THE RECENT STABBING CASE.— CORNER'S INQUEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4489, 3 April 1876, Page 3

THE RECENT STABBING CASE.— CORNER'S INQUEST.

&. Coroner's'inquest was held upon the sody of James Williamson, who was stabbed >n the 2Sth of February, by Antonio Marco, it Onehunga,. on Saturday afternoon, before 3r.; Goldsbro' (Coroner.) i The'- Coroner's held in the sitting-roomof-the )ld Men's Refuge. Sub-Inspector Pardy :onducted the enquiry. The prisoner was lot present, he baring been committed to rial at the Supreme Court.- A jury of-six-een gentlemen, was . empannelled. Mr. brands Cherry was chosen foreman; and the ury having viewed the body, the following iridence was taken : —John Locke deposed,: . am a seaman, belonging to the steamei jadybird. I knew the deceased James Wil iamson, and have seen his body this day, al he dead-house. He' was formerly firemai in, board' the Ladybird. I saw him on v th< ivening of the2i>th of February last, at One mnga. I met him. on the wharfat about ; quarter to 8, o'clock in the evening. W< entered into conversation, and walked to vards the Manukau Hotel together. Oi .rriving in front of the hotel, we botl topped to speak to" the coachman. We di< tot go into the hotel, but could see into th >ar from where we were standing. I saw : oreigner named Antonio Marco there, lad seen him .that day previously, oi >oard~the Ladybird. That was hov '. knew him. I had heard him saj le had shipped as fireman on board thi jadybird. There was a man with him ai he time, whose name I have since found ii .Villiam Kelly. When standing at the bar loor, I said to Williamson, " There is one o he men who has shipped with us to-day,' neaning Antonio Marco. Marco could not '. think, have heard what I said. About tw< ninutes, afterwards Marco and Kelly cam< lut of the bar and walked up Queen-stree awards the Onehunga township. Wh'er hey passed us, ho remark was made by u; ir by them. They walked up Queen-streei ibout fifteen yards, and then deceased askec neto go up to the Hibernia Hotel, when le was lodging. That was in the same direc ion as the other two men had gone. W( lad gone about fifteen yards from the Manr. :au Hotel, when we saw these two men re mrning to the hotel, and consequently w< net them. Williamson was on the left sid< if the street and I was on the right Nothing had been said by myself to deceasec vith reference to these.men. When wi net, deceased was on the same side of the itreet as Marco, and I was on the side, of th< itreet Kelly was walking on. I was aboul ;wo steps in advance* of the deceased. Or neeting these two nien, deceased said, "Yoi ire one of them." Ido not know which one h( neant. On hearing this remark, I turned ■ouhd towards them. They were about twe eet apart. I saw Marco rush at the deceased Williamson) and strikehim. They struck one )low each. I could not say who struck first! Chey both had their hands up, but ion stood with his hands up, and Marco rar it him. Deceased appeared as if about tc itrike Marco. As the blows were itruck, Marco turned round and something away which struck Mclntyre'i jlacksmith's shop,, and he then ran awaj towards the end of Mclntyre's shop., fWher aewas running away, some one pursued, anc ae ! turned back and shouted out that h< liad a revolver, and would shoot six .o: fchem if they came near. He made thi remark because they were trying to captun him. Deceased first sang out, " I havi been struck with'a stone, "and immediately afterwards,. "I have been stabbed." I wen; to his assistance, and observed blood oozim from his left breast, and his hands, whicl were over the wound; were covered witl blood. I saw him as far as the Manukav Hotel, where he was taken into the kitchen There was no other provocation given thai deceasd saj'ing, "You are one of them.' That is all 1 heard, and had anything elsi been said in as loud a tone of voice I shoulc have heard it. I was about four steps fron the deceased when he was stabbed. Then were two other men belonging to the Lady bird—Andrew Kerr and Joseph Welsford— walking up about five yards behind us When I said to deceased about Marco haviu; shipped on the Ladybird, I did not hear hiu say, "Do not speak like that, Jack, or elsi they will hear us." Some of the fireniei were leaving the Ladybird owing to a de crease of wages, and Marco had been ahippec in place of one of them, at a lower rate o wages. The deceased had been simply fillinj the vacancy of a sick man for one trip, am his leaving the Ladybird had nothing to d< with the reduction of wages. Ka'ly seemee to be under the influence of drink at thi time. There was nothing said between mi and the deceased about quarrelling with him. I had no interest in the reduction of wages as I shipped before the mast. Deceased and I were sober.—Dr. Philson, Provincia Surgeon, deposed that the deceased, Jame; Williamson, was brought by the police ti the hospital on Tuesday, February 29th 1576. He stated that he had been stabbe( with a knife in the chest, on the previou night, at Onehunga, by a foreigner namec Antonio Marco. He was in an anxious excited state, aud very weak. His puls< was quick aud small; breathing, shor aud difficult. He complained also o severe pain and. weight in his lef side. A wound was found in th upper and foro part of the left side o the chest. Jt was about an inch and a quar ter long, and had been so stitched as to givi it the appearance of an incised wound! I was ascertained that the top of the left lunj had been wounded, and in'all probability thi left internal mamary artery also . had bees wouuuid, from which a large' quantity o blood was supposed to have been poured ou into the left pleura, producing collapse anc compression of the- left lung: =- In a few day the wound opened up, and it was asCOTtainec that the cartilage-of the left upper rib ha< been divided, and that the left pleura ha( been penetrated. The patient had no cough and did not spit blood. It was feared thadeath would have ensued within the.firsi few. days, but chiefly by the" frequent injec tiou of morphia, much mitigation of sufferin; was obtained. Respiration was carried oi by the right lung only. There was a puru lent discharge through the wound which hac become fistulous.. A condition of hectii fever was set up ; diarrhoea set in; and afte: undergoing various operations for 32 days he expired this morning at 8.40. Thf witness then gave' a description of the post mortem examination, in which the ap pearances were found almost identica with. ■ the diagnosis made during life, The cause of death had been empyema anc hectic fever, the result of the wound of th< left lung.—To Sub-Inspector . Pardy: Th< knife produced would cause such a wound a; that inflicted on the body of the deceased, — William Kelly, a fireman, who was ir company with Antonio Marco on the evening of the 2Sth of February, gave corroborative evidence. Witness said he was the worse foi liquor on the evening the fight took place — To Sub-Inspector Pardy: It is not necessary for firemen to carry, sheath-knives.: Inevei carry -one, except -a- -pocket-knife to - cul tobacco with.—Andrew Kerr, a seaman or ' board the La'dybird, gave evidence" fullj corroborating the first witness.—Arthui , Jackson,' son of J. D. JacksonJ-'of Onehunga, 'deposed to having found l a sheath-knife neai 'Mclntyre^s_,store,,at.about J.43.0n the even ing of the 2Sttifo£ Fern-nary;" ' It was aftei cthe. .diaturbance ;tae:knife)was,ionncVand i 1 :had-,blood ; on it at the:time;;!;The knife was fgivenflby witness'tcJohnnWelsford-TTrJohii Welsford was called,, and stated that he hac (.received,., the- .knife .; produced I last witness, and Had,given.it toConstabli [ Greene,.—Constable'B< Greene gave evidenc<

I, of the arrest - of' Marco upon the L chargrof stabbing Williamson. The prisoner I claimed the knife produced as his property. E Williamson identified Marco as the inan J who had wounded, him. . Prisoner did not make any remark at that time. On the way i to the lock-up, he stated" that the deceased Williamson came up to him, called him the "D ; son of a ——," and" struck him, and that he used the knife in self-defence. Prisoner said he had thrown the knife and sheath away, -Br. called in and dressed Williamson's wound, and on the following day deceased was removed to the hospital- [A copy of tha statement made by the deceased, and which has been already published, was riven in evidence; an affidavit of its being a correct copy having been made by Detective Jeffrey.] This concluded the evidence.—Dr. Goldshro' read an authority, and explained the distinction'between murder and manslaughter, ar.d referred briefly to the facts as recorded in the evidence, and the jury returned a verdict of " wilful murder" against Antonio Marco, who was co nmitted upon'the coroner's warrant to take his trial at the Supreme Court.