THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH AT EYRETON.

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7350, 1 July 1889, Page 6

THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH AT EYRETON.

VERDICT OP THE JURY. On Saturday, at noon, the inquest touching the finding of the body of Thomas Spriggs, sou of Mr James Spriggs, of Eyreton, was resumed before C. Whitefoord, tsq. Coroner, and a jury of Which Mr J. Moffatt was foreman. The former enquiry elicited the facts that deceased, whose age was sixteen, left his home on June 7th to return to Mr Chilton's farm, where he was in employment, and was not seen again till bis body was found in the field of Mr Jas. Cherry, which the youth had to cross on his way from his father's house to the farm at which he was engaged to work. The witness who discovered the corpse deposed that the hands of deceased were in the coat pockets, that there were no marks of a struggle, and one of the legs was crossed over the other, as if the deceased had been sitting at rest on the bank of a ditch, and had simply fallen back and expired. The police constable gave evidence of finding an ounce bottle of strychnine in one of the pockets on the body in which remained about a third of what it might have contained. The bottle was corked, the cork fitting closely and was level with the neck of the phial, and did not appear to have been removed. Regarding the finding of this poison the father of the deceased stated that his son had asked for it to take to Mr Chilton's, as Mr Chilton wanted the same to poison some rats and a dog, and Mr Spriggs told his son to be cautious with it. Both Mr and Mrs Chilton, however, gave evidence that they had not asked the deceased to get any poison. The medical testimony of Dr. Murray next showed that while all the organs of the body on which he had made a. post mortem examination were healthy. The engorged state of the blood vessels of the brain and the state of the spinal cord were in a condition not inconsistent with strychnine poisoning, and that till the stomach was analysed he was not prepared to state the probable cause of death. At this stage the enquiry was adjourned. Constable h. Carttnill deposed that he received a bottle from Dr. Murray containing the stomach of the deceased, on the 11th, which he handed to Professor Bickerton in the same state to him. Ho also handed the Professor the bottle of poison taken from the deceased's pocket in the same state in which it was found. Alexander William Bickerton, Colonial Analytical Professor of Chemistry at Canterbury College, deposed he received the bottle containing the contents of deceased's stomach from Constable Cartmill, which he tested for strychnine, which poison he found in considerable quantities—quite sufficient to cause death. He also examined the small bottle of poison said to have been found upon the deceased's person, which was labelled " Strychnia pur," and proved that it contained strychnine. In- reply to a juror, the witness said he could not say how long the food had been in the stomach. Some foods digested more rapidly than others, as, for instance, a tnuttou chop, delicately cooked, might very quickly digest, while other foods might be longer in becoming reduced. The Coroner i summed up the evidence by pointing cut that there was no evidence that anyone had attempted to administer the poison to deceased, yet there was no doubt he had died from poisoning. There had been no cause assigned why xie should poison himself, as he was stated to have been of a cheerful disposition. His father, in giving the lad the poison bottle on what appeared to be an ordinary request had exercised every caution by telling the youth to be careful with it. No blame, so far as he could see, attached to any one. nor was any reason assigned as to a cause for suicide. The jury would have to judge as to the state of the deceased's mind and the circumstances of the case. The jury retired to consider their verdict, and, oa returning after a few minutes' absence, stated they found that deceased had taken the poison himself on June Bth while in a state of temporary insanity.