THE MARGARET McINTYRE CASE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 127, 31 May 1877, Page 2

THE MARGARET McINTYRE CASE.

The following fuller particulars of the inquest on the body of Margaret Mclntyre have been telegraphed to a contemporary: — The inquest on the girl Mclntyre was brought to a c'ose this afternoon. The medical evidence tended to show that the deceased met her death by starvation and neglect. The evidence given to day by butchers, bakers, and people calling at Mrs Reid's house showed that the girl in cold weather for some weeks past was insufficiently clad and looked miserable. Her hands and face were black from cold, and she was very thin. One witness found her gathering stones on the road. He said: I asked her if she was looking for anything. She said no, she was gatheriug stones. I asked her who for, and she said for Mrs Reid, who had instructed her to do so. She said she was Mrs Reid's servant. I said it was an unfeeling thing for Mrs Reid to send her to collect stones on such an unseasonable night. She had no hat on, and nothing round her neck. Her arms and shoulders were bare, and I told her to get in, and not collect stones, or she would perish. It aroused a little sympathy in me. She went on picking the stones, but said nothing. At last I said " You had better go in my girl, you will get perished; let Mrs Reid come out and pick them up herself if she wants them." I tried to intimidate her, telling her that there was. a policeman at the bottom of the street, and ! that he would take her up if he saw her removing metal from the street, and advised her to go in. She said she would pick up one or two more stones, and would then go in, and I left her. She appeared to be slovenly dressed, but I could not tell how she looked as regarded her health. She was very thin. It was a perishing night. Another witness said that Mrs Reid taught, a Sunday-school class at St. Matthew's; that deceased went to Sunday school sis weeks ago, and on this occasion he asked Mrs Reid to take her into her class, and remarked to her he thought the girl was not well treated. Mrs Reid said the girl was in service " up her way," but did not say she-was in servipe with herself. At school, on the same occasion, a girl pointed out deceased as Mrs Reid's servant, saying she was made to work without boots or shoes. After an address by Mr Stout for Mrs Reid, the Coroner summed up, pointing out the evidence of the deplorable condition of the deceased, and evidence of ill-treatment, and drawing attention to the remarkable unanimity of the medical evidence. If the jury considered that death resulted from starvation and ill-treatment they must next decide by whom this treatment was pursued, whether, in other words, the. girl voluntarily subjected herself to starvation, and the effects which followed from it, or whether her mistress (Mrs Reid) was culpable in the matter. If they decided the latter, and he thought the evidence would justify them in doing so, they must next say— and on this point depended the important part of their verdict— to what extent Mrs Reid was blauieable; whether triflingly, or to the extent of being guilty of manslaughter or even murder. After the jury had been locked up half an hour, the Coioner was apprised that they had agreed upon a verdict. The foreman stated that the jury had carefully considered why the girl had not returned to her mother's house, and found Ist. That the deceased did not come by her death by natural causes. 2nd. Her death was caused by the treatment received at the hands of Mrs Reid. 3rd. That Mrs Reid ha3 been guilty of culpable negligence to the extent of manslaughter. Mrs Reid has been arrested, but will probably be bailed.