THE INQUEST.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 3 July 1889, Page 2

THE INQUEST.

The inquest on the boily of Lionel de Labrosse was held at Wairakau fiax-> nii.ls oa , Sunday morning, commencing at 11 a,m./?-some of the jury not arriving until nearly 'an hoar after the appointed time. The enquiry wad pr«--.sided over by 'Mr J. Ilott, J.P.,. Acting Coroner. Constable Wild was present on behalf of the police, and the followingjury were sworn : Messrs Defa.nr (Fore-, man), Firth^ Astle, Johnston, Tippefcts, and JBemrose, The following witnesses gate, evidence-}*^ Charles Donaldson, an employee, at the flaxmill, state!, he lived at W'airar kau in a whare, not far from the whare of deceased's. Spent, uome hoars with, dec«ased in the lafcter's whare after tea, on Friday evening, and left him about nine o'clock to go to bel, deceased litjht--ing witness with his lantern part of the way to his (witness') whare, which was. ahoufc two chains distant from that of doceased's. They then ha.de each other good nights, and deceased went back to. go to bed. Once during the evening deceased complained of being griped in? the stomae)i, hut Apparently the pain was not severe, as he dil not again refer to it that night, and chatted towitness dm ing the evening as usual, and apparently in good health, On Saturday morning, about seven o'clock, witness was aroused from his bed' by a fellow workman, named Coyle, ' whotold him Labrosse was lying dead at the door of his whare. He quickly jumped np and went to the- place indicated, and found sufeh was th« case. - At once called out to Messrs Firth and Defaar, who. slept near by, and assisted to carry deceased' back to his bel. From the appearance and position of the. body as it Ijay on th,a ground, shonljd think deceased must hATe very suddenly fallen down dead, a& both his haads were underneath the body, and apparently ha never moved after falling- deceased was was lying full length on the ground. There wag ao. appearance from the features that he died ia pain ; ; the feay tores being qoiie placid. There was no. sign of vomiting or frothing. a-fe the-mouth. Deceased had only his flannel undershirt on. The only mark he could see- on any part of the body was a scratch on the right hip, about skin deep, caused apparently by. striking th« edge of a box when he- fell. There was no sign of anything havingbeen disturbed in deceased's whare ; the> bedclothes were just thrown on one side,, as if deceased had got out of bed in anatural way in the night, gone to the door, and fell down dead. When he first, saw the hody it was getting stiff, and. from appearances deoeased had been dead some hoars. So far as he knew deceased was on excellent terms with all those connected with the fla^mill, and they witk him, and he (witness) hail no reason to suppose deceased cam,© to his death by other than natural causes. The next witness examined waa' Peter Coyle, another employee at the flaxmill, whose evidence was generally very similar to that of the previous witness. He stated that foe found deceased lying dead a,bpqt 7 * m » °n. Saturday morning, in the position' stated by the previous witness, wham he at once ran and called up. appearances he would say deceased must have fallen down dead. £i»9t saw deceased alive about half-:paat six on Friday evening after tea, when he appeared to be ingpod' 1 health,. He believed deceased came tt>. his death in a natural way. $U T« Filth, partner in the firm of 1 }?irth, Greeiway and Co,, gave evidenced to the effeot that deceased had been ia their employ at WaUakau for about two. mbnths. Deceased came to them frotn Auckland, and bore an excellent charac-. tev as heing a steady workman. Had no personal knowledge of deceased prior to, his eoK>ing to work for them: Never heard deceased complain, of ill healthy Should say deceased was a^boqj; fifty years; of age. Believed deceased had a wifeliving, and a home up I£njpara way, but did aot l?uQvr the address. M?