They had been living on very fair terms, but had the usuaf little tiffs occasionally. Mr Bishop: Was she jealous of you. J Witness: Oh. yes! Had that jealousy become more accentuated lately . ' Oh, I can't .say that. She had been jealous- generally. ' r On Mondnv. continued witness, she had neeined in her usual spirits. Deceased had often spoken of suicide, but such a thing had not, been spoken of tor some time. "Witness had not taken her seriously. He last saw her in her umal state nt about 8.I.") p.m. on Monday, when he left her sitting in the kitchen, and went for a walk round the town. . . Mr Bishop: Did she raise any objections to your going out;*' Witness: She didn't like mo going out, but made no fuss. She asked mc not to go, but I simply walked out. Mr Bishop: Did she think you were going with another woman? Witness: She was suspicious. As a matter of fact 1 wa_ go:ng out with another woman. I would probably have married the other woman in time, but I never told deceased so. Deceased knew who the other woman was. Witness said he came back at about 10 o'clock, and after attending to business', he went up to the room nexl. his own'; whore he saw a light, but took little notice of it He returned upstairs again at about 11 p.m., and went to the bedroom. Finding the door locked, he knocked two or three times, and receiving no answer, pushed up a window off a verandah, and entered tho room. He found deceased lying in bed unconscious in her nightdress. She was frothing at the mouth, and he saw at once that something was wrong. Ho called the waitress, and ran up to Dr. Louisson, and returned with him. Dr. Louisson sent him for a taxi, and deceased was removed to the Hospital. He accompanied her, and thought she was alive, but tbe doctor came running up, and s.i-"d she must have been dead when admitted.

The deceased's last pathetic note was then produced, and Mr Bishop, perusing it, asked: What was it you wanted her to do?

Witness: Go to her people in Australia.

Witness added that he had never seen a bottle of lysol in the house since they had been there. They never used

it. . Sergeant Stewart: The poison was purchased at a neighbouring chemist's on Monday. Mr Bishop: Evidently purchased for the purpose. Dr. Louisson stated that he found the bottle on the bed. He administered an emetic, and ordered her removal to the Hospital.

Reginald Ward, detective, gave evidence that he knew tho parties. Deceased had been to him about three times during the past two months. Tho first time she told him her name was Emily Smith, that she was a married woman living apart from her husband. She said she was living with a man named John Pcreival Smith. She had been away to Sydney on a holiday in March, and when she got back she found another woman at tbe house, and the man Smith' carrying on with her. Deceased had also said that this was a' woman with a bad reputation, and she wanted information to prove her belief. On tho last occasion she came to him, deceased said Smith would not believe anything was tho matter with the woman, that be was still going with her, and said he intended to marry her. and that ho had told deceased if she didn't like it sho could get out. D,eeeased-was crying at the time, and considered she had Wen badly treated after working for eight years with Smith, and getting a business together. That was about a fortnight ago. Her object was apparently to get information about her rival to prove to Smith' that the woman had a past. Deceased was a hard working woman, and seemed to feel that she .had been very harshly treated.

Smith here stated, in reply to the Coroner, that deceased was 28 years of ago. Mr Bishop said that as there was no evidence as to the deceased's state of mind at the he -would simply return a verdict of suicide by poisoning with lysol. "Do you intend to bury her?" asked Mr Bishop of the witness Smith— "Yes."

'-You'd better take that then (handing him a certificate). It's the lea.st you can do for her." x It "was stated in the evidence that deceased's husband was at one time an acrobat employed on the local vaudeville stage.