SUDDEN DEATH in WELLESLEYSTREET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7646, 25 May 1886, Page 5

SUDDEN DEATH in WELLESLEYSTREET.

An inquest was held yesterday afternoon at the Albion Hotel, before Dr. Philson, Coroner, and a jury of six, Mr. A. Wright being foreman, on the body of Harriet Siegel, alias Podosta, a woman of the unfortunate class, who died early yesterday morning in a house of fame in Wellesleystreet West. Ellen Briinuer deposed to being the proprietress of the house referred to. Deceased was a married woman, and had lived in Franklin Road, her husband being John Siegel, a bushman, who had separatod from her. She came to the house of witness at five o'clock on Sunday evening, and, though she was then in a very weak state, she did not bear any sign of drink. Witness gave her something to eat, and she also drank about a teaspoouful of brandy. Deceased had been sitting in the kitchen from the timo of her arrival in the house until about midnight, when witness took her to a couch in the front room, and then went to bed. She and deceased slept in the same room, and between three and four o'clock witness was awakened by a noise from the throat of deceased, and went to her assistance, but on speaking to her received no answer. Thinking that the deceased was asleep, witness again went to bed, but the noise still continued, and when it ceased, about a quarter of an hour afterwards, she again got up, and found that deceased was dead. Witness then went out and informed Constable Bernard of what had occurred, and the constable proceeded to the residence of Dr. Hooper, who was immediately in attendance. Witness did not call any of the other inmates of the house until she found that the woman was dead. To the foreman : Deceased was in a very weak state, and had to be carried from the kitchen to the front room. She did not complain in any way. Ellen Ryan deposed to residing in the house of last witness, and seeing deceased there on Sunday evening. Deceased seemed in a very weak state, and while in the kitchen fell from tho chair on which she was sitting into the fender. Witness picked up deceased, who was then wandering in her mind. ' Witness saw nothing further of deceased till early the next morning, when she was called by the first witness. Deceased was then in the kitchen, and was not dead, but was evidently in a dying condition. She and last witness carried the deceased into the front room, and witness then went to bed, and on again rising found that she had died. No violence had been used towards deceased. In answer to the Coroner the first witness explained the discrepancy between her statement and that of the woman Ryan by the remark that the latter could not have known the actual time at whioh she had been called. Constable Bernard gave evidence as to going to the house of the first witness and finding deceased dead, when ho went tothe residence of Dr. Hooper, and called that gentleman. Deceased was of intemperate habits. The remainder of Constable Bernard's evidence was mainly corroborative of that already adduced. Dr. Hooper deposed to being called early yesterday morning to visit deceased, when he found that life had apparently been extinct two or three hours. There were no marks of violence upon the body, nor was there any smell of alcohol observable. Witness had made a post mortem examination upon the body, when be found that the heart was abnormally fatty, while the liver was very much congested. The various other organs were in a healthy condition, except that the brain was softer than ordinary, and that the ventricles were fall of serous fluid. In his opinion death had resulted from an epileptic fit. The jury returned a verdict of " Death from an epileptic fit, caused through intemperance. "