THE TAKAPUNA FATALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 256, 29 April 1912, Page 5

THE TAKAPUNA FATALITY.

DEATH FROM CEREBRAL j HAEMORRHAGE. By Telegraph—Press Association, Auckland, "Last Night. The supposed poisoning case at Takapuna proves to have been really a ease of death from cerebral haemorrhage. The medical evidence at the inquest on Mrs. Nicolson showed' that a post mortem had disclosed a ruptured cerebral artery. The deceased had a definite heart his- > tory extending over many years, and the conditions were such as might have j caused her sudden death at any time. ;

Dr. Fairclough said that he did not consider that taking any particular food or drink had any direct influence in causing her death, though possibly a gaseous liquid such as hop beer (at first supposed to be the cause of death) might have caused distension of the stomach and so affected the heart's action. Cornelius Little, the husband of Mrs. Little (Mr. Nicolson's sister), who was also taken ill in the same way, stated that his wife was subject to heart trouble, and that her brother recently (lied from a condition similar to that described by Dr. Fairclough. Commenting on this evidence Dr. Fairclough said that the statement bore out his idea that arterial degeneration often runs in families. The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. Mrs. Little was still in a serious condition this afternoon. Her ease is also one of cerebral haemorrhage.