THIS LATE JOHN RODDAM.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 172, 21 June 1872, Page 5

THIS LATE JOHN RODDAM.

An inquest was "hold at the Golden Aire Motel, Campbeltown, on the ,1:0 th irnst:, by Dr. -J-Lodgkinson, coroner, on the body of John Koddam, a carrier well known here, and regarding whose death we published, a telegram last week. The deceased, it-appeared, arrived at rhe Bluff,- from Dunedin, ; on hoard the J.ifan«;ifcqto. on-, the Haturvlay before last (the 9th inst). His name was,not .011 the steanioivs passenger■lwt, nor did it : appear that he had pa-d for his passage. . Between 8 and and 8. 15 on the morning of .the 9th inst., the steamer then at anchor at the 'Bluff jeltjv the deceased' was discovered by Captain the Acting Harbour«. Master- and others, hunting over the steamers port side by a rope which was round his neck, the other end bein>r listened to a belaying pin. He was quite dead when discovered.. The body was immediately freed from its fastenings, and roraoved to the Bluff Court House, and upon.its being searched*.. 17s silver and a

silyer watch .wit'll, leather gu.ird u\mvfound. The watch, ifc w;>•; noticed, had stopped at half-past-- six S'clock Jmqiiiries were at once made, and the watchman of the - steamer stated that the deceased was-a *to\va\vav, that "he had seeif him- at four o'clock, that morning, on thedeck, and had given him a cup "of coffee in the.galley, adding. tliat. the deceased had to d him that the detectives were in the steamer after him (which was not the-case): He.gave the watchman a pocket book, remarking, at the ; same tinier that it would never get to : Dunedin *again, and neither would Fse (deceased).' --The pocket-book, on being opened, was tound to-cantain t'-vo" accounts, showing the deceased to lie indebted to Carmichacl in the sum of £223 'odd But on the po<-kef-book re-ex-amined on the of the inquest, there was also found in it a draft for £297, obtained at the . Bank.- of; :Xeiv--Bouth Wales, iSvduey, on- demand, f-o the order of John R Hdain. There did not appear to be.any suspicion of the deceased having met with any foul play. The 'jury returued a verdict—"That ■the deceased John lioddairi hanged or. strangled himself * on the ;9nh June, 1872, at.:the Bluff jetty, whilst in a state of temporary insanity." The deceased was apparently about 33 years -old-;- a .stout" middle-sized man, wearing -a,:small goatee beard. He had noihat or coat, ,wore ; -worsted cord •tcows.era, ..shepherd's , plaid Crimean shirt, : and water-tight, - boots, when found dead. He was, we believe, the owner of several teams of - horses and. waggons, .and was- well known in the carrying business between Dunedin and iS r asebv.