INQUEST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1940, 16 March 1885, Page 2

INQUEST.

An inquest was held this mbAiiqg., at the I Hospital bofora ifr'H". 6. tyar'iefi-otiifjf) ' " body of John Maokay, A jury' of tweivjj was svroru in and Mr W,. A. Pi'Sutton was elected foreman, ' .. Mr Bunny was 'present to watch.the proceedings on behalf of William O'Neal, > and Mr Skiuper for Goorge Jones. Both of the accused were brought in to ; hear the evidence. ' Sergeant McArdle said there had been - a sort of drunken quarrel, and the suppo- '. sition of the public was that deceased got, injured, and he wished to place evidence before the Coroner to show the cause ofdeath. Robert Madden, sworn, deposed he was a shepherd residing at Tinui. He saw deceased at Tinui at one time loading a dray, flo'iiiexj saw him (M rices on " the {jth. Hfe to then the Worae for j£' liquor; and 'vory. quairelsoHie.' I 'fie taw \!i deceasedstru'pgling- 'with 1 George JoiW, ■'( but they were separated without boing done to one or the other. 'An hour •' after he heard deceased Bay to Jones ''Are you as good a man as you were half an hour ago f .fqnes replied " Yep, 1 ! ai|| ~ ' deceased struck Joneß fttiij bint'- - arid another man .'down; Witness" M 1,,'... " It is cowardly," and. Wm. P%al struck across witness' shoulder, . hitting deceased on the side of- the-nosei- De- ! ; ceased staggered into .the aims of a man ; named Bovey. Deceased, -then walked away to the end of the booth. .. .Witness : Baw Jonesfollow the.;deceased. 'Jones came up behind the deceased,..jumped onhis back, put his arm • around him,' : struck him twice in the face, and they ; ! both fell. The people crowded round, '

and witness could see, when ho got near, that Jones was standing up, and deceased was lying down on his side. The blow given by O'Neal did not appear to injure the deceased. Deceased appeared insensible when witness saw him lying down on his side.' Four persons carried him away behind the booth, The deceased was the worse for liquor and Jones was worse than deceased. Witness saw deceased next day lie could only movo liis head, he was laying in a brake, heard hiin say lie had lost power of himself, was not aware that any one gave information to the polico that he was lying insensible the day before. It was a very wet, bad night after the occurrence, and the ground sudden with wet, Witness did ' not think he was hurt when he saw him on the ground, ho thought drink had more to do with his not getting up. Tho blow given by O'Neal was not severe. At the time the deceased struck Jones, ho (Jones)wasbeins;held by Abbot; that was why witness said it was cowardly, after the races were over witness saw deceased lying outside'the booth on the wet wound. ■ Dr Hosking deposed deceased was brought to the Masterton Hospital at . 9p.m, on Tuesday last. He was paralysed'Am the nape of the neck downwards,omt perfectly sensible and intelli- .. gent, .He made out the injury to be com- . pression of the spinal cord by the pouring out of blood in the cord produciug spinal . appoplexy. There were no marks on the body to account- for it and no dislocation or fracture. Inflammation set in yester- . day morning, when deceased, being aware • he was likely to die, stated his wish to J exonerate from blame those he heard were / . in custody. Ho then made a statement, ■ ■ which, being paralysed, he was. unable to sign,, as follows The deposition;of "John McKay, taken before me this loth . ..day of March, 1885, who s'aitli—l remem- .: ber Monday the Oth day of March inst. I was at the Tinui races and on the course. : I was the worse for drink.'. I remember j having had - a quarrel with some men, | whom I' do not remember. 1 am not aware of my own knowledge that any one hurt me there, 1 lay out all that night in the cold and the next morning I found th.it I was-unable to move and felt all powerless from the neck downwards. I do not blame anybody but myself. Ido \ not remember a man named William .O'Neal, or.a man named George Jones, hurting or - iii any way injuring me. I only know that I-was quarrebomo myself and annoying people on the course, and I do not blame any person ■ in particular for ••■my. present illness. I say this knowing ■ that I am.veiy ill and possibly likely to,die and wish to exonerate the above-named menof any blame. W. H, Hoskino, J,P." Witness said a-'heavy fall might no doubt produce a spinal injury, but the deceased had no mail's that Would account for it, and paralysis was at a lower point than ■ drunkenness, and exposure might produce paralysis. . He died this morning about half past 3 o'clock.. There was no difficulty in arriving at the caußeof death, but he could not: give any. opinion how - that state of things war brought about, . Alfred Mail deposed to helping to carry the man insido the tent in the morning, He was then in 'pain and had been lying outside by the The Coroner-said it was their duty to arrive at an opinion' whether the death waß tho. result of violence, neglect, or . natural causes, If tho death was tho • result of the injury from- the fall caused by the man jumping on his . back thon some-blame Was attached to the man'. ■ Sergeant'MAcrdle calledllonry Offer who deposed that lie was assisting at Tooliill's booth on tho course: Ho saw deceased lying at the back of the booth about 0 o'clock, and ho went two hours after when it commenced to rain, and covered him over with an oilskin coat. •He tried to move deceased but he was too heavy, and he said ho could not get up, He called out two or three.times for assistance and drink during the night, but nobody went to liini because they thought he was drunk. At four o'clock in the morning four of them crirried him V to the fire and put a pillow under his head and covored him over. When witness tried to rouse him at 8 o'clock overnight he was powerless, which he attributed to drunkenness. In answer to the foreman witness saw deceased at 10 o'clock. He'still thought him under the influence of drink. He had no drink, water, nor anything else to his knowledge. Witness was up all night in charge of the booth. . ' . The jury then retired te consider their verdict, Tho following verdict was returned "That John McKay died at the Masterton Hospital on March 16, th through paralysis of the spine, but whether caused through injuries received at the Tinui racecourse on March Oth, by misadventure or subsequent exposure, there is not sufficient evidence to show.