MYSTERY OF MAN’S DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 May 1922, Page 4

MYSTERY OF MAN’S DEATH.

HOSPITAL DOCTORS BAI-’PLED. WAS IT DRUGGING? By Telegraph.—Press Association. Christchurch, Last Night. An inquest concerning the death of Charles Clarke, aged 32, a fireman on the steamer Whangape, who died at the Christchurch Hospital on Sunday, was opened before the Coroner (Mr. Widdowson, S.M.) to-day. Dr. C. J. Campbell, senior house surgeon at the Christchurch Hospital, said deceased was admitted to the hospital in q semi-conscious condition, and a detailed examination failed to give any clue to his exact complaint. His condition did not alter, and the doctors were , at a loss to decide what was wrong with him. It occurred to witness that he might have been drugged. The only treatment given him was for his bowels. He died early on Sunday morning. Dr. Reay, house surgeon, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. The condition of deceased, he said, was consistent with drugging. William Munday, a fireman on the steamer Kaikoura, said deceased was a single man. He was a returned soldier, and had been gassed. Since his return he had not been in good health. As a post-mortem operation had failed to show the cause of death, a microscopical examination of the brain will be made, and the inquest was accordingly adjourned.