DEATH FROM TIGHT LACING.

Dunstan Times, Issue 732, 28 April 1876, Page 4

DEATH FROM TIGHT LACING.

—o — On the 10th of December the Westminster Coroner held an inquiry into the cause of the death of Mrs Kazia Wheeler, aged seventy seven, an independent lady, of 34, Stanley-street. Mr H. Nicliolls said he resided a few doors from the deceased, who was his mother-in-law. She was out with a lady friend. Witness called at the house to see her, but on knocking could get no answer. Witness told the landlady he thought something must be wrong, and asked should he burst the door ; but the landlady declared witness had no authority. Next morning he went with a surgeon, had the door broken in, entered, and found deceased dead on the floor, fully dressed, with a bible in her hand, leaving no doubt she was in the act of .going to church. The coroner said it was impossible for witness to do wrong in breaking the door. Mr William Folwell, surgeon, said she had been dead since the preceding morning, having died suddenly from the breaking of an aneurism. A post mortem revealed a very sad state of things. The lower ribs were tightly jammed together, the sides nearly touching one another. The liver, intestines, stomach, and other organs were all jumbled up together, and were remarkable for their smallness. Deceased was tall, and had been a very beautiful •woman, and death was caused by former tight lacing. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, with an expression of opinion that it was very wrong deceased should remain so long before discovered, was returned.