THE ALLEGED POISONING CASE IN AUCKLAND. Verdict of "Death from Natural Causes "returned.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1591, 14 September 1882, Page 2

THE ALLEGED POISONING CASE IN AUCKLAND. Verdict of "Death from Natural Causes "returned.

The inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs Sarah Cleaver was resumed on Tuesday, before Dr Goldsbro', coroner. Dr Purchas, who was called in to see deceased, deposed that he had not the slightest suspicion of poisoning at the time, and from the symptoms he was firmly of opinion that death resulted from gastro-enteritis, acute inflamation following ai\ attack of English cholera, and the large meal after a long fast, and the long walk after her journey would have a tendency to produce this. Constable Strathern gave evidence as to attending the post mortem examination, and sealing the vessels containing portions of the stomach, &c. Mr J. A. Pond, analytical chemist, detailed at great length the result Qf his investigations. He had been occupied in the work for more than a week, and had subjected the matter sent to him to the most complete and delicate tests. The modus operandi was fully explained and illustrated. The result of his analysis was that he had failed to find the slightest trace of ai-senic. Sergeant-Major Pardy said he had made the most careful enquiries in the Waikato, and had failed to discover that deceased had procured arsenic there. It was impossible for her to hare obtained it in Hamilton. Dr Cushney, Cambridge, deposed that he had attended deceased prior to her leaving Wai k to for Auckland. The measles had left deceased before her departure from Cambridge, but he considered she was still too weak to travel, and had he been consulted he would certainly have objected to her taking the journey. He had cavefully guarded against inflammation after confinement. Mr Cooper having briefly addressed the jury. The Coroner summed up. He discredited the theories of suicide or murder, and laid great stress on the clear and conclusive testimony of Mr Pond, whose evidence he urged was, as an analyst in constant practice, more to be relied on than that of medical men, who only made analyses occasionally. There was nothing in the character and manner of the deceased to lead to the belief that she would have committed suicide, aud the unvarying and constant care bestowed on her by the Cleaver family during her illness was the best refutation of unfair play on their part. The jury, alter an absence of threequarters of an hour, returned the following verdict :—" That we, the jury, are of opinion that the deceased, Sarah Emily Cleaver, died from gastro-enteri-tis, occasioned by eating a hearty meal after the fatigue of a long journey, while in a weak state of health from her recent confinement."