WIFE DEAD IN BATH

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 258, 28 July 1936, Page 10

WIFE DEAD IN BATH

Fumes From WronglyInstalled Caliphont By Telegraph—Press Association. Christchi c'i, July 27. When William D. M. Jamieson, an employee of the Post and Telegraph Department at Rangio. returned to his home about 11 o'clock on Saturday night he found his wife. Kathleen Nancy Jamieson, aged 29 years, dead in the bath. She had been in good health and cheerful spirits when he left the house three hours earlier. At an inquest the district coroner (Mr. H. A. Young, S.M.) returned, a verdict that death was due to asphyxiation, Mrs. Jamieson having accidentally inhaled the products of the combustion of gas in a caliphont not properly installed in that it was not provided with a flue to carry these products to the open air. Evidence of identification was given by Jamieson, who said that the caliphont had always filled the house with a peculiar smell when it "'ns alight, but he had- no occasion to think it was not working properly. About two weeks ago his wife had felt faint in her bath and had later collapsed. Dr. L. M. King, of Rangiora, stated that in his opinion death was due to asphyxiation by carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gas, and not to drowning. Mrs. Jamieson had told him that a previous fainting turn might have been caused by the gas. John Marshall, a former tenant of the house, gave evidence of a similar occurence some years ago when his wife collapsed after a bath. Francis W. J. Belton, engineer to the Christchurch Gas Company, stated that the installation of the caliphont was definitely defective as there was no flue leading into tihe outside air. There would be no danger if the caliphont had a proper flue.