MURDER THEORY DISCOUNTED

Northern Advocate, 6 February 1928, Page 9

MURDER THEORY DISCOUNTED

INQUEST ON C. J. MAHAN:

FURTHER INQUIRIES TO BE MADE j '

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. ®ie inquest, bn the body of Charles ' .Tames ;Mahan, found in the harbour, opened on Saturday afternoon, and. was’ adjourned sine die to enable the police, to make further inquiries. The suggestion that there had ;bccn foul play is largely discounted by the fact that a closer examination of tho body is said to have revealed that none of the injuries Was sufficient to .cause death. They axe bad flesh wounds, but the skull is not fractured. It is 'even, suggested that the wounds have been caused by fish, as a shoal of dog. fish was round the body wnen it Was recovered. It is, however, rare, though- not an unknown occurrence, for the body of a person yvhose death has been by drowning to float. —Press Assn. :

SEMI-OFFICIAL STATEMENT.

DEATH DUE TO DROWNING.

CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. .

It is semi-officially stated that the result of the post mortem reveals that the death of Charles James Mahan, at Lyttelton, was due to drowning, not to Wounds on the head. No further evidence has yet been secured as to the man's last movements.*—press Assn.