INQUEST.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1305, 19 February 1885, Page 3

INQUEST.

An inquest was held before H. 0. S. Baddeley, Esq., Coroner, at the Geraldine Hotel on Tuesday, on the body of William John Harvey, who died suddenly at Peel Forest on Monday morning. The following were empanelled as a jury ;R. T. Button, foreman, E. Briscoe, W. Colbert, W. Clark, John Farrell, H. Gadwin, A. Fisher, D. Denoon, E. Hardcastle, F. R. Flatman, W. Hanford, J. Mundell, and C. A. Lloyd. After the jury had viewed the body, the following evidence’was called : Alma Harvey : The deceased was my husband. His name was William John Harvey. He has been ill for some time, about three months. He was taken very ill last Sunday, the 15ih inst. We were driving from Woodbury to Peel Forest and he was taken ill, after we had crossed the Orari river. When we got home he undressed himself, and laid down and went to sleep. This was about 5 or 10 minutes after six o’clock, and he slept till about 8. I woke him then to have some tea. He took the tea and a piece of cake and then slept again. After that he got up and walked about the house in great pain. I gave him some Holloway’s Pills. John Bull and Benjamin Whitton were in the house at the time. He died at about half-past four on the morning of Monday, the ItJth February, To the Coroner: I live at Peel Forest. I sent as soon as possible tor a doctor. I sent between one and two on Monday morning, but before the doctor arrived he was dead. The doctor was stopped on the roai with the news, Robert Fish ; I am a duly qualified medical practitioner residing at Geraldine. I made a post mortem examination of the body of the deceased. On opening the abdomen I found it contained a very large quantity of blood, the result of a rupture of a blood vessel, and the man really died from the great loss of blood. There was a good quantity of food in the stomach partly digested. The heart was somewhat flabby. Ha died from the bleeding. Nothing could have saved him. .This was all the evidence called, and the jury, without reining returned a verdict in accordance with the medical testimony : that the deceased died from natural causes.