ALLEGED MURDER AT SOUTH DUNEDIN.

Evening Star, Issue 6725, 6 October 1885, Page 4

ALLEGED MURDER AT SOUTH DUNEDIN.

The following is the conclusion of our report of the inquest whicli was held yesterday on the body of Georgina Butler : Thomas Morland ITocken, duly registered practitioner, practising in Dunedin, deposed : I made a post mortem examination yesterday, and continued it to-day, in company with Dr de Zouche. The deceased was lying on a stretcher in the kitchen on her back, entirely dressed. Her arms were slightly away from the body, the right being straight down, and the left semi-flexed inWcirds. The limbs were not very rigid. A sheet which had been thrown over the body was covered with blood, and a counterpane was slightly smeared. The upper corner of a mattress under the body was saturated with blood, which had trickled down, forming a small pool on the floor. There were smears, also, on the mattress, down to nearly the centre of it. A pillow partly saturated with blood was lying close to the right of deceased's head. On removing the body to a table I found' an under-sheet rucked up in the centre of the mattress with some stains of blood on it and also of blue color, apparently from the dye of her dress. Her dress had a good deal of blood about the collar. There was a halfemptied quart bottle of beer under the stretcher and also some articles of dress. There were smears of blood on the dado at the. head and left side of the stretcher. On the left side there was a long streak of blood with spots or Bpnrts above. The whole of the marks extended to a height of 39in above the stretcher. Next to the breast of the deceased was a handkerchief containing a small Bum of money. The body was well nourished, pale, and with little post mortem congestion. The hair was dishevelled and matted with blood. The right eye was entirely blackened, the left partially so. A lacerated and contused wound an inch in length commenced above the root of the nose and was triangular in shape, the base being above. From it three small streams of blood had trickled backwards through the deceased's hair. This wound extended to the bone. There was an oval, lacerated, contused wound extending to the bone, half an inch in length, on the left temple just above the outer angle of. the eye, and a contusion extending below this to the angle of the jaw. Two inches above the outer angle of the right eye was a third lacerated contused wound, slightly over an inch in length and over half an inch across, down to the bone. Extending therefrom down the side of the head and face was also a contusion. The right ear lobe was bruised, perforated, and torn, a small flab hanging loose from it. There was a small black contusion a-quarter of an inch in length over the right zygomatic process. There was a contusion under the chin to the left side extending two or three inches. Both hands were half closed. The back of the left hand was very much swollen, black, and puffed ; and this condition of blackness extended up the arm to within a few inches of the shoulder joint. There was a small contusion a quarter of an inch long on the first joint of the fore-finger and a similar one on the second knuckle of the ring finger. The ring upon it (now produced) was slightly flattened. The right hand was slightly swollen and also black, the blackness here also extending up the arm. There was an indented bruise half an-inch long at the back of the arm and an inch and a-half above the wrist in a line with the forefinger and transverse. There was an old bruise on the left shin. Some female hairs were in the fingers of each hand, and I also found a bristle which I i 3 similar to the bristles in the brush produced. On removing the scalp a great quantity of clotted blood was to be seen, especially over the right side, where the large wound was : and this blood extended all through the contusions spoken of. The right zygomatic process was broken through, and a little bit of ib driven down. Exactly over the site of tiie small black contusion there the sharp end of the hone had nearly peuetrated the skin. From tho neighborhood of this fractured spot a fracture extended through the base of the skull to the other side of the head. The brain was not congested, but healthy. The lungs were also healthy, somewhat fatty, and there were slight deposits close to the aortic valves. The heart might be said to be very healthy, and it was empty. The stomach was dilated, healthy, and without redness or congestion. It contained nearly an ounce of fluid, perhaps smelling of beer. The bowels were healthy, and from them there had been a copious watery evacuation into her clothes. The liver was slightly enlarged, but otherwise healthy. The Kidneys w«'re healthy. To the jury : The wounds described were sufficient to cause death. The brush produced could hardly produce the wound on the temple. I do not think so. I should fancy that a heavier weapon, with a sharp corner, must have been used. I do not think the bruises could have been received by a fall. Death must have resulted speedily, and there must have been a little Btrnggle, judging from the smears that were to be seen. Margaret Brown Avas then called. The Coroner: It is my duty to inform you that the evidence as far as it goes points solely to your being the person who has caused this death, and you are not compelled to answer any questions that may commit yourself. You were the only other person, it is stated, in the house besides your mother that night, and evidently someone must have done it. Witness deposed: I am the wife of Ernest Brown and daughter of the deceased. On Friday night I do not know that there was anyone in the house but my mother, the three children, and myself. I went to bed a little after nine. I slept in the front bedroom with the children, the eldest of whom is seven. My mother slept in the kitchen on the stretcher, where I found her on •Saturday morning. We have kept her since she came out to the Colony eighteen months ago. About one o'clock in the afternoon of Friday I told her to go to bed with the baby and take a little rest, as she had been drinking. I went to town, and on returning at five I found her in the kitchen. She was then very much the worse of liquor, although she could stand. I asked her who was giving her all the money to buy all the drink, and she told rae to mind my own business. As I was taking off my bonnet she took a largo bonnet and went away. She returned with beer, and after drinking it went for move after the lapse of about an hour. She was going out a third time, but I got her to turn back. Subsequently, however, she went out, and fell down a few ' yards from the back door. I helped her up, and when she got inside she fell against the scullery fireplace. She tried to get up, and then she fell against the scullery door. Then, when helping her into the kitchen she fell again. I told her to take off her clothes and go to bed, as I would not let her out again. I got her to lie down, and I put the blankets over her. She lay there, and before I went to bed she wanted to get out again. I locked the back door and put on the back snib. I took the lamp, went through the passage, and went to bed. I got up in the morning about half-past seven o'clock and went into the kitchen-. The back door was shut, but unlocked. The kitchen door was wide open. My mother was lying on the stretcher ; all tho clothes I put on her were tumbled into the cradle. I said "Mother, what makes you lie like that ?" Get up. I went up to the top and said "Open your eyes, mother "; and when I saw no movement I rushed over the street to Mrs Patterson. That is all I know ; I have never done anything in the house since, or been there except with Mrs Patterson. The house is four-roomed, with wooden partitions. You can hear sometimes from one room to the other ; but I am dull of hearing on one side. I heard a noise during the night, as if mother was rising up, but nothing much. I have been almost my mother's sole support for nearly seven years. She only disgraced us any time she went out to service. She was very intemperate. My husband and I could not discover where she got money for drink. I had to keep every penny under lock and key. There was no ill-feeling about it, but I asked her plainly where she was getting the money. Twelve months previously a man came and asked my mother to go out for a walk, and she said she did not know him. AtOamaru a man? -followed her into our house, and I had to go awayfor assistance. The dusting-

brush produced and the articles of clothing produced are mine. The blood-stain on the pillow-slip is blood from the nose of my little girl, who is subject to nose-bleeding. I cannot account for the blood on the pinafore. The blood on one of the other articles has been there since we were in Oamarn. If it were not for drinking my mother would have been able to do something towards her own supnort. To the Foreman: I was going to interrupt Sergeant Macdouell when he read my statement to him, as he was wrong about the back-door being locked in the morning. To Jurymen : I did not regard my mother as a burden ; she was great company to ire, and I insisted on my husband sending tor her. I did not wash the dusting brush lately. I washed it once a week. 1 used it for brushing the floor and and the hearth. I never had a quarrel with my mother. There might be a sharp word occasionally. She had no money coming to her. _ Mr flocken recalled, stated: On making further search I have found in the left hand of deceased another bristle and two or three female hairs. I cut off a portion of the sheet I referred to us being tucked np under her, and in the dry blood found several more bristles similar to those in the brush ; also on the blood-besmeared pillow. The inquest was here adjourned till three o'clock on Wednesday.