CORONER'S INQUEST.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 113, 5 March 1853, Page 7

CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquisition was taken on Thursday, the 24th February, on the banks of the river Kowai, before the Coroner and a Jury impannelled upon the spot, upon the body of a man named Thomas Vardy, but better known as Raupo Jack. The Hon. James Stuart Wortley deposed —the deceased was in my employ as a Shepherd; on Monday last I saw him about 1 o'clock ; I told him to get the sheep across the river that night, to pack up the tent and all the things next morning to be ready to start on early: on Tuesday morning I found that the sheep had been crossed, but the man was not with them; I went to the hut and saw him lying in it; as he did not answer when called, I alighted from my horse, went into the hut, and found him quite cold and rigid; he had apparently been some hours dead. Alfred Charles Barker deposed—that he had examined the body and found an ulcer in the stomach the size of a shilling, which had penetrated all the coats, and the food had escaped into the abdominal cavity. He had also disease of the heart. I consider that when the penetration occurred he fainted, and having diseased heart, never j recovered from the fainting fit. The peritonium had not become inflamed, and the state of the limbs did not evince agony or struggling. There was no Tutu in the stomach or abdomen. Verdict —" Died by the visitation of God." Previous to the enquiry it was imagined the man had died from poisoning by Tutu, as some juice of the berries was found in the hut.