The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1869. CORONER'S INQUEST.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 19, 23 January 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1869. CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquest was held at the Royal Hotel at 2 o'clock this day, before Dr Squires, the Coroner for the district. touching the death of Joseph Porthouse, who committed suicide on the day previous. ' The jujy having viewed the body, the following witnesses were^examined : — Charles Edward Cotterell deposed : I ! am a duly qualified medical practitioner. I know the deceased, and had been attending him professionally for about a fortnight. He was suflering from the effects of drink. He came to my house j first of all. I found him very weak and depressed. I gave him some medicine, I and he improved. I suggested a change, bat his wife thought that she could attend to him better than any one else, as he had become quite abstemious.. Ou Thursday ni»ht his wife sent for me, and said that he felt much better, but could not get any sleep. I ordered him aa opiate. He took it aud he slept very well all night. He sent the boy up in the moruiug for some more tonic. This was between 10 and 12. Shortly after the boy came up for me to go down immediately, as he was afraid Mr Porthouse was dead. I came down at once. I found the body on the floor, with the face iv a basin which was partially filled with blood. The floor also was covered with blood. I did not interfere with the body until tha policeman came. Deceased had only a shirt on, I turned him on his back. I found an incised wound on the left side of his neck, very deep, and about five inches and three quarters in leugth, extending from the back of the ear to the chin. Tue hands were underneath his belly, slightly bent above the pubis. We found the razor in some blood near where his hands were lying. My opinion is that death resulted from a self-inflicted wound by a razor on his throat. I never noticed any tendency in deceased to make away with himself, bat from the nature of his illness I ordered all sharp instruments to be kept out of his reach, as the sight of an instrument might lead him to do it without premeditation. By the Jury : I do not know that he had any mental depression other than that arising from having taken more than was good for him. He had been dead about an hour when I saw him. Jane Porthouse deposed : Deceased was my husbaud, and has been affected for some time. I saw him last alive -about 20 minutes past 1 1 . Thaton Thursday night, he was ao ill that I got a man to sit up with him, and he slept in auother room — not the one he generally slept iv. He was light in the head, and told me that he was going to die, and wished me to send for one of the Pratts. I did not as I had often seen him wcse. After taking the opiate he sbpt from 1 o'clock to 7. My husband has been fretting a great deal lately, on account of business having been so bad. I Dever saw anything in him to lead me to suppose that he ever contemplated suicide. I had hid his rstzors and kept them down stairs, until last Tuesday, when be asked me for them as he wished to cut his corns. They were put in a drawer under the children's bed; but yesterday the drawer was taken from under the bed and placed oq it. I put the razors away some months ago. as he had often said he heard the childf en

talking* and I was afraid he might do them some harm. Charles Hart deposed: lam bar boy at the Royal Hotel. I'esterday morning about 11 o'clock Mrs Porthouse sent me to Dr CofcterelPs for more medicine. She told me to tell him that Mr Porthouse had taken two doses of the opiate, and had had a good night. About 12 o'clock Mrs Porthouse told me to get the ladder and go into the room and open the door. I did so. I looked in, the window being open. I did not see him in the room. The servant said he was there. I went in and saw him on the floor, at the foot of the bed, with his face in the wash-hand basbu, I opened the door and let Mrs Porthouse and Mary in. The jury immediately returned a verdict that the deceased committed suicide whilst suffering from temporary iusanity.