Inquest.

Manawatu Herald, 6 September 1894, Page 2

Inquest.

A lad named Amos Merriman whilst bush-falling last week at Shannon, sprained his ankle badly, and Mr Gordon, chemist at Shannon was called in to see him. Believing the ankle to be fractured he sought Dr Dermer's advice, who however certified it was only sprained. The lad however got worse and died on Saturday morning. As a sprained ankle was not likely to be the cause of death an inquest was held to be desirable to determine what had been the cause. Mr McMillan, J.P., acting as deputy-coroner held an inquest on Wednesday at the dwelling house of, the deceased's sister at Shannon. The following jury were empauv elled :— A. MoPherson (foreman), j. Vernon, A. Keith, T. Lind and J. Tully. The following evidence was taken : — . : . Henry Kennard deposed— That his • brother- in law had been living with him for the last four months On the 24th August the deceased jumped from a log upon a small, stump and sprained his ankle. Ha went on working for about a quarter., of an hour and then went home and bathed his foot. On the Sunday I following h« took deceased to liv

Gordon; the chemist in Shannon; ftho placed bandages otl the foot and gave hjtti i lotion to rub oii it and aiao some powders. On Tiles-Lay Idol: deceased to Dr Dermer who placed plaster-of-Paris on the ankle and who ordered sleeping draughts. On Wednesday morning he Was fleliridU3. He said; iri answer to Questions, his fodji tijas painfti|; He, never, com-, plained oi any other pains. lie was treated according to the advice sent by Dr Dermer, but it was difficult to get deceased to take nourishment. The deceased died about eight o'ejock on Saturday morning * he Was not quite 15 years of age; He appeared to be yery frightened of a peal of thunder just before he died; He was not subject to fits. Dr Dermer deposed to making the post mortem. He found marks of inflammation of the brain, also pleurisy in the left lung, in addition the part of the lung was in a diseased state* In his opinion death WOttld have occurred in a short time, but it was precipitated by the accident to his ankle. The jury returned the following verdict : — We find that the deceased Amos Merriman died of natural causes accelerated by an accident while bushfalling.