WAS IT PLAGUE ?

Feilding Star, Volume I, Issue 277, 28 May 1907, Page 2

WAS IT PLAGUE ?

INQUEST ON MINNIE KITCHEN. tpaß frbbs assoaunoir.] Auckland. May 28. The inquest on the body of Minnie Kitchen, who died on the 12th inst., , was continued to-day. \ Martha Ellen Kitchen, mother of the deceased, was the prineipal wit- ' ness. She advanced the theory that her daughter died from blood-poison- * ing, the result of something she had eaten. " The Coroner said there were strange rumours going about. One' waß that deceased and Miss MacmiUan, the young woman who died a day or two afterwards, had eaten a tin of sal- * mon together. "It is a vile, idle ' rumour," he added. "The fact is . that neither of the girls Shew each \ other." , Witness said deceased never men- ; tioned the name of Miss MacmiUan. The Coroner: Have you anything to say in addition? ' Witness: Anything I wish to say had better be left unsaid. I reaUy '. believe that my daughter's death was i caused through blood-poisoning. * The Coroner: We don't wish anything hushed up. We want to get at the cause of death. Witness: I believe it was bloodpoisoning, caused through the stuff she swaUowed. A juror : Did your daughter make , any complaint about the treatgient she received at the dentist's? Witness: My daughter said the , dentist said he would take no responsibility, and she laughingly said she would take the responsibility. Witness further stated that she believed the deceased swaUowed some carbolic mouth-wash at the dentist's. The dentist in question gave evidence, and stated that no conversation nad taken place as to responsibility, and that even if deceased had swallowed any of the mouthwash it would not have hurt her. > Medical evidence corroborated this, and agreed that the cause of death was bubonic plague, of the septicaemia type. The inquest was adjourned tul Thursday.