A CASE OF AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATH.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXX, Issue 5343, 7 October 1874, Page 3

A CASE OF AWFULLY SUDDEN DEATH.

An awful case of sudden death occnirecl in the lla/elb<iuk Hotel, Brown-street, at about nine o'clock last uic,'ht. The deceased, a bushinan, named Edmund Drew, h.is beeu for somo time uoikitig in tho Mir.md.v bush. He came acioss the Frith with some mates on .Sunday last, and &inee then he has been diin king. Last ni<_hfc, about aix o'clock, he took a dunk of rum and milk, and lay ou a Kofa, where he slept heavily for about thieo hours. Not having eatnn anything since breakfast timo, the servant £;irl tried toawako him, hut he was dead. Medical assistance was procured, but it was too late. An inquest on the remains was hold to day (Tueiday) in the Court-house Grahamst >wi>, before J E. Macdonald, Esq., and a jury, of whom Mr. W. ]5owo was foreman. — liobert Lcrimer, a mate of deceased, who ■worked with him for the last twel\c monthB, in McDonald's bush, Miianiln, depoied that dining that tune, although he had been living and working with him ho never knew him to be subject to fits or Hicknass of any kind, but ho had •everal drinking bouts a week or a fortnight at a time. He was sobir when ho cuno across the Frith, and went to the lla/jllunk Hotal on Sunday after 1 o'clock, but on Monday about 11 o'clock witness saw that he w»s slightly under the influence of driok, and when he saw him again at 4 o'clock, he Was in the same condition. Ho could walk steadily, and talk rationally. Witness subsequently aaw him lying on a sofa in tho Hazelbank Hotel at 10 o'clock at night, but could not Hay whether he was then alive or dead. Ho was lying ou his side, with his face to the wall. — Mrs. Gillan, wife of the proprietor of the Hazelbank Hotel, deposed : That deceased came to tho hotel on Sunday to lodge. She knew him, but bo never lodged at their house before. lie remained in the house all day Sunday, and had two meals, lit; had a glass ot lver with his dinner, but no other drink that sh.-knew of, and ho went to Led at about S o'clock Sunday night quite sober. lie complained to her of feeling ill. Hia ryes were black and blood shot, and ho told wituess that it was the result of a fall at the other nidc. lie had some drinks on Monday. He got hia wages from McDonald at about 1 o'clock, and he wont to bed without dinner, and lay there until 5 o'clock, tilling a drink of i whiskey before he lay down He got up at that time, and had some driuka with his mates, McKenzie and Lorrimor taking rum and milk both time.. He was falling asleep, and at wituess's request he went into another room and lay on a sofa, and fell asleep. She got a pi'low and put it under his head, and he Baid he was not well- he felt all his bones sore. lie was not drunk, nor \va3 he sober. Witness was fuquently in the room while he slept, and Mus Clarke, a ni?ce of Mr. OillanV, w.is there most of the time rending. About half-past 10 «-ln. tried to rouse him to get him up to bed Her son came to her aisiatancc, and lilted him ou to a chair. She fancied lie broHhed when he gofc on the oh air. The snif.ice of hi* body was soft and warm When they found they could not w.ike him, tb<y stnt for a doctor. Mr. Den by camo first, and subsequently J)r. Lethbudyo aviived — Christina Claike corroborated the above evidence, and Hubert LoiimPr, who was recalled, stated that deceased told him that he had a fall amongit some rocks while coming to their house twelve d.iys aj;o, but ho worked regularly after that — Dr. Lethbridge deputed that, he was caller! to ape the deceased at 10 o'clock Lst niyht. He found him dead, lying on his b ick. Ho had since made a post mortem «-\amina*-ton. He found the organs of the chrsb perfect'y healthy, also thof,e of the .ibdr>inen, except that the internal Burfiei* ot the stomach appeared to have ha n irnt.at( d. T'ier« was only a trnce of food. H<' found the brain in an exceedingly turbid state, and a considerable quantity of fluid blood was noticed on the surface of the brain on opening the head ; but there wai no rupturo of the brain substance, nor of any con«idcrablo blood vessel. Tho cause of death, in witness's opinion, was syncope during an attack of apoplectic coma, supermdiiffd by tho habitual excessive use of stimulants. The blow on the forehead might have assisted in determining an attack of that kind, as witness thought ho had been more severely shaken by the fall than decease 1 appeared to imagine. — The jury returned a verdict, "That deceased died by the visitation of God, in a natural way, of ■vncope, during an attack of apoplectic coma, superinduced by the habitual excessive nse of stimulanta." — [ I h»mes Correspondent ]