MYSTERIOUS DEATH

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 649, 29 April 1929, Page 9

MYSTERIOUS DEATH

POISON PRESENT IN EXHUMED BODY INQUEST PROCEEDINGS (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) LONDON, Sunday. At an inquest concerning the death of Vera Sidney, aged 40, whose body was exhumed a month ago at the same time as her mother’s, Dr. Ryffel, Home Office analyst, stated in evidence that poison was found in the body. The inquest was adjourned. At an earlier sitting a sensation was caused by Mrs. Sidney’s son, Thomas, giving evidence to the effect that his mother had suggested to him on her deathbed that she had been poisoned. He and his sister, Mrs. Duff, are interested in Vera Sidney’s will. There were extraordinary scenes on the night of March 22 at Croydon, when five bodies were exhumed at the instance of the police. The bodies were those of Mrs. Violet Sidney, aged 69, the widow of a barx-is-ter, her daughter, Vera, aged 40, who died on February 19, her brother-in-law, Edmund Duff, aged 59, a former High Commissioner for Nigeria, who died in April last year, and Mr. Duff’s two daughters, Suzanne, aged two, who died in 1904, and Margaret, aged seven, who died in 1919. An inquest was held at Croydon on May 2, 1928, concerning the death of Mr. Edmund Creighton Duff, by the Croydon coroner, Dr. H. B. Jackson. He had died after a short illness. It was stated that certain organs had been sent to the Home Office for analysis, as poisoning was suspected. Mr. Duff was for 18 years High Commissioner for Nigeria. His widow said he went on April 2 3 to Hampshire on a fishing holiday. She met him at the station on his return, and he said he felt "absolutely rotten.” His throat was stiff and sore, and he ached all over. He thought he had fever. His doctor was called in, and next day two doctors attended him. He collapsed about midnight and died.