AN ASYLUM TRAGEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1920, Page 5

AN ASYLUM TRAGEDY.

'iLgftAJLAKT IRRESPONSIBLE. Kj Telegraph.—Piera Association. Dunedin, August 31. Mr. Bartholomew, S.M., conducted an sad»iTjr «tfr Seaclitf into the eircumstan<*a«Brro)nidiiig the death of a male mental patient who died of injuries inflicfied by pother patient in the same ward. Dr. Blair stated that the deceased man, who was 40 years of age, was committed to«the mental hospital 16 years ago, suffering from dementia. He was ftot usually violent, but had a habit of putting Us hand into the pockets of other p«pple. On Sunday witness was iatormed* that the patient had been kicked by another, and visited him in bad. He died yesterday. As the result of a post-mortem examination he was of ,opm)on that the deceased • man had died ,irf general peritonitis, following ftfttim' of the intestines. The other fcjr Whom the injuries were inflicted was in .the same ward as the deceased Stan, and was periodically vioThe coroner returned a verdict in acConteaae -with the, medical testimony, ■dfUßg that the patient who committed jthe "wsault could not be deemed reeponsiUe for his actions.