CORONER'S INQUEST.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 314, 5 March 1875, Page 2

CORONER'S INQUEST.

BLACKSTONE HILL. An Inquest was held' by the District Coroner, H. "W". Hobiuson, Esq., at the Jockey Club Hotel, on' Saturday last, on* view of the body of 1 nomas Turnbull. " Amah named John Clyde was in attendance, under arrest. During the in v quiry he was requested to put any questions to the witnesses he thought proper.' A jury being sworn in, and having viewed the b®dy, the following evidence was taken Sub-Inspector M'Cluskey conducting the case : .

■- Itobert Johnstone, being sworn,' deposed : He was a miner residing at Hills Creek. Knew the deceased Thomas, Turnbull. On the" night of February; 25th was in the billiard-room of Turner's Hotel. Saw the .deceased in the hotel bar. There were'three or four'people there. ' John Clyde 5 -was among' them. They were dancing, and seemed jolly,;but after a while Turnbull and Clyde became quarrelsome. He thought they appeared to be inclined to fight. They went outside. t "Witness followed them. Thought tbey were,preparing to fight. They did", fight a round or two, but were induced "to leave off. He took Turnbull, home—or rather induced him to go with him.; Turn-, bull was slightly under the influence of drink, but knew what he was 'doing. Clyde was in about the same state. That, was about ten o'clock atnight. Left Do"naia _ Gtllies witli-Tufnbull." "Sa'w.h~im~no more that night. Ou the way home Turnbull, who was excited, kept saj'ing he could beat Clyde. The next morning saw deceased and Clyde.fighting close by the stone hu<-, where the body now lies. .They fought for a quarter of an hour—four or five rounds. 1 Several persons were present:- M'Causland -(formerly s. mate of Clyde's), William Hickey, and William Turnbull among others were present. George Turnbullranother brother of the-deceased, arrived at the spot at the,' same time as witness. Nobody appeared to incite either of the combatants. Greorge Turnbull tried to stop the fight. They went outside of Turnbull's premises on to the Gpen ground, and began fighting again. It was more like a skirmish than , a-fight. Did riot observe that they had any drink while fighting , but when they stopped some one brought some oatmeal and water, of which both drank.- Thought they stopped fighting of their own accord. Did not see a blow struck which seemed to be serious. They fought with their hands. Thought their hands must have been clenched, but they struck at random. The only blood.visible was, on the mcuiii of John Clyde. After they stopped fighting they shook hands. They agreed to drop it. Did not hear what J they said. In further examination wit- ] ness said he did not know of any previous ill-feeling between Clyde and the deceased. It seemed to him that the deceased had the best of the fighting. Had known Clyde as being in the district for about six months. When he said no one incited the combatants, there were no regular seconds. No doubt persons presents spoke words of encouragement, but he did not remember particularly.- .Deceased had threatened over night to have it out in the morning. Alexander M'Causland generally corroborated JohnstoueY evidence. In addition he said : John Clyde --was in Turnbull's employ. In Turner's bar over, night Turnbull said something abpijt Clyde being a new chum, and kuowing nothing. Saw Clyde and Turnbull strip for fighting. They tried to fight, but were too drunk. Could not say he saw any blows struck. Turnbull told Clyde he would fight him in the morning, as he was then too drunk. Clyde replied he would see him in the morning.. Next morning Clyde and witness went to Turnbull's farm for their s\va;s. Met Thomas Turnbull oh horseback. Turnbull stopped his horse and said : " Well, Clj'de, are you as plucky as you were last night ? " Clyde replica : " Oh, yes ! " Turnbull then said he would have it out in the township that morning. Ketumiog to the township, after breakfast we wciit out of the hotel, intending to take our swags aud go away. Clyde remarked it would be as well to see Turr.bull. My brother John tried to persuade Clyde not to go to Turnbull. After fighting some minutes George Turnbull came and raised a largo stick, wanting them to cease fighting and go away. He told Clyde to g.j away, which he did. Turnbull followed him outside the fence. There they began fighting again for about three minutes. They l stopped for a drink of water. My bro- i ther then told Clyde that the deceased 1 wanted to speak to him. Did not hear' what they said, but saw them shako hands. Saw Clyde strike the deceas.-d once on the side, and Clyde gel a bl< w on the face. Saw no severe blows but deceased fell when trying tr> n -p Clyde. Aftrr they shook hands I .'gave Clydo a "drink of water. Some one else

.gate Turnbull one. After the fight was and the deceased had drunk the mter, I heard him say, " That last drink cooked mo." He seemed to be fern a sort of fit. \Vben they sbook hands deceased ha.d seemed quite well, and was laughing.

•John Daman, a miner, lately harvestingfor Turnbull Brothers, being was examined at length in support of previous evidence. ' On the morning of Saturday, about ten o'clock, he was in the stone hut where he" lived. Thomas Turnbull came in with. Clyde. They had some angry words about fighting. They began 3 to strip... .^.Turnbhll.took off all but his trousers and flannel. Clyde, took off his coat. They went out to the end of the hut, and began to- fight. . They mostly struck afr the head and the face. Thought he saw the deceased get a blow, on the left-side,., Thj3y left off* of their own accord. Heard Turnbull say : "It was as well to give over and go to work." Clyde went away. Turnbull sat down, and began to.be very bad. Observed him turn pale. Heard him say he wished the men to take care of him, for he believed he was cooked - . Two of them raised him, and took'him into the hut, and laid him on the bed. He seemed to be" .suffering "_a good deal. About ten minutes later he appeared to be dying. In about ten minutes more "he was dead., j Waappt aware that Thoiras Turnbull had been ailing lately. He was at his work, v ■.,"".

William Hickeyj miner, being sworn,, said: He fetched a drink of water for Turnbull. <&There' was oatmeal in it-.-Heard Turnbull and Clyde say they would shake-hands.-and have done, with it. Deceased sat down. He seemed sickly. -He s?id'th'e last' drink of water cooked him. Took him inside. He said he was going to die; Laid him down, and took of his

boots. He reunited. Did not 'observe .particularly what was brought up'.; He died three, or four minutes afterwards,. Deceased had the best of the fight. - Thomas Bain "Whitton, being sworn, deposed: He was a legally-qualified medical practioner, residing-at Naseby. -He had made 'a: post mortem examination of .the body of the deceased, Thomas Turnbull. On examining the heart he' found- - that one of the principal valves was ruptured. In his opinion," that was Oie cause ..of death". The hjjart was what is called a ' fatty heart'. 1 'Ruptures'would be liable to ensue on any .great excitement., .He found no-marks of violence. , Theresas a blii-; '- ish'niark below"the navel,"but that '.was : * (in his opinion) :i a.natural mart, and not the result of any blow. There "was -also-a I discoloration head and neck/ but..,-, . that was from the effusion, of blood ■ after death. -With.-the exception of the. fatty • . degeneration about f tlie-heart, the' body .*. ""was that of a healthy person. r lt would-- ' have been'possible-for the rupture/of the'-' : " : valve of the heat in its'-weak state" to havebeen induced' by alheayy'blow'," 'although. •' not such a blow marks' of'violen.ce. '"lf-the'de"^^^^!!''^^'!''''''!" the excitement'of fighting drank.'*' quan-' -1 tity of cold wat.er it. would' give assort' bf : ; which might of itself have'b'rought' on the rupture.,- -It is if he-.-.'had juot drunk the. cold water:the'ra'upt]ire- , might not them have occurred^--.-It-.was a common . thing ■ for person s.-Twith. fatty .' . hearts to die of rupture of some .part connected with the heart,' and itis probable- , that the'deceased would eventually have -'' so is that on-his-mukjng_ som&! ~ unusual effort a rupture might Have oc- *■' curred, and any rupture of the heart would be fatal. The rupture of'the valve of the heart "would be likely "to cause a slight congestion of "the brain. Did not examine the brain. It was possible that a blow of a man's fist might cause a rupture in such a-case. Did not think the

drinking of cold water -would have a rupture of the heart unless there was.

previous excitement.

The Coroner, having reviewed the evidence,- and directed the jury upon the leading points brought out —the jury- deliberated'for a short time upon their* verdict, ultimately .finding, that, "Thomas Turnbull died' from disease of the 'heart,, produced from natural causes.'; '

The Coroner, immediately upon the finding of the verdict,- discharged John Clyde—remarking how glad he was to Doable to.do so, and how much he sympathised with him in the extremely painful position in which he had been, placed. Also pointing cut b. )w much we owed' to the progress of medical science, which

ihade it possible to detect when death occurred from natural causes, and when it

was produced from violence—a distinction

which was not possible formerly.