INQUEST.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 284, 10 July 1873, Page 5

INQUEST.

An inquiry into the circumstances of the death of Jane Edmunds, whose body was found in a ditch near the Forbury Park on Tuesday, was held by Mr'Hocken, District Coroner, at the St Kilda Hotel on the 2nd. The following evidence was given : — John Pugh Jones, boot-maker, and proprietor of the St Kilda Hotel : I have known the deceased, whose husband is a plasterer, at present at Queenstowxi, for seven or eight years. She leaves five children, was about forty years of age, and had been in the habit of drinking heavily for some years past. Between eight and nine o'clock on Monday evening she came to the hotel, apparently sober, and had a small glass of beer ; and, after staying some twenty minutes, said she must take some beer with her in a gin bottle which she had. Owing to my taps being out of order I could only half fill the bottle, which she took away. Witness heard or saw nothing more of deceased until he was told the next morning that her body had been found in a ditch about twenty chain from the hotel. Margaret Catchpole: My husband is a drayman, residing at St. Kilda. I have known deceased for four years. I saw, and was conversing with her in the St. Kilda Hotel on Monday evening, when she seemed perfectly sober ; talking rationally, and able to walk as well as anyone. Saw her drink a small glass of beer, and afterwards ask for ■ixpenßy worth in a bottle, for which she paid, taking the money from a purse, and which beer she took away with her. On my saying "Good night "to her, deceased said she was going to Caversham. Allan .Robert Davidson : I am nine years ©f age. Qq. Tuesday morning, between eight

and nine o'clock, I was taking a horse to the Forbury Park, when I saw a hat lying by the side of a ditch. I told my father, and wenb back, when I saw the body of deceased lying in the ditch near the hat. There was about a foot of water in the ditch. The body lay oh its back, and the water covered the face. There was a gin bottle floating at its feet. John William Davidson : I am keeper at the Forbury Park. On the morning in question I was following my son to the park, when he told me there was a woman in the ditch. 1 saw the deceased in the position described by the last witness. The ditch is about three feet wide, and there wereabout two feet of water in it. A sober person could easily get out of the ditch, in the event of falling in. Before touching anything I went for a policeman. James Anderson : I am a police constable, stationed at Caveroham. On Tuesday morning Davidson came to the station and gave me information as above. I found the body of deceased, as has been stated, in the ditch by the district road leading from the Forbury road to the Anderson's Bay road. There were a hat and a chignon lying oh the bank by the body. A bottle, now produced, was floating on the water. It was uncorked, and contained about two ounces of muddy beer. There were no signs of a Btruggle or of a footslip on the bank. I had the body removed to the hotel, and searched. I found no purse or anything about deceased. There were no marks of violence, except a scratch on the nose, and a, slight bruise ob the left knee. The Coroner considered that there was sufficiently full evidence on which to find a verdict. There was nothing to show whether deceased was drunk or had fallen in a fit. The most probable supposition was that the top of the bauk being covered with grass, she had lost her footing, fallen with her head against the opposite bank, and, being a woman addicted to drink, been momentarily stunned by the shock ; before recovering from which, her head being under the water, she was suffocated. The jury returned the following verdict: — "That deceased was found lying dead in the ditch aforesaid, which contained two feet of water. That there was no evidence to show how such death occurred, and that there were no suspicious circumstances or marks of violence discovered in connection with it."