[PRESS ASSOCIATION.] TAKAPUNA POISONING CASES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 101, 29 April 1912, Page 3

[PRESS ASSOCIATION.] TAKAPUNA POISONING CASES.

RESULT OF INQUEST. AUCKLAND, 28th April. Ptomaine poisoning was not, as suppoeed, the cause of the tragedy which occurred afc Milford Beach, Takapuna, last week. Medical examination proved that the death of Mrs. Nicolson was due to cerebral hemorrhage, possibly attributable indirectly to etfeete following the drinking of the hop beer which, it was suggested, may have contained some poisonous elements. An inquest regarding Mrs. Nicolson's dea.th was held yesterday. Dr. Fairclough said that he was called to attend Mrs. Nicolson and her sister (Mrs. C. Little). Mrs. Nicolson was unconscious when he arrived, and died without recovering consciousness. On making a post-mortem examination, he found a mas 6 of blood on both sides beneath the membraneous lining of the cavity of the skull. Thk proved to have come fiom a ruptured middle cerebral artery. Deceased had a definite heart history that mudt have existed for many years, and the conditions which he had found could have resulted fatally at any time, and buddenly. Dr. Fairclough said he did not consider that the- taking of any food or drink had any direct influence occasioning death. Any gaseous liquor might have the effect of affecting the stomach, and thus acting on the hearfc'ri action, and, indirectly, the circulation in the brain. Cornelius Little suid that Mrs. Nicholeon, who was 69 years of age, had complained of heart trouble, and had been medically attended. His wife was subject to heart trouble. The sudden death of a brother of his wife's in February last was proved to have been due to conditions similar to those described by Dr. Fa-irclough. Commenting on this evidence, Dr. Fairclough remarked that it bore out the idea that arterial degeneration often runs in families. The jury returned a, verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. The condition of Mrs. Little this afternoon was still cutieal. Dr. Bennett, who is attending her, states thai hex case is also one of cerebral hemorrhage.