MAN POISONED

Greymouth Evening Star, 28 April 1925, Page 5

MAN POISONED

• > TRAGEDY AT NGAHERE, EVIDENCE AT INQUEST. ?■ <■. • : ‘ Xn inquest was held* this aftbinoon touching-' the death at ,the Grey; Hospital. on Spnday, of Alfred, Rennirig. Mr F. H. Kilgour J.P., presided and he had associated with him 4 jury- of four consisting of Messrs ’G. Perptfi, foreman, 0. McLean, J, Keating andH. Kirk; ■ . , f 4 ' h.

Sergeant H. Fryer conducted’.the Inquest,.and Sergeant King, wasalso present. '. • ■;-??? ”?i?' ???.. 8 Henry ..Salisbury ,Rpy"said'l, am.', aduly, registered medical practitioner practising at Blackball. Th® flecdased came tt> me oh April 21 at ,6.45 ei aim. He brought up a". tube , of? 1 fltatAiip ’ t and stated that he had . taken > a "teaspoon full of thfc contents. He -stated that He had vomited immediately ‘ afterwards. He stated that he had taken the pdjs.pn at 3 a.m., and after vomiting had iaken'i.drink of sajVa'nd, water' as an emetic,w T treated him for, the taking'. In'gxf saw him on Saturday,?’A’pril 25 at 3 p.m. , Then he was jaundiced and'in the advanced stages : of. phosphorus poismiing.' I at once cqny.eypd hflft to the hospital. He stated'tliat Jiis wife was away and that he was. drinking a lot. He had arrived home at 3 o’clock one nidrning, and in a depressed state of mind had taken the poison, and.seemed to be sorry afterwards. M '■ >.'?■ ■ ' David Armstrong ,sworn, said: “I am a' storekeeper at Ngahere and a Justice of th© Peace. I knew dhe 'deceased Alfred William Kenning.?‘He lived close to fne. On the morning of the 21st inst. he called to me from the feqce. I went to see what was ■ the matter and he asked me to' go to see him. That was about 6.25 a.m. He said : “I haveMone something I should not have, done. ’’ I went round to-him and on further inquiry. ‘.lie told me that he had taken' some, rat poison. He showed me .the rat poison he had taken and said that he mupt have . taken \a half of it. I told him that lie must get to the doctor at once, and in the ineantime ; I gave him drink of .strong salt water, and h© immediately vomited.' Then I put a coat'on him and had him driven to the doctor

blackball. It t would he about 20 minutes from the time I saw him first to the time that I got him to the doctor. When he came back from the doctor he seemed to be .all right;, and also seemed .ito be pleased tqat- the pbison had not taken’ effect, ■On the following Friday, 24th,. ’he .seeiped •to have taken a’bad turn and complained of a pain in . tlie chest.; He suffered very badly with piles. ,On the/Saturday afternoon I. .sent for the doctor Again. He complained of a burning pain in-the chest? I brought him some milk an dsoda, thinking that he was suffering from. seemed easier after that,' but he looked quite yellow. The doctor came over and took him to the hospital at once. James Francis Cleveland Moore sais —“I, api. a duly qualified medjgal' practitioner practising in Greymouth. Alfred William Kenning was' admitted to the hospital .on . April -. 2$ at 5,40 p.ifi.: | He was from rat poison taken four days previously. He was suffering .from the late symptoms --of phosphorus, poisoning, marked . jaundice, slight enlargement of the liver, symptoms' of abdominal trouble, and his pulse though regular was soft and not uL : good quality. The patient showed nd chaiige in his condition until 2 p.m. on. Supday, 26.,Th?n he took what/looked' like a hea'rt* attack. H,e recovered .from this and his condition became satisfactory. Shortly afterwards he began to develop coma and he. sank rapidly, dying at fiye minutes past four o’clock" in the afternoon. Iff accordance with'instructions I made a post mortem examination on' Monday, April 27. I found the Ireal-t was not enlarged, but the heart muscles showed extensive fatty change. The flueral cavity contained blood. The lungs, were deeply congested and in an early pneumonic condition. The tissues about the base of the. neck were inijltrated with blood. The abdominal cavity contained blood and there were signs of bleeding at the back of the cavity in the region of the great' blood vessels. The liver was -slightly enlarged and .showed * signs- of extensive fatty change. I removed the stomach which contained a large quantity d dark blood. On opening, the. stom.u li and .washing it considerable irritation off the mucous lining was present, and it was'no doubt oozing from this irritating surface that was the source of blood in .the Stomach. The spleen was not enlarged, but was deeply congested and triable. The kidneys were enlarged and showed:, marked, fatty changes. The appearance on the postmortem findings was consistent ypth the answer of hepatic insufficiency supervening on phosphorus poisoning. The cause of death was coma following hepatic insufficiency due -to early atrophy of the liver, which was a late complipation of phosphorus poisoning. To the Jury: His mind was clear He appeared to me that he had maiked tremors. However, a person in coma may have these, but they are. more usually associated with- alcoholism. . Mairuel Freitas said: “I am a saw- ' mill-hand residing on the Arahura Road at Hokitika. I saw the body/ deceased lying at the morgue at’ tno Hospital and identify it as that of my jrutlier-in-law, Alfred William Keniiingi who was a sawmill hand residing at Ngahere. I last saw him alive' at t Greymouth'Races on the 18tn mst. .was-then.in his usual health, and was a married man whose wife was stavin (r at Hokitika on account of her health? ..He has never been subject to heavy drinking as far as 1 know, except that he would have a drink now and again. I do not know of any rea. son why he- should take poison ■ , After' ■:a short retirement,' the jury returned a' verdict m accordance with the medical .testimony, that death was caused -through taking rat poisoning. ’. ■ .