INQUEST AT KIWITEA.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 2, 21 June 1882, Page 2

INQUEST AT KIWITEA.

REPORT op SUICIDE UNFOUNDED We are glad to be able to announde that the painful rumors circulated of Mrs J D. Bismarck having committed suicide were unfounded, the unfortunate lady having met her death by accident, as the following evidence taken at the inquest will show. After the coroner had sworn the jury, they were taken to view the body. Returning to the Hotel, the husband of deceased deposed :— ■ He last saw his wife alive abont 6 o'clock p.m., on Thursday j at half past four on the same afternoon heard her calling out in a moaning tone. Went down to the creek, and saw her; in the water, with her head out and the water just over her shoulders. Her hair was quite dry. He and his son-in-law carried her into the house. She was speechltsf and unconscious, and in five minutes she died. On Wednesday he noticed she was not right in her head ; her eyes were wild and she wandered in her talk. He was looking for her when he heard her moaning. There was a piece of string round her neck when they found her. It was not tied so tight as to prevent her breath- -i. ing. On the day of her death the seemed queer in her manner. He wished to stop at home with her and not go into the bush as usual. She said "He had better go into the bush and she would stop with her daughter. He stayed at home with her until he went to Kottes as he was uneasy about her. Julius Bulst deposed he was the son-in-law of deceased. He confirmed the evidence of Mr Bismarck. Augusta Bulst, the wife of J. Bulst. and daughter of the deceased, last saw her mother on Thursday; she was talking about a ghost in the house; she also said the house was full of Maoris, singing in the night, and that Mr Pessils' timber was burning, but when she looked it was not true. A little girl came to her house and said that Mr Bismark could not find his wife. Dr Johnson made a post mortem examination of the body. The lungs were congested and showed signs of long standing disease. On opening the pericardium found a quantity of serous fluid and an abnormal quantity of fat on the heart, which was itself apparently healthy, that is to say, the muscular substance. In thW stomach he found a small quantity ox fluid with partly digested food. The ap-\ pearance of the stomach was healthy, a There was congestion of the ooats of tha \ bowels. The cavities of the heart were / filled with fluid blood. There were some marks of bruises on the body and knees.; slight scratches on the neck and alio a _.___ long standing prolapsus of the womb: He should say the brain had been affected by the congestion of the lungs. He considered deceased died from paralysis of the heart's action, induced by the shock of cold water. He also was of opinion deceased was In a feeble state of health, and would not have lived long, under any circumstances. The verdict of the iury was : — " Died from exposure to cold, having got into the Kiwitea creek in a fit of temporary insanity, while suffering from an infeabled atate of health."