INQUEST.

Westport Times, Volume VI, Issue 1025, 26 November 1872, Page 2

INQUEST.

An enquiry as to the cause of death of Elizabeth Young, who died suddenly on the previous Friday evening, was held by Dr. Giles, Corouor, at the Post Office Hotel, on Saturday the 23rd inst. The jurymen were Messrs. Clark, Grant, G. Hamilton, Tarn, M-Leau, 11. Hamilton, Lloyd, Kelly, Ellison, Gif Ford, Kearnan if. M'Farlaue, and J. Simpson, foreman. Mary Aun Hayes deposed that she had been living with deceased at her house in Palmerston street, for threo months past, and last saw her alive

between eight aud nine o'clock on the 22nd. Deceased often complained of illness, and on the day of her death seemed very ill, but witness took little notice of it as deceased often drank freely and would eat but little food. In the evening deceased who had been in bed for the greater portion of the day, had sot up and was lying on a sofa in the front room of the house, berlittlegirl sittingnear her threading beads. Suddenly deceased said "I wish Young was here, and the boys," and threw her arms up and then seemed to go off as if dead immediately. Witness got water and vinegar and bathed deceased's face, but it had no effect. Witness then sent for some neighbors, as also Dr. Bruen. who came iminediately,just as the last breath was out of deceased. Witness bad often heard deceased complain of pains in the stomach and about the chest. In cleaning up the room after the death, witness found a bottle of brandy concealed behind a box, at the back of deceased's bed.

Patcrick J. Bruen, a legally qualified medical practitioner, deposed that on hearing that Elizabeth Young was dying, he had gone to her house and found her lying dead. The features of deceased were not distorted, and death seemed to have occurred easily. Witness saw no unusual marks on the surface of the body. On making enquiries as to the state of deceased prior to death, the inmates of the house could give no explicit information. Witness then reported the circumstance to the police, and on the following morning hold a post mortem examination. Having some few years since professionally attended the deceased, witness then had occasion to suspect disease of the heart, and hence in making the examination, first laid open the chest. He found the left lung adhering to walls of chest and throat, both lungs presenting an un* healthy appearance, as if having at some time beon affected with pneumonia; the heart presented appearances of fatty degeneration, the anterior surface being cbvered with a thick coating, and the valvular tissues between the left auricle and ventricle indicating ossification ; the liver was also very far gone in disease, the left lobe being nodulated ; the gall bladder was surcharged with very unhealthy bile, and the mucus membrane of the stomach appeared of a dark reddish tint. Witness attributed death to disease of the heart and chronic liver disease accelerated by intemperate habits; the immediate cause of death being the sudden failure of the hearts action. Tho jury after a short deliberation returned a verdict of "Died from heart disease."