PECULIAR DEATH OF A SERVANT GIRL.

Evening Star, Issue 4437, 19 May 1877, Page 2

PECULIAR DEATH OF A SERVANT GIRL.

The following evidence was given after we went to press yesterday : Mrs Reid : On Wednesday I did not think it was anything serious, or I would have been glad to have sent for medical advice. 1 devoted most of my time to her since Friday. I did not know what to do when I saw the deceased knocking herself about. I was almost frantic at the time. Indeed, I have been sorry since that I did not send my daughter for assistance, or call loudly, or do something of that kind. I think that the so-called chaps in Maggie’s hands and feet were caused by the wind. She was careless in going without her boots into the yard. With regard to her being found without anything under her on the mattrass, that was the only position I could get her into before the neighbors came. When Mrs M‘lntyre came she was very excited. She said to me, “You wicked woman, to put my daughter down here like a brute.” I said, “Mrs MTntyre, how dare you talk to me in this waj ?’’ She said that I was murdering her daughter. 1 don’t remember her expression's, but they were very violent. 1 said, “ Everything that it is possible to have been done I have done and will do.” Dr Batchelor came and raw the deceased. He said she was in a very despairing kind 't —in a dying state. He said no hope of her, that it would ; i e was in another medical gen- J be well to e. : mer waa Bent f b and | tleman. Dr Re. • out twenty minutoß . 1 m. „ came Mong in au, an( j ft seemed. y wrote a prescription, was con- I to relieve her a little. -W until tmually moaning all the *

she died at half-past eleven o’clock at night. That is all I dan say about that. I wish to say something about the LSOO. I did not get to bed till three o’clock on Thursday morning. I was very much frightened about the inquest, as 1 had never been before a lot of gentlemen, and I was very nervous. I therefore endeavored to [have a pri vate in*' veetigation 0? the case before a- few gentlemen. Mr MTntyre said to me, “ You wicked woman, you have murdered my daughter i you are a murderess, and lam going to Mr Stout to get you transported.'” I was heart-broken, as I had done all I could, I said I would give Lsoorather than there should be an inquest, meaning that I would prefer a full private investigation—indeed, that I would rather give L 2,000 than that it should have.happened in my house—that it was such an unpleasant' tning, as I had been in trouble before, and I have no husband or father to assist me. The windows of the play-room ware intentionally taken© it in order to provide ventilation,the place being very dose. Mrs MTntyre asked for something extra on account of Maggie staying with me for over the two months. I said “Oh certainly,” and I offered her the L2. While Mrs MTntyre was in the act of taking it, Mr M‘lntyre said “Ob, don’t take it, missus. We have plenty of money.” By Mr Cook: I was nursing the deceased and expecting her to recover every day. Indeed, I was neglecting my own children for h«r. I exceedingly regret that I did not send for her parents at an earlier period of the illness. 1 would have had all the doctors in Dunedin if I thought they were required. I relied on my own judgment. 1 can swear positively that the girl was not drank when she was tumbling about. I never thought for a moment of repairing the windows in the playroom where the deceased was lying. Mr Cook (to the witness) : Have you consulted a doctor in regard to this case t I sent for Dr Batchelor, bnt he was too busy to come. '

Mr Stout : I did not see Mrs Reid before entering this room. We desire that the case should be fully investigated. If you (Mr Cook) allude to Dr Gillies sitting beside me, he is merely here to assist me in putting medical questions.

Dr Batchelor: Hirst saw the deceased at mid-dayon Wednesday last. She was ini a very excited condition, lying in the corner of the room on a mattrass. The first thing that struck me about the girl was her extremely emaciated condition. The eyes were deeply sunk in the head—the eyelids half closed. The eyes themselves seemed glased and motionless. The right pupil was more dilated than the left. Both were rather contracted. The surface of the body generally was extremely cold. The hands and feet were blue and swollen, and the skin was dry and rough. Over the forgbcad on the left side was a large bruise, 2ia py The skin was abrased in several places over the forehead. There were scratches and abrasions over the nose, bps, and chin. There was a large bruise on the front of the right thigh, jnsfc above the knee, and one to the outside of the left thigh. She was pulseless at the wrist. The heart sounds were very feeble and indistinct. I saw that she was in a dying condition. I ordered her brandy and hot water, which she seemed to swallow with difficulty. I ordered more clothes on the bed and hot bottles to the feet and limbs, and applied a strong mustard plaster to the chest. As I thought the girl was dying, it was best for some one else to see her with me. Meeting Dr Reimer he came up. We ordered a mixture of diffusable stimulants. On that occasion I removed the stockings. This was abont twenty minutes after my first visit. I found a large abrasion just above the left ankle, and also portions of skin removed from' three toes. All the abrasions were quite recent. In addition to these, the hands and wrists were scratched and abrased, and the upper surface of each foot had a peonliar kind of scratches. These latter were of some days’ duration. The breathing, when I saw the deceased, was silent, shallow, and slow. I saw her again about 6.30 p.m,, when she was very much in the same condition, the body, if anything, slightly warmer, and the breathing a little more noisy. Both pupils were then contracted and insensible to light. Next morning I was told that she had<died daring the nignt There was no bedstead in the room. There were two panes of glass out of the window, and the room was cold. There was no fire or fireplace there. Deceased seemed to me to be half dressed, with a chemise and a kind ef jacket outside. I do not think there was enough clothing on the bed. There was a blanket, and tbe other things were so dirty and shabby that I did not notice what they were. The girl looked as if she was dirty and neglected. 1 examined the body generally. The hair was scanty and rather short. There were no messes or smell in the room, andl did not notice any marks of blood. I made the tost mortem examination with Dr Bakewell yesterday, about fourteen hours after death. There was an extreme emaciation of the whole body. On turning it over, 1 found a large braise beneath the left shoulder blade, and another a little lower down nearer tbe loins. Both these I cut into to see that they were not due to post mortem change. The soles of the feet were not hard and homy. On removing the scalp 1 found one large extravasation of blood corresponding to the braise over tbe left eye. Over the top of the head there was another large extravasation or effusion spreading down on either side. At the back of the head there was another large effusion. The foot membrane of the brain was found adherent to the skull. It should have been quite loose. It bad to be cut through before tbe brain could be removed. There was nothing remarkable abont the brain, which seemed to be perfectly healthy. I then opened tbe abdomen. The first thing that struck me was the entire absence of fat. On removing the breastbone, the lungs were not collapsed as usual, but were of a dark-blue color. There was an entire absence of fat from the whole body. I believe the girl died immediately from congestion of the lungs, but I believe that was brought about by exposure in a cold room while suffering from inflammation of the mneons coat of the bowels in a state of starvation. I consider she was in a state of starvation. The statements regarding the diarrhoea might explain the emptiness of the bowels, bat not the want of fat. There was no disease whatever abont tbe girl. I don’t think that tbe inflammation of the mucous coat of the bowels was of long standing—not more than three or four days. I have no reason to snspect poison as the cause of death. I believe that the emaciation was the emaciation of starvation. I think it is impossible that tbe scratches could have been caused by a fall. The abrasions may have been, but I don’t think they were. The bruises, at any rate, in the front and bock of the forehead were quite probably erased by a fall. I don’t think that any of the scratches on the feet were chaps from the weather. The gtrl may have scratched herself. I consider that the girl’s falling about the room was caused by weakness. If medical advice had been got on the Sunday I think it would have been possible to have saved the girl’s life, —By Mr t-tout: I believe that the condition of the brain was similar to that of an epileptic. Death was not caused from pure st rvation, but from congestion of the lungs. If I had heard that the deceased had been subject to fits I should say that there was something in the brain to corroborate the statement. If she

bad been suffering from diarrhoea, and non* assimilation ;pf weeks, I been AtiraO p.m. the till nhdto on TuescMydttt. V X v • i Ml "frsad- .