INQUEST.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 324, 8 May 1877, Page 3

INQUEST.

The following is the conclusion of our report of the inquest hold yesterday afternoon upon the body of John Stirling .Arthnr, who wr.s killed by the railway train on Saturday evening : Seil Cameron, a shepherd in the employment of Mr. John M'Lean, deposed : 1 was on the railway line, north of Oam.ini. and about a mile and a half from the Town Belt, at about 10.30 a.m. yesterday. I found the coat produced lying on the railway line, and the hat produced was on a bank at the side of the railway, and just opposite the coat. The shoes and socks produced were also lying on the rails. I left them on the line, and gave information of the matter.

Serger nt O'Neill deposed : On Saturday night last I proceeded along thejnorth railway line, accompanied by M'intyi'e and Barraclough. Abm.t 500 yards north of the Town Belt we found the body of the deceased, lying face, down wards, with the left cluck turned slightly upwards. The neck was bent and appeared to be broken. The amis were extendi d, and the left liandnr rely hung on to the arm :»3* a piece of ski':. The tops of two of t' e fingers (, n the same baud wore also cub. Tee body was nearly cnt in two at u,e waist ; the trousers drawn down almost to the knee joints ; tiie vest torn ; and there was neither hat. coat, socks, nor boots on the body. On searching the body I found the following articles (produced) :—One gold albert .:uard and portion of gold locket, in the vest : one leather purse (containing ewe-peue-) ; one bunch of keys : ami silver v.eitch, and a knife. About twelve yards north of where the 1-0 ly was lying, I found the case of a gold watch, the photograph of a young lady (which had evidently been in the locket), and the rim of a locket. A second knife was also picked up at t'-e same time, and a buekie (apparently l>el awing to a brae.-). There were spots of blood on the western rail, and a portion of the deceased's entrails were lying immediately inside the same rail. The memorandum-book produced, containing a diary, was found in the pocket of the coat picked up by the witness Cameron, as also the visiting-card. J. George Amos depose! : I am Inspector of Locomotives. Wlu n Gaitwood arrived in Oamain with t.;e "i'imarn train, at B.T» p.m. on Saturday, T went ov ,-r to the engine-shed to see that the engines were ;iii right for t:e night. vj-at-twooii report d lo mi! ih.it ids engine had struck soinet ing a litd- beyond t:u: Town Belt. and they are f.eqnently running over and killing sheep, I i xamined the engine to see if any of t: e rods were ben'-. Se -in-; what we suppose d were spots, and knowing tiiat there would lie no sheep on that part of the line, I instructed the fireman to go up with a lamp and examine the ground about the place where the object was struck. Gattwood has been driving about two years, and lias been connected with'the railways in Otago for about five years. He is a sober man, and one of the most rarernl on the line. At first we did not attach much importance to this ahair, as we thought either a dog or one ..f the goats about this place had been run over, but to make sure of what it was, I sent the men up the line with the lain]). From examining the engine and trucks, I am of opinion that the man was either tying down on the railway or sitting down on the at the side, as we found part of deceased's clothing wrapped round the relief-cock rod, which is about five inches from the front of the engine. The line is fenced on both shies, and there is no footpath near the place where the man was killed, which leads across the line. Any stranger on the line would be a trespasser. This concluded the evidence, and the Coroner having briefly addressed the jury, the following verdict wis returned : "That the deceased, John Stirling Arthur, met his death through drunkenness, and that there is no blame whatever attributable to the engine-driver."