INQUEST.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1864, 13 February 1880, Page 3

INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the Hospital yesterday afternoon before J. W. S. Coward, Esq., coroner, on the body of William McMillan, who died the previous day. A jury was sworn in, and Mr A. R. Preston chosen foreman. After viewing the body the following evidence was taken :

Mary Jane McMillan being sworn, said—l am the wife of tho deceased. He was fortythree years of age. He had been ill lately from a hurt, but he was worse from the effects of drink as he had been drinking heavily. He had been drinking from six to eight weeks. I saw him at my house on the South town Belt on Saturday week. He had not been living with me since Christmas. On Saturday week he told me he was going to Kaiapoi. He was half drunk. It was about two o’clock in the day. He left me then and, I believe, went to Kaiapoi. I saw no more of him till I saw him in the hospital last Monday. He was looking very bad. About a fortnight before hia death he threatened my life and that of my children. By Sergeant Barlow —My husband had no property. He had nearly £3OO when he started his drinking fit. The money was his own, and was the savings of his pay as a gatekeeper on the railway. He kept hia money in the Colonial Bank in Christchurch. Some of his money was in another Bank, He said ho had lost £l6O.

Mr Inspector Buckley, of tho constabulary, being sworn, said —On Saturday evening last I heard that tho deceased, who was living in a railway gate-house on the Kaiapoi Railway, was depressed in hia mind, and I went to see him. I was accompanied by Mr Bourke, tho stationmaster at Kaiapoi. We found tho place in darkness, and all the doors and windows fastened. It was about ten o’clock at night. We knocked at tho door, and not receiving any reply, wont to one of the bedroom windows. After repeated knocking we heard a very faint voice inside. I asked deceased to get up, and told him that Mr Bourke wanted to see him. We then went to a side door and forced it open. Wo saw that the deceased was lying on his back with his throat cut. It appeared to have been done some time. I left Mr Bourke there and went for Dr. Ovonden, who came in about twenty minutes’ time and sewed up the wound, and bandaged the throat of the deceased, Deceased said he cut his throat the day previous. He also said ho did it because he had dysentery, and suffered great pains in his inside. On tho Sunday following bo was removed to tho Hospital, by tho direction of Dr Ovenden. Ho was, when we saw him first, lying on an old bed which together with the floor was saturated with blood.

Constable Johnson sworn, said —About ten o’clock last Saturday night I accompanied the last witness to the gatekeeper’s house near the railway station at Kaiapoi. On coming to the house and seeing it dark I went to a window, and called out to the deceased, who answered in a very faint voice. The door was forced open as stated by the previous witness, and on entering I saw the deceased lying on the floor leaning on his right elbow. His shirt was saturated with blood in front, and his hands were likewise covered with blood. I could then see that there was a large wound in deceased’s throat. It was not bleeding at the time. He went into another room and laid down on his bod. After feeling about by the side of the bed he picked up a razor, which I took from him. It was open at the time and covered with blood. I searched and found a purse by the bedside containing 8s 6d. I next found a knife. I remained in charge of the deceased until Dr. Ovendon and the Inspector of Police arrived. Deceased was unable to speak until the wound was sewn up, and then he could talk distinctly. The next morning ho told me he had taken his life because he was tired of it, and had lost some money in Christchurch. He also asked mo if I hod found any money of hie, and I said, “Yes, 8s 6d in his purse.” He said, “ That was all right.” I have since searched his box, and found the papers which I now produce. One paper was a receipt for £IOO which he had banked four years ago. By Sergeant Barlow—The deceased had not been drinking about the hotels at Kaiapoi. By a Juror —There was no drink in the house.

William Bourke, sworn, said—l am stationmaster at Kaiapoi. Deceased went to Kaiapoi on the 18th November under my charge as crossing keeper. I never saw him under the influence of drink. He did duty until the 24th December. After being dismissed for non-attendance to his duties, being suspended on December 23rd, he left for a few days, but came back and occupied the house, of which he had never given up possession. On Saturday night last I had been to the Institute, and coming back I met Inspector Buckley on the road. He told me he wanted to see McMillan. I got a railway lamp and went to the house with Mr Buckley. I buret the door open, and we saw McMillan lying on his back with his throat cut. I had observed that the deceased had been in a despondent frame of mind for eight or nine days previous to that Saturday. I entered into no conversation with him. He complained of being disturbed by family troubles. He said he was troubled about his wife, and I knew that they had been in the Resident Magistrate’s Court. I don’t believe he was ever drunk in Kaiapoi. Sergeant Barlow, sworn, said—Some time in January the deceased reported at the Police Station that he had been robbed of some money, about £l5O. He was then under the influence of drink, and had been drinking in Christchurch. I have seen him for weeks in a state of semi-drunkenness. I arrested him for threatening to take his wife’s life. He was taken before the Bench and was discharged on the promise not to go near his wife again. Ho had been drinking for a long time, and gave several different versions of the manner in which he had lost his money. He said that several people had robbed him. Dr. Prins sworn, said—The deceased was brought to the Hospital last Sunday afternoon. He had a wound in his throat which had been stitched. The trachea had been divided. He was in a very low nervous condition. He had also bowel complaint, passing blood. He was treated in the Hospital but yesterday profuse bleeding from the bowels commenced, and he sank under it. The immediate cause of death was hemorrhage from the bowels. He was in such a low condition from the cut throat that he could not support further loss of blood. The wound in the throat doubtless hastened deceased’s death. This was the whole of the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict “ Died from hemorrhage of the bowels.”