CORONER'S INQUEST.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3351, 13 April 1868, Page 4

CORONER'S INQUEST.

Air inquest was hold at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, at the Waitem&ta Hotel (Mr. John Hancock's) on view of the body of a man named Samuel Galbraith, who died on the previous afternoon, under the circumstances detailed in our last publication. The inquiry waa held before T. M. Philson, Esq., M.D., Coroner. The jury haying returned from viewing the body, the following evidence was adduced : — Elizabeth Lane deposed : I am employed as servant to Mr. George Taylor, at his lodging-house, Albert-street. I first saw deceased yesterday afternoon. He was lying on the bank at the end of Albert-street. He sent a little girl for a drink, of water, which I gave her for him. 1 went out directly to him, and asked him to come into the house. He did 10 and lay down on a bed in the front room. Mr. 3 aylor came about four o'clock— an hour and a-half afterwards. Deceased then complained of being unwell. Mr. Taylor gave him a dose of castor oil. Shortly afterwards ha complained of pain in his bowels. Mr. Taylor remained with him. He felt deceased's hands, and said they were cold. He immediately went for the doctor. I spoke to deceased, but be could not answer. I felt certain he was djing, and I asktd him if he had any friends, but he was unable to answer. He breathed very heavily. Mr. Taylor brought Dr. Nicholson with him in about a quarter of an hour. He examined deceased's heart, and pronounced him to be dead. I don't know that he had taken any drink. Mr. Taylor cent for the police, who came and searched deceased. They found a leather bag in his coat pocket containing bank notes and silver— £l36 19*. Id. I did not smell any liquor on deceased's breath. He had come up from the Thames, and seemed exhausted. George Taylor, proprietor of the Wharf Diningrooms, Queen-street, deposed : I have known deceased for about two years. I believe his name was Samuel Gilbraitb. (One of the documents belonging to him— a Master Mason's certificate — bore this name.) Deceased was a seaman, but had been employed as a miner at the Thames. He came up in the ' Enterprise No. 2' on Friuay. He told me he did not feel well. He had breakfast at my house— bread and butter, beef laussge*, and tea. After breakfast he conversed with me about gelling a claim. He told me he did not feel well. I gave him a glass of stout and he drank it. He sat oh the verandah until about two o'clock. He then went to my house in Albert-street and lay down on a bed. I went to the house about half an hour afterwards and found him lying on the bed groaning. I asked him if I should send for a doctor, and he said no — that he should be better soon. I gave him a dose of castor oil. The deceased was quite sober. The police found £136 19s. Id. in deceased's trousers pocket. I don't think he bad a relative in the colonies. He came from Dundee. Oliver Ryall, who accompanied deceased from the dining rooms to the house in Albert-street, gave corroborative evidence as to what transpired before the man died. Dr. .Nicholson, Shortland-street, deposed : I was called to see deceased at twenty minutes to five o'clock on Friday afternoon, at Mr. Taylors house, Smales'i Point. I found him lying on a bed on the left side. He was dead. His legs were drawn up, and his head rested on his left arm. The trunk of the body was warm, and the bands cold. There was no indication of convulsions or spasms. There were no marks of blood or violence on the body. I have made a post-mortem examination. The heart was enormously large. The pericardium contained six ounces of clear fluid. The lunga were healthy, and the stomach very much distended. There were several red patches on the stomach, but no inflammation or ulceration. The liver was greatly enlarged. I detected no disease in the liver. I could not detect the least symptom that would lead to the conclusion that poison bad been taken. I believe that death was erased by disease of the heart and liver. William Sates deposed that he bad known deceased for upwards of three years. He was a seaman at one time in the ketch ' Corio.' He was a sober steady man, and very careful of his money. Witness saw deceased at half-past ten o'clock on Friday morning. He looked very pale, and complained of a pain in his chest. He said he had been at the diggings for three or four months. He was sober. He left witness and went to the Wharf Dining Booms. Constable Jackson deposed that he examined the body of deceased, and saw no marks of violence. He found £136 19s. Id. upon his person. The money was deposited at the police-station. This concluded the evidence, and the jury returned a verdiot "That death resulted from natural causes."