INQUEST.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 623, 17 June 1876, Page 3

INQUEST.

ANNIE LUCY HORST.

An inquest was held yesterday at the hospital, before J. W. S. Coward, Esq, coroner, on the body of Annie Lucy Hurst, the child who was found dead in the Avon on Thursday morning.

The jury having returned from viewing the body, the following evidence was taken

William John Hurst stated that he was the father of the child, who was three years old. On last Wednesday evening, about 6 o’clock, as he was going heme, he met the child in High street with Mary Sullivan, who had charge of her. He lived at Hillsborough, and the child was in charge of his mother-in-law, who lived in Lichfield street east. He was talking to them that evening for a few moments, and them left them and went home. About twelve minutes past 12 o’clock that (Friday) morning he heard that a child answering the description of his had been found drowned in the river. He had seen and recognised the body. When he met his mother-in-law on Wednesday she seemed as if she had taken some drink. She was in

the habit of getting intoxicated, and had been missing from her lodgings since Wednesday evening. James Campbell stated that he lived at Avonside, and was going to his work about half-past seven on Thursday morning. At the side of the river, near Mr Rolleston’s house; he saw a body in the water. _He ran to Mr Cowlishaw’s house, and gave information of what he had seen. He returned to the river, and leaving a boy there, went and gave information to the police, W. P. Cowlishaw gave evidence of having been told by the last witness that a body was floating in the river, opposite to his house. He went to the spot and drew it out, and waited until a constable came and took charge. She was completely dressed, [and the clothes were not disarranged. Elizabeth Adams stated that on Wednesday last she saw the deceased child with her grandmother, Mary Sullivan. The woman came to her house in Madras street at about seven o’clock on that evening. She seemed to have been drinking, and she (witness) would not let her in. She never saw the woman again, nor the child, until that morning, when she saw it dead in the hospital; Robert Robinson, resident surgeon at the hospital, deposed to haying, made a post mortem examination of deceased that morning. The body was well nourished and in good condition ; the face and general surface of the body was pale, with occasional patches of slight pink discoloration. The hands were clenched, and there l was a slight bruise on each arm below the elbow, and on the left a smaller one at the elbow. Frothy mucus was oozing from the mouth, and the tongue was caught between the teeth. Qn opening the head found the membranes slight y congested, and the brain healthy. The lungs, heart, and stomach were healthy, the latter containing about a teaspoonful of generous fluid. The intestines, liver, spleen, and kidneys were healthy, and not at all congested. He was of opinion that the child bad died from shock or syncope. The jury, after considering the evidence, returned a verdict of 41 Pound dead in the river Avon.”