WOMAN'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 218, 12 September 1906, Page 6

WOMAN'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

BODY FOUND IN DOCTOR'S HOUSE. An Adelaide cablegram published on Wednesday last slated, that the dead body of a woman wa* found in the house of a medical man named Francis John Sheridan, v hose whereabouts were unknown. The body was subsequently identified as that of a young woman named Adelaide Ray. Her husband gave evidence at the inquest to the effect that his wife, who had recently been unwell, had been stopping with her mother, i Mr*. Coouibe. of Brompion. He called on hT there each day, but as she did j not get better he thoueht it wise that j t-iie should remain at. her mother's i bouse. On Monday she was not there, | and he asked where she had gone. Her j mother then replied that she was lying | dead at Dr. Sheridan's. He went to Dr. j Sheridan's, but was assured that she was not in the house. Witness nest , communicated witb the police, and a*= ! a result her dead body was found at I Dr. Sheridan*. | Alice ('oombe. of East-street. East Brompton. said Mrs. Ray. who was So . : vc-ars of ape. was lit daughter. On the following Sunday Mrs. Kay said she | was going again to Dr. Sheridan. Wit- j ness begjred her not- to go, but she in- ; sisted. Witness went with her daughter j io Sheridan's. Sheridan took her ! daughter into a room. Someone came tn where witness was and asked h"r to | go to her daughter, as she was in a bad j way. Sheridan then came to the door and said. " 1 think your daughter is dead." Sheridan tried to pour some brandy down her daughter's throat, but failed. She tried to make Mrs. Ray speak, but failed. Sheridan then said. "What shall I do? I'll get: 10 years for this." He gnve her a shilling for Irani fare, and told her to co to Dr. i 'oombe by tram, and ask whether the doctor would give a certilieatc. It was between 12 and 1 o'clock when witness was at Sheridan's, and she got home j ahotit. ,1 o'clock. Dr. Coonihe had not j been told that her daughter had been to I i=ee Sheridan. j Lilian Agues Sheridan, wife of Francis I •Tohn Sheridan, said that between G and I 7 o'clock on Monday her husbaud came and said good-bye, and told her be would only be away half-an-hour. She had been married since 1597. but did not | know her husband's business. ! Dr. A. F. Lynch said on September 4 J he. examined the body of Mrs. Bay, lying i on a table at Sheridan's house. On ihe left side of the mouth, on both the upper and lower lips there were bruises. These were ribbed and similar to those that, might have been produced by a mouth-gag. At the morgue he made n post-mortem examination of the body of Mrs. Ray. There was very little blood in thp body. The organs generally were I healthy, with the exception that the lungs were gorged witb blood. In his opinion doee.-.sed was 'suffering from a I septic condition and from blood poison- I ing at time of her death. He rould not form an opinion from the post-mortem j examination as to whether the course of | nature had been interfered with by hip- j chanical means. The immediate cause j of death was asphyxiaAfter a retirement of 20 minutes the [ inrv returned with the following verdict:— " I '" Wp find that the deceased. Adelaide : May Randall Ray, came, to her death ' from an illegal operation, performed on August 31. by Francis -Tohn Sheridan, j at Young-street, Parkside."' The Coroner then formally committed i Francis John Sheridan for trial on a : charge of murder. , The police have, as yet. not succeeded i in apprehending Sheridsn. and have no I information as to his whereabouts. '