DEATH OF MR CORNISH.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13108, 6 May 1908, Page 11

DEATH OF MR CORNISH.

THE INQUEST. (press association telegeams.) I>UNEDIif, May 5. The adjouruod luqutst toucaiug the deatiL oi 3irs Catherine Cornish, who wan taid to }:uve )kh. x jz fouiid dead in the of tiie cviiJing ILoiei, at on i'riday afternoon, was resiuntd before iMr Alexander (.Acting-Coro-ner) and a jury oi six, to-day, i/oiioo lnsp&ctor O'Brien coatlucuxi tho proceedings on behalf oi the police, and jjr Irwin wau-htd. tho case on belialt or It. Cornish, "licensee of the hotel.

Kichaid ■c-or:;iisii <s.;id ho foumi Ins wiio on i , ruiu.v aiicrjioon lying on iier face in the x»a.ssago. »She v.us dead and tiio body was cold. Ho carried tiio body to btd, then telegraphed to I>r. Burnett, of iiaiciutha, and .awaited his arrival, .lie had ho idea how long deceased liad bLvn dca-'-i. Ho had not sour lier ftiiico ne wont to bed at 10.16 p.m. on Thursday. IX-ceascd Lad not laid up. but lia<i boen going about ail tbat day. , To th«s inspector: My wife was in tho sitting room adjoining tho bedroom on Thurss-ay night. £>ho was lying fully dressed on tiie sofa. I covered her with a eouplo of rugs, and went to bed. My tvii'o was tho worse icr drink when 1 covered her up. i had aske-tl her earlier in tho evening not to take anything. 6ho was half asleep at thii time, i was not disturbed during tho night, and have rt> idea, vviiat timo i w«:>k« up on the niorndiig of the le>t iniiir. i .111. ght have been aviu'ko two or threo tiuu--. and have Uozed off again, it was be-nveiin 2.15 aud 2.3D in the ail'ternooa when 1 get uip and dressed myself. I was gouig towards tae bathroom when 1 touj.d uiy aviio dyii:ig in. tho passage, bho lay partly on*.her face, and partly on her side, fully dressed. Lizzrie. (tne ooolk) and 1 imod her body into bed, and we noticed tlvaic her taco was all bruised and disc; - .j wired, bwb I noticed no wounds or motions aibout tliehcad. I noticed that the t-u-a-l i-jcutii© wais uipset alt tho tMi.trar.eo to the sittingroom, as if tho deceased liad fallen over it. There was email coal and dust at her feet. I did not notico any blood on the floor. After the body had been laid on the bed, lizzie proposed to tctke> off the clothing and the did so without any assistance -ivLilo I stood watching lier. She removed all the clothing from the body anu put a ckan 'rjightdresis on it. I assisted lier to puit the nightdress on. Wiheai I touched deceased's liair I gat blood oft my hand. It seemed to come from the orown of the head. Inspector O x>rioii: ''Was the whole ■ process of undreesdnjr done toy the cook?"

"Certainly." Witness added tihat tht» suit he was mow wearing was the one he wore on the ni,£ht of April 30th, also on Friday, May Ist, when he found his wife's dead body. The trousera (produced) were his. Hβ last wore them last Thursday. Up till albout noon that (morning he had been engaged in getting stock from tlhe back etore to the front store and tfcie bar. *

The polioe here handed the garments to witness. Round the rims of the ankles were blotches of greasy red. "Witness: "If these are blood-etaine, I know nothing about thorn." The Inspector: "Were you doing anything that would cause blood to attach itself to your clothes?" "Yea, I wa* killing a pig; at least, I didn/t kill it. but i assisted the barman (Taylor) to do so. I held it. while ho sta-bbed it—stuck it, I mean. Recovering himself, witness went on to reply to the Inspector as follows: "—He 'had washed his hands and dried them on a towel between the time of placing the body on the bod and the time the doctor arrived. A strange man, whose name ho did uotknou - , had taken advantage, oi_.witne6s!s. absence at the funeral yesterday to clear out without paying. The stranger had occupied No. 4 bedroom. AVitnesa had not seen this man before the ol tho 30th of last month (Thursday) ~He had come in and asked deceased for a bed. Witness had not asked him who he was and what he wanted; it was not his place to do so, and although he was about the house for three or four <|ays, witness bad taken no steps to ascertain particulars or to ask him for payment. 'As' far ac he knew this -wias the only etramger who had slept there, that night. He did not remember telling Constable ManHhall where ho (hot raw his wife. Ho did not know if he luul told him that he bad got up from his bed' on Friday at 10 minutes to 10 a.m., and found his wife dead, but ho found .that "his watch had stopped. After.i ho sent the barman off with the telegram, he heard; tho goods train coming in from the Smith, 'and know it was 2.55 p.m.» He did not wind up Iris watch tho nigh* bafore; that was the only explanation no hod. to offer for telling the constable that h-o found his wifo dead a\ 9.50 a.m. Witncei and his wife djd not live peaceably together, but as long as she was not drinking they were the best of friends. During tho last four or fivo mon-ths the deceased was often drinking to excess. Ho had not oh'nstised decesiixd- in. tuny way. He hod frequentily had deceased medically attended owing to _ hex drinking hebifs. Slio had boon in a private hospital twioo on that account. Dr. Burnett, of Balclutha, said that ha received a nicsryna o from Cornish at-3.15 p.m. on Friday. When he arrived) at the hotel, the body was warm, a:ud. witness gathered tlvat the woman kid been dead— not more than two hours. hair was matted with blood. There was a cut abo:ii> one and- a half inch -long on the right side of the head, just above the forehead. Both eyes were Übck and" her face and lwwd were swollen. Ttoero was a bruise on the right hip and several more on other parts of tho body. On performing a poet mortem be found an enormous quantity of blood on tho scali> and skull. acooun.t.mg for tho swelling on tihe head and the black eyes. The wound on the scalp must ha-vo been caused l»y contact with a substance ihn-vins a sharp edge. The skull was fractured im. -tho region of the eves and in a direct line with the wound on the scalp. T&o brain was congested. In hie opinion death was due to compression of the brain. Congestion of the brain could be mused "by alcohol. Thfc fall might fa<ve caustxl the injury. If a healthy individual had received eanio injury he did not think the i fit would have bewi fatal. Witness was under tho impression that deceased had fallen, on a'coal-scuttle, but ho could not say how that impression came to his mind. \ Elizabeth Sennet, cook at the hotel, said she last saw deceased on the after - i noon of .Thursday, April 30tih. Efcv ceased was not- then- quite sober. Witnces did not se© Oarnieib. or the de"coased on Friday till about 2.15 p.m., when tfoe former t-aid he thought Jus wife woe-dead. Witness went into tho room, and Cornish wont into the bathroom with a basin. Witness asked Corniish. to help her to put his wifo to bed in case sh"e was still al'tve. Wdtncee took no clothing off the- body erf deceased, nor caw anything put on her. Cornish wae somettj nice bad with his liver, and ho then remained in bed till late in tho day. "Witness had not seen a stranger about tlie> house on Thursday or Friday. Some coal had faUe-n out of the ecuttkv standing on its side at the corner of the passage. Mrs Cornish's room was not cileaied up beforo the doctor's arrival. Cornish was quite sober on Friday afternoon. W'"itn«» did not undress the body and put a clean nightdress- on it. Corniah and Lis wife lived on very good terms. The was proceeding when the latest int'eeasie came to hand from 65t.iriin}r. wlioro the inquest is being I kekl. ." ' . j