INQUEST ON MRS HILL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 214, 9 September 1891, Page 5

INQUEST ON MRS HILL.

At the inquest on the body of Mrs Hill held by Dr. Pbilson at the Hospital no new facts were elicited. The details of how Mrs Hill committed the rash act of cutting her throat with a table knife as already published were substantiated in evidence from Miss Florence Hill, T. F. Hill and Dr. Parkinson.

Dr. Somerville, House Surgeon _at the Hospital, deposed thaD on the 31*b of August Mrs Hill was brought to the Hospital by Dr. Parkinson and Sergeant Kelly. Witness described deceased's injuries and treatment adopted. .Deceased wae not in a state of collapse, although naturally very low. Deceased was worse for the first few days, coughing whenever she attempted to swallow. On the second day what she attempted to swallow came back through the wound. On Wednesday night ib was decided to feed deceased with a tube. She was fed on brandy, beef tea, and eggs, and improved till Monday. The wound bad been sloughing, and bits of cartilage came away. Her mental state became worse. She bad frequent delusions from the day she arrived. She had the idea that the doctors were making a scaffold for her, and that certain members of the staff wished to suffocate her. She died yesterday of exhaustion, consequent on a cutthroat wound. A post mortem examination had been made. The throat was slougby, the hearb was healthy, lungs normal, brain healthy. Witness believed thab deceased was not of sane mind. Mr Hill, in his evidence, also stated that his mother was certainly insane." The jury found a verdict of suicide while in an unsound state of miud.