THE FATAL ACCIDENT IN EASTSTREET: CORONER'S INQUEST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIX, Issue 6564, 30 November 1882, Page 6

THE FATAL ACCIDENT IN EASTSTREET: CORONER'S INQUEST.

A Coronek'.s inquisition into the circumstances conuected with the death of Hugh Aitkcu Hamilton was held yesterday forenoon in the York Hotel, before Dr. Philsen, Coroner, and a jury, of whom Mr. John C. i Wilkes was chosen foreman. The jury and Coroner proceeded to the residence of the deceased and viewed the body, after which the followiug evidence was taken :—The first witness called was Mrs. Hamilton, the wife of the deceased, who was in a very weak j state, and had to be supported into the room by her brother aud sister. She deposed that her husband was a storeman in tne employ iof Archibald Clark aud Sons. His age was 31 years. The deceased on Monday night was oat at the yearly meeeting of the Orange Lodge for the selection of otlicers at the Newton Hall. He left home about ten minues to seven o'clock, in his usual health, except that he complained of cramp in his stomach during die day. She did not see him again until between one and two in the morning, when he came home. Witness was iu bed, and hail a kerosene lamp burning in the room on account of her baby being ill. He did not come into the room, but she asked him not to remove the lamp, as siie herself was uuwell, and the baby (two mouths old) was very ill. She iiad not seen her husband at that time, but he was in the habit of taking the lamp when he came iu late. She thought he spoke, but could not be positive, for directly after she heard a noise as of a heavy fall, which caused a vibration through the house. She got up immediately and went to the room, and found iiim lying on the floor, making efforts to get up. He got up, but immediately fell again. She weut to the bedioom for a light, aud by this time he had managed to get up the second time, an 1 came groping through the passage towards her. She put the light down, and tried to steady him, aud it was then he spoke to her for the first time. He said. '"1 have cut my head on the edge of the bed, and the blood is tlowing so fast that 1 feel quite weak." The bedstead is an iron one. Deceased continued to speak, and said "If you would please to take me to another room. lam bound to let my missus know to-night." He did not know wituess then, but siie helped him back from the passage into his own room, and laid him on the bed. lie never spoke again, aud was unconscious from that time up to the time of his death. She washed the blood from his head with a sponge. He was bleeding from a hirge wound on the right temple. He h"g.iu to vemit after she laid him on the bed. She caught the vomit in a basin, and it smelled very strong. She thought it was beer. He vomited twice after this, but very little. He lay on his back, and went into a state of stupor, breathing very heavily. She continued battling his head until between four and five o'clock. He was not convulsed, but on one occasion he got quite black in the face. She spoke to him several times, but he gave m> answer. She had nobody in the house with her but the children, aud she then went next door and woke her mother and sister, as she was netting alarmed. Her sister-in law (Mrs. Robert Nelson) came in. ' octor Walker, for whom a messenger was sent, came between six and .seven o'clock, and just as he arrived witness became unconscious, and tier sister-in-law waited upon the doctor. When witness reeoveied consciousness, between eight and nine a<kcd hei sister-in-law how deceased Was. but she gave an evasive answer. He was not then dead. She heard no more until she was tok.l lie was dead, between nine ami ten o'clock. Deceased had been addicted to drink for the last two years, aud she believed he was not sober when he came home on Monday night. He was a very healthy man, and was never away from his business. — Dr. Henry Walker deposed that he found a triangular wound on the right temple, near the frontal bone. On exaxamiuing the wound he found a fracture of the skull, and that a bit of bone projected iu the bottom of the wound, and as it felt loose he took it out with the forceps. The bone was about half-an-inch long and a quarter of an inch wide, and was the whole thickness of the skull. On further examining the head he found an incised wound, an inch long at the back of the head. He came to the conclusion that the wound was caused by a fall against the bedstead. He had tried to trace the blood from the steps, but could find none. A fall agains" the bed would be sufficient to produce the wound, and the fracture, but he failed to account for the wound at the back of the head. There was a great deal of blood about the room and the bed, also along the passage leading to the front bed-room where Mrs. Hamilton slept. Seeiug the case was a serious one, and thinking a consultation with another medical man desirable he scut for Dr. Dawson who arrived about twenty minutes past eight, and agreed witn witness that it was almost a hopeless case, but they stuffed the wound afresh, and put a bandage on firmly. He gradually sank. The cause of death was fracture of the skull and injury to the brain caused by a fall against a hard substance. There was a smell of drink perceptible in the breath of deceased, but it was not very strong or -narked. Had he seen him at the time i " the injury he could not have done i "thing for deceased, as the fracture was s< eat. The fracture was at the junction o. 'he right paraetal and frontal bones. — Mr. D. ton gave evidence to the effect that he parted from deceased at half-past ten o'clock at the door of the lodge-room, and he was then perfectly sober.—Mr. Davidson, proprietor of the York Hotel, deposed that deceased came into the hotel at half-pa-t eleven. He was then sober. He remained for about seven minutes, but had no drink.—The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental Death.''