UNKNOWN.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 764, 29 December 1908, Page 2

UNKNOWN.

A MAN FOUND DEAD IN WELLINGTON. WAS HE GARROTTED ? [PBB PEESB ASSOCIATION.] Wellington, Dec. 28. An inquiry into tine cause of tike death of an unknown man whose body was found near Aus Majesty's Theatre on Saturday night, was opened at the Acting Coroner, this afternoon. iVlorgue before Mar George Lambert, Dr Kingston ryfie, who performed the post mortem examination, said the body was well nourished, and was that of a man probably between 45 and 50 years of age, with tattoo marks on the arms. The hands were marked as if by the use of a pick or handling soil. At the top of the forehead there was a slight abrasion about a half to a quarter of an inch long, and there were two small abrasions on tihieMt side of the nose, which appeared to be more recent than the mark previouly described, and some small scratches on the neck. Blood !nad been effused -under the skin wihere these marks occurred. Laager marks were such as might be produced by a man taking hold of the deceased by the throat, and the smaller might easily be the marks of finger-nails. The marks looked like a right-handed grip which had l been inifted from the front of the throat. There was a recent abrasion on the back of. the left shoulder. Witness found no mark of constriction on the neck, but the tongue was bitten on the left side close to the tip. .-..'.- The Coroner : Do you infer that the men was seized from the front P Witness : Yes. The gullet was normal, but the larynx was very congested, and Mue in colour. The left lung was congested, also the right, but not to the same extent as the left. The cause of death was stoppage of tihe heart's action, due to the injury to the lungs. . . -.^ Inspector Ellison: Wihat duration. of time would be required to Jfop^tne" heart's action ? „ '. > > r^U* Dr Fyffe: "Pressure v pn^the lungs, if applied with force, would cause sudden death. ■ . ■ . - in answer to the Goroner, witness said it was probable that the man had been seized by the " tihroat. The deceased had nothing in'tihe state of his organs to cause death. • °* Inspector Ellison : The injury would have caused death ? Dr Fyffe : Yes, undoubtedly the pressure on the larynx would account for death. •. In answer to another question, witness said that a sudden blow across the larynx might &ill a man instantly. Death was not due to suffocation, but it ,was due to sudden shock. . Dr H. A. Gilmer said tie was called by the police shortly after 3 a.m. yesterday morning to see a man lying near Her Majesty's Theatre. The man had been dead for from two to four hours, and his clothing was disarranged. The right pocket of the trousers was ripped out, and there were marks on the neck (such >as those described 'by the last witness), which he attributed to violence, but no blood was noticeable. Witness was present when the post mortem examination was made and concurred in Dr. Fyffe's evidence. Constable Moore, who was on duty in Courtenay Place on Sundey morning, stated that about 2.30 he discovered the body of a man lying in the urinal near His Majesty's Theatre. He described the condition of the man's clotihing, and said that the body was cold. Witness made his usual rounds of Ccnwtenay Place on Saturday evening, and had not observed tihe man previous to 'finding him dead, neither had he noticed anyone about His Majesty's Theatre after the regular employees left at about 11 p.m. On tihe application of the police, an adjournment of the inquest was granted till Monday, in order tihat evidence of identification might be obtained.