A PAINFUL CASE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 323, 7 May 1875, Page 3

A PAINFUL CASE.

A sadder' affair than that which was the subject of investigation by a Coroner's jury at the commencement of the week at the Hospital, can scarcely be imagined : •

"The bodies of husband and wife, lie side by side in .the. Hospital morgue, death haying been occasioned, it is alleged, by excessive drinking in the one case, and by brutal assault in the other. According to the : evidence taken on Saturday, three persons, Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey, as passengers from-Liverpool,''' arid a man named Crossan, .as an ordinary seamen, came to New Zealand in the ship Brechin "Castle. After the husband and wife had been in Wellington for some time, the former met Crossan; and invited him.' to his house to see his wife. Soon afterwards Mr. and Mrs. Jeffrey came to Dunedin, and Crossan accepted a further invitation to reside with them for a time at Canterbury Cottage, George-street. There it seems there was a good deal of drinking, and one day, while Mr. Jeffrey and Crossan were under the influence of drink, the latter lay down in front of Mrs. Jeffrey's bed. She was disgusted, and wanted Crossan to leave the house, but he refused to do so, I struck her several times on the face, and attempted to strike her husband. On her knees she begged him not to do that. Crcssan then knocked her down, and jumped on her stomach. She fainted, and; wanted a doctor, but Crossan, flourishing 1 a carving-knife, threatened to use it if a doctor came. She asked her husband to go for two or three policemen, but being afraid of Crossan, and a miserable coward —as she afterwards told her medical attendant, he was—he refused. Ultimately, Crossan left Canterbury Cottage, but not before .robbing Jeffrey of £2O and. a gold watch. Jeffrey stated that he was the son of a man worth £150,000; that when his mother died he would be worth £39,000 ; and according to the statement of Mrs. Jeffrey, he had an income of-£6OO a year, £3OO of which he had settled upon her. "When the police went to Canterbury Cottage for the purpose of taking the dying depositions of Mrs. Jeffrey, it was found' in a filthy state, with a strong smell of drink. Dr. Bakewell, in his evidence, said he was satisfied that Mrs. Jeffrey died from enteritis, or inflammation of the bowels, no doubt caused by the injuries she stated she had received. Those injuries would account for her death, and there was no other plausible reason that could be assigned. No amount of drink would cause enteritis of the nature she suffered from. Dr. Murphy also, who assisted Dr. Bakewell in making the postmortem examination, agreed with him that death was caused by them. The enteritis might have been caused by exposure to cold, by excessive drinking (and he did consider that Mrs. Jeffrey had been a hard, drinker), or by blood-poisoning. Crossan s manner at the inquiry on Saturday betrayed a very depressed state of mind, and there were unmistakeable symptoms of contrition. -

A Wellington telegram in the ' Guardian ' says : —The Jeffreys who recently died in Dunedin were well known in Wellington. They arrived here by the Brechin Castle about two years ago, and .left for Dunedin only a few weeks ago. Jeffrey was at one time in the Customs employ here, and afterwards was a servant of Mr. Pearce. He was respectably connected, and had a comfortable income from Home. His family are shipowners in Liverpool, and Jeffrey is believed to have been an assumed name, his real name being Lockhart. Mrs. Jeffrey had been a music hall singer, or something of the kind, and it was in consequence of his marriage that he emigrated. Both were of intemperate habits while here. Crossan, who caused Mrs. Jeffrey's death, was a sailor in the Brechin Castle, and returned here some months ago. He then took up his abode with Jeffrey, with whom he lived for at least four months. The three used to drink very heavily together. • When the Jeffreys moved to Dunedin they paid Grossan's passage thither. The verdict of the Jury on the conclusion of the inquiry on Monday evening, was to the effect that Mrs. Jeffrey died

from inflammation of the bowels, caused by injuries received, but how or by whom such injuries were inflicted there was not sutßcisnt eviderice-t(i show. The prisoner whs tlien removed to the Gaol. He is now on remand, pending the disposal of the charge against hirti of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.