ONEHUNGA.-CORONER'S INQUEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 553, 21 August 1865, Page 5

ONEHUNGA.-CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquest was held on Saturday at tho Court House Hotel, Onelutnga, before Dr. Pi ilson, on tho body of ail immature child, which mi. found on the surface of the ground in St. Peter's Churchyard Onehunga, on Friday the 18th in-tant. ' A jury having been sworn, tho following evidences respecting the ea-e was elicited. It. J. Kroadloot, said I ;nn a stepson of George Broa lfoot_ residing at Onehunga. Yesterday morning about 9 o clock * was on my way to school, and on passing through the Churchyard in this town, I saw a bundle on the grass near tho pathway having the ap earance of Wood on it. J turned it over with mv loot and saw what I thought to be a young rabbit. I e.lled aby name I (borge Brackwaite to see it, and he i aid it was a young baby. The body was lyinrr about 10 yards irom the main , atli, and was not lOM'ied with eaith. We called sortie wom»n from thestieet to look at I lie body, and when they had seen it [ Mr. Moore the schoolmaster of St Peter's to come and look at it. Ue did so, and I afterwards went into school. The bundle was laying on the grass when I left. 1 have seen the body'this morni"g and lecognized it as the samo as tho ono 1 saw y eater lay. (. oipural liiutio of tho An khmd A mnd Forcestali'HitiiJ at ( )nrhiiiii*;L taid I re< eivedinfornrition yes tenhiy morning about 0 o'eloek from Mr. U. J. Mooro that a dead hody Was 1 vin tx on tho green in. St. I etei s cliurchyai'd. X went to tho spot- immediately, in company with Polieo-eonsttble Lloyd, and f.'imd a dead body covered with linen-rag, stained with blood, I then called J_)r. \\ eekos, who lives close by. who came and examined the body. He paid it was the body ot a. female child Tho body wag in a putrid state- I covered tho body with some eattli, and repo'ted the ease to the coroner. X also reported it to Cilptuiu Swnond.s, the resident magistrate. I removed the hody to-day to where it now^lies. Tho have been nnuble to trace tho mother of the child Henry "Weekes, on being sworn, said: I :ira a member of the Koyal Colh'ge of {Surgeons, practising in Onehuiitra. \ esterday morning I wad called by Corporal Ilustie to examine the body of a child in the Church of hngland graveyard. X went, and first saw a piece of nJuhvl on the grass stained with blood. <»n examiniug tho rag X saw the bodv of a female child. T should say it was a foetus of a livemonths' child. The skin of the body was peeling otl*. I measured the body and found it to be inches long. A pie -e of string appeared to bo attached to it in a clumsy manner. There wero no marks of violence on the body. I made a post mortem examina tion of tho body to-day, and found that the child had not breathed. 1 found tho lungs condensed. Air had never entered them. They Bank in water. If it had been born alive it could not have lived. I have no knowledge of the mother of the child. Arthur <t. Purchas said: I am a clergyman of tho Church of i nglumi, and a member of the Koyal College of Surgeons, residing in Onehunga. Yesterday morning X was called by Corporal Ila*tie to view tho dead body of an infant that ha t been deposited in tho graveyard. On seeing the body I immediately identified it as that of an immature child of a woman whom i had attended in labour, on Saturday, August the sth. The eluld was born on Sunday, August the (ith. after a >overc labour. The woman, who-e name is Caroline Goldsmith, alias lloMship, lived near the springs, in a house belonging to Mr. Geo. Hutchison. I tied the nave! string with a piece of linen or cotton thread at a distance of a!> >ut three inches from the body, i am certain the eluld was the same as the one foun i yesterday in th graveyard. I have not tho slightest doubt of the fact. X concluded that the ago of the fu't us was about six months. I understand that the mother of th-> child has left Onehunga, find I don't know where tdie has gone. I visited the wmn in once after the binh of the child. X did not se v he chil i on this occasion, nor do X know what wa.- ' mic with it. Tno Jury. after a short consultation, returned the following vrdict : —" } hat the s*id f male infant was still-born of Caroline Goldsmith, alias U'oldship, on "Mindiv, •»Uij 'itii, at ' : neliunga, but the mother not beieu !l>rthc f »ming at the iu and there beins; no evidence as t'» the depositing of the holy in the churchyard, the Jury are of opinion that further involution by the Resident Magistrate is necessary."