INQUEST.

Evening Star, Issue 3649, 2 November 1874, Page 2

INQUEST.

n inquest was held at the Hospital at mum to day, b fore Mr T. M. Heck, n, Coin ncr, on the body of Gather lie Hendrick, son, who met her dertb by jumping out 01 a window in the Hospital on Saturday evening. Joe Coroner explained the case under inve'.Tyatioa was that of a woman who was brought to the Hospital, evidently by mis* take, instead of to the Lunatic Asylum, on Saturday afternoon It appears that she was insane,-and after being in the place for a short time, jumped out of the window and feil upon her head; and Ue (t.e Coroner) supposed fractured her skull, from which she died The important question for them to dei rmine was whether proper care was ink .u afier the deceased was admitted to the Hospital, it seemed rather odd at fiiat sight tnat a person should have been left in a ward unattended and with the window opened. It was admitted that the window was open at the time. The following evidence was given ; Herman Hendrickson, wood-cutter, residing at Fine Hill, said that deceased, who avr.s his wife, was thirty-three years of age, ami a native of Ireland. he complained ah >ut a fortnight aco that she was weak in the chest, and that she would like to go to Pert Chalmers to get the sea-breeze. She went there for a week, and was a tended hy i. Oogh man. [W tness produced a bottle 01 medicine from Mr Cogleman, a medical li. rbalist —The Coroner (io .king at it) ; ■omc « f those quack fe lo vs, I sup, ose.] Witness saw uothiag wrong with her mind. ‘ u Friday night she took two teaspoonsful of the medicine produced. About midnight s .e got up and went and stood on the wet grass. Witness carried her inside, t he night being damp. On Saturday she said she would like to go to the Hospital, and witness and his brother took her there ! at about eight o’clock in the morning. Her mind was then apparently quite right; she only complained of pains in the' stomach. A ir-ness returned to the Hospital at about three o’c ock iu the afternoon, and .earned t at she was better, but he did not see her. He had never noticed any signs of insanity about her.— 1 he Coroner : Do you know th«t 1.60 was found on deceased’s pers •m? Witlies- ; I beard that aft-st wards, both my hro her and myseif, to please her, have been i ■ the hahit of giving uer money to buy dresses, which I have found out she never biueht. [ think that was preying ou her mind, ;>8 she did not wish me to know of it. I have fancied for some time that she wished t'< hide something from me —By the Foreman : 11 u Friday night wh u she went outside in the damp she with me, aud afterwards tried to grA through the window, The Coroner : A nd was not that suffio eut indication that theie was something wrong in her mind ? Witness : I thought she was wandering a little, and told the matron so. 'he Foreman, m answer to the Coroner, said he had known deceased two or three years He never thought her perfectly right in her mind, as she appeared to be somewhat rowdy, and very much inclined to be excitable, though not insane Deceased and her husband did not seem to care for one another. A Juror wished the medicine examined, hut the Coroner thought it unnecessary. He said of course it was a ridiculous thing to go to ihe herbalist, and he knew of a case of rheumatism in which the same man had treated a patient iu the same ridiculous fashion. T’r Yates said that deceased was brought to the Hospital between ten and el-.veu o’clock on Saturday morning. Her husband s ;id something was wrong with her chest and sfc much, and that she was feverish. Being busy at the time With other patient she did pot thoroughly examine her. He thought that she was a little depressed, but observed noth ng mentally amiss. On seeing her at twelve o’clock in No. 8 ward upstairs ha loutid her insane, ta king incoherently. She ■va* f however, quite manageable. Her busband having promised to re urn, witness infen led to g-t him to take deceased to the unatic Asylum, but he did not again see niui. When insane pe. sous were brought to lie Hospital they are placed in the ordinary Js. there being no other place. Th-i Coroner : . hj ! dear me. I suppose T.ey ought not to be put in with the other patients. Witness : No, they disturb them. The Coroner ; A very serious thing. Witness said he had to allow her to remaia -n the waid, as there was no place for insane persona or cases cf 'delirium tremens. the low class of women, cases of he ’atter occasionally occur. It would be letter if there was a seperate ward for such oersons. He did not think it necessary to ;:ivc special directions to the nurse. At a j. before six o’clock he heard a great noise ’n the ward, and on going outside found debased lying on the grass. She was quite pale aud senseless, and had evidently jumped or fallen from the ward window—a distance of thirty or forty feet. She lived about an hour afterwards, the cause of death being concussion of the brain. The nurse was a.went from the ward at the time of the accident, and the window was open. She should h->re left some one in charge. Elizabeth Carson, a patient in the Hospir.al, said that while sitting in bed on Satur-■-y evening she heard some one give a scream, and saw deceased with her knees on he window, but before witness could get up ha had jumped out of the window. l>be •ad evidently been out of her mind for some vime. The nurse, who had been very atten'.tve to her, was away at the time getting her wa,. Deceased’s talk was very childish. Jane M'Kechnie, nurse in the Dunedin espital, said deceased was in the ward of ivnich she had charge ou Saturday. She afterwards found that deceased was a little curious” in her mind—touched a little but witness never thought she intended selfdestruction. Deceased prayed all the. afternoon and said she was afraid some one would do her wrong though she never banned anyone. Witness went to get tea at uve 0 clock but did not leave deceased in anyone s special charge, as she did not think it necessary. Witness never heard that iieccoae was crazed, or that it was in. tended to take her to the asylum. |On going downstairs witness left all the window? it of She“had deceased , mußt have opened t. .She had given special carb to deceased—ceedlwTv r to W ® kk - Ught the hußb!ind «*• to blame m not taking deceased t® asylum. They never h-fn Z ° f i a palieut when tbe Qu ™e ra“e o ?i UUIeBS the patieat waß outThe Coroner said that, so far as the evideuce went, it did not appear that blame was attached, as be had at first thought. Apparently the husband was tbe only pen on blameabie, for he must have noticed t*at deceased was insane if Dr Yates had

obscrvi d it, and he should at least have calif d r Yates’s astcnU-.n to the f «;r.. .according to the evidence, she w s e.-footly manag< aMe, «n:l rn m.o foresaw i . ,• fate. The qo s'i'n was w hctbe.r the case was <»• e of auie-de, asm tbue was no evidence of suicide curing insanity, though th.<* w.v ;; voluntary act. s t apjn area to hir t a? it wo s merely a d sire ou the part oi the me axd te get freali air, as on the nigh: bernm No doubt d ce >s. d had foil, n from the win low and was Id led while in a state of lempira'y insanity. He did not think there was any intention to commit suicide—not even an insane nteutku. i here was one fact elicited in evidence of which they might take note. Dr "Vales had sdd that there waa no proper place- for il Urium tremens patients. <»f course it c< tiiil not be tx : -ected that there was a proper place tor iuua-ics—as the asylum wa. th,: pia.;-. f„r them ; but he thought it wa? ii ly right to allow delirium tremens patients admitted with the ordinary patients, and thus keep them awake. The jury >etunit'd a verdict in accordance with tl e ’ oiona’s instinct ions, and added a rider, *• ihat t!r- re should be a separate ward for patients suffering with delirium tremens, or 0 her m ■; tal disease. '* The jar.* having stated that deceased’s husband ’-as the only p, rson to blame, Mr Hendrick sou was recalled, and the Coroner told hi;u ihai. he should lia’ve informed Dr Yates tiff was something wrong with deceased , mind, so that she might have been invri mi lately removed to the Asylum. Mr H.ri ’chsnn asserted that he was not aware id-.',, L ■ »vua waa ’.inane, as she gave reasonable answers to ail questions put to her.