CORONER'S INQUEST

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1360, 11 February 1884, Page 2

CORONER'S INQUEST

♦ , An inquest was held on Saturday last, before W. H. Re veil, Esq., Coroner, touching the death of Jaineß Cotter, whose body, in a far advanced stage of decomposition, was found in the Reefton Cemetery on Friday last. The jury, of whom Mr M'Donough was chosen foreman, having veiwed the body, the following evidence was called : — Henry Stanley Thorpe : I am a legally qualified medical practitioner residing at Reefton. I have viewed the body of deceased, and knew him by sight. I made a post n> orient on the body. There was a slight bruise on the right side of the head, from which a little blood had flown. There were no other wounds on the body. The skin on the forehead had peeled off, and the face was perfectly black with decomposition. The hair, mouth, and nose were fly-blown, and several large flies were found in the mouth. The body was largely fly-blown. I removed the scalp and there was a large extravasation of blood on the right qide, between the scalp and skull ; this would have been caused by his probably falling on that side. I removed the top part of the skull, and found the brain very much decomposed and offensive ; the vessels of the brain were very much congested ; the other organs of the biidy were diseased ; the heart and kidneys were enlarged. The cause of death was cerebral apoplexy of the brain. He had been dead fully, twenty-four hours before he was found. By a juror : From what I can hear the day was very hot, and as deceased was 60 or 65 years of age he probably had a sunstroke and fell down, sustaining the injury to the right side of the head. Robert ..Boyle deposed to finding the body. He went to the cemetery in the afternoon to clean round a grave and saw the body on the ground. The arms were across the breast, and the handle of a Bcythe was across the body, h e did not have hold of the scythe. The face was black and covered with blow-flies. There were marks near of mowing having been done. Then informed the police. Eliza Bate : I knew deceased, James Cotter, for ten or twelve years. On Thursday morning last deceased was passing my place with a scythe. It was about 9 a. in., he said he was going to the cemetery to mow the grass ; never saw him afterwards, he lived by himself, and seemed in bad health. He has a daughter living, ? I think, in Taranaki. • c had a son who died in Nelson three or four years ago. This closed the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes.