PATTERN MAKER'S DEATH

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 154, 27 December 1912, Page 7

PATTERN MAKER'S DEATH

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST. An •enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of James Henshil•Wood, patternmaker, of Sajisbury-terrace. was heard before Mr. E. Arnold", J.P., and a' jury of six at the Magistrate's Court to-day. Dr. Bowerbank deposed that when he arrived he found deceased lying on his back just outside his workship. Life was then altogether extinct, but he had probably only been dead about half-an-hotir. There was an inch-long cut over the right eyebrow, but no other marks of violence. In the workshop on a bench there was an enamelled mug which had recently contained cyanide of potassium. This was evident from the fact that there were still some crystals in the mng. It was impossible- to say whether he actually took the poison because no odour was evident about the mouth, and I a postmortem examination was not made. If he had taken the cyanide death would have been almost instantaneous. Mrs. Henshilwood gave evidence to the effect that her husband, deceased, was perfectly happy in his home. life. He was however, addicted" to drink, and jusfc before his death he was tinder the influence of it. A Verdict was returned to the effect that deceased met his death through taking cyanide of potassium whilst in a temporarily unsound state of mind.