A CURIOUS DEATH.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2767, 4 February 1882, Page 3

A CURIOUS DEATH.

A death under extraordinary circumstances was recorded at an inquest held a few weeks ago in Braidwood (as reported in the “Despatch.”) The following is a portion of the evidence : Ah Fong deposed through an interpreter—l bought a cat for Ah Yim, and took it to him ; he wanted it to eat the eyes, to give him better sight than what he had; he told me that cats’ eyes were good for bad sight, and that bis eyes were bad ; he said a blue scum came over his eyes in hot weather ; as soon as I gave him the cat he put it into a bag and I came away ; the cat was alive when I gave it to him. Ah Tan having been sworn said—l know the dead man ; I saw him cleaning the dead cat, and he got me to help him as he could not see well ; I cleaned the cat, and the deceased cut the eyes out and put them on a plate, he then put a bit of sugar on one and swallowed it, he then got the other and swallowed it, and began as if he were coughing ; I saw he was struggling, and helped him to bed with the help of Hing Coon; we then called our mates; when they came they said he was dead ; Ah Yim drowned the cat. E. Llewellyn, medical practitioner, made a post mortem examination of the body, and found the eye of an animal which he believed to be a cat, in the cavity im* mediately above the vocal chords ; it seemed to exactly fit the cavity ; this would cause asphyxia, and death would be the almost immediate result of the eye being embedded there unless it was at once removed, and the removal would be a very difficult matter as it exactly fitted the space. The jury found that the deceased Ah Yim had met his death by being accidentally chocked while trying to swallow a cat’s eye.