CORONER'S INQUEST.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 414, 1 March 1877, Page 2

CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the Hospital, Naseby, on view of the body of James Murray, by the District Coroner, H. W. Robinson, Esq., on Saturday last, at 4 ?i m '^. 1 A Jury ' bein S sworn in, chose Mr. Gumore as foreman.

Sergeant Smith conducted the inquiry. Mr. J. Cogan, of the Melbourne Hotel, being examined, said : I have known deceased backwards and forwards for the last six or seven months. I only learnt his name yesterday. I saw him at my bar about one o'clock. John Pew, from Eyeburn, came to my place, and put his horse mto the stable. He came in at the back door and said that there was an old man m the stable that the horse had kicked. I went out, and the deceased was lying on his side in the second stall from the lefthand end of the stable, next to that of the horse, resting on his elbow. There was another horse at the other end, belonging to a man named Healey. I asked him what was the matter, and he said : "Oh, Mr. Cogan, I've got kicked." "How did you manage that? " "I went np behind the horse, and he hit me a kick." " Where did he hit you ? " He pointed to the stomach. I said: "He could not hare kicked you there, or he would have killed you." " John, I was too close too him, or he would." I stripped him, and saw a mark about three inches long on the right side. John Pew and P. O'Connor were in the stable. Pew said: I told him not to go near the horse, as he was a young one, and he would kick him. Pew said he was in the act of throwing a bucket of feed inte the manger. The stable is 12 feet wide. I and O'Connor took him first into the buggyshed, and then into the house. I then went for the doctor. After the doctor saw him-1 had him removed, by his instructions, to the Hospital. He told me he belonged to Novia Scotia, in Canada, and had no friends or relatives in the Colony. He told me his name was James Murray, and he was a Roman Catholic.

In answer to the jury, Mr. CoGAN said : I dont't think he was sober, but he was not drunk. He had had half a pint of beer on my premises. He was quite sensible, although under the influence of drink. He was a little elevated. Mr. P. Conn ok confirmed the evidence given by Mr. Cogan, but was not present when the accident occurred. He said that the deceased did not contradict Pew's statement of his warning and the reply. He should say, when he (witness) first say deceased going towards the stable, he was not exactly sober, from his style of walking across the yard, but not to say very drunk.

P. Nolan, lockupkeeper, identified deceased as James Murray, fifty -three years of age, a native of Ireland, but who had emigrated when a child to Nova Scotia. Dr. T. B. Whitton said that about two yesterday he was called to see deceased at Cogan's. He was not sober, and the pain and groanings prevented him giving any definite answers to questions. On examination the liver was found to be ruptured, and the bruise, about two inches below the ribs, appeared to be from some kick. The mark could have been caused by a horse's kick. He told me at the Hospital he just got one kick. I saw him to-day. He died about half past ten this morning. His death was caused by collapse, consequent upon the rupture. The jury not being unanimous as to whether to dispense with the evidence of John Pew, who it had been impossible to summon since the death of deceased, the Coroner adjourned the inquest, for Pew's evidence, until Monday, at 4 p.m. The day being Saturday, it had been necessary to summon the jury while the body could be viewed. The deceased was buried on. Sunday.

At the adjourned inquiry on Monday afternoon the evidence of John Pew was taken, which substantially confirmed the evidence of Cogan and O'Connor. The jury accordingly brought in a verdict of accidental death, caused by the kick of a horse.