DOCTORS PUZZLED

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 4591, 17 May 1922, Page 2

DOCTORS PUZZLED

MYSTERIOUS DEATH ON A SHIP. (Per Press Association.) Christchurch, May 16. An inquest into tho death of Charles Clark, aged 32, a fireman on tho Whangape, who d’ed in the Christchurch Hospital on Sunday, was opened before the Coroner, Mr Widclowson, S.M., to-day. Dr C. J. Campbell, senior house surgeon of the Christchurch Hospital, said deceased was admitted to the hospital in a semi-conscious condition. He detailed that an examination failed to give any clue to his exact complaint. His condition did not alter, and the doctors were at a loss to decide what was wrong with him.. It occurred to witness that he might have been drugged. Tlie only treatment given him was for his bowels. Ho died early on Sunday morning. Dr Reay, house surgeon, corroborated the evidence of the previous witness. Tho condition of deceased, he said, was consistent with drugging. William Munday a fireman on the steamer Kaikoura, said deceased was a single man. He was a. returned soldier and had been gassed. Since his return he had not been in good health. As the postmortem examination had failed to show the cause of death, a microscopical examination of the brain will be made. Tlie inquest was accordingly adjourned.