"ONLY A SAILOR."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13725, 15 April 1908, Page 8

"ONLY A SAILOR."

BURIED AS AN UNKNOWN.

VICTIM OF HARBOUR COLLISION. An unexpected turn was given to the Wai-runa-Moonah collision inquiry at. the Magistrate's Court yesterday during the evidence of one of the witnesses, George Krause, a seaman of the ketch Moonah. The witness, with considerable warmth, stated that the seaman Holt had not been called at the inquest on the body supposed to be that of the man Smith, to give evidence, although he was prepared to do so. . Mr, Kettle: Was not Holt called? Witness: The Coroner never required his evidence by what I could see. The man was buried like a- dog—an unknown dog. Mr. Kettle: We will send for the Coroner, and see what he says about the matter. * Witness : He was simply buried like a dog. . The company, if they had known, would have given him decent burial. Another thing is that some time ago Smith had his leg broken, but there appears to have been no examination made to see if the leg was broken. Mr. Kettle: It seems an extraordinary thing. One would have thought that every fragment of evidence would have been obtained. Witness: Smith also had tatoo marks on him. He was locked lip several .times for drunkenness. Why could not the police description have been put in for identification purposes? . Mr. Kettle (to Mr. Mays): He says this man was buried unknown. Was he registered as unknown: Mr. Mays: I believe so. Mr, Kettle: Where' was he buried? Witness : Out Waikumete way. He was carried out in a box not fit to carry out the remains of a dog in, let alone the remains of a human being, even if he was only a sailor. At a later stage of the proceedings Sergeant Ramsay appeared, and in response to the Bench's request, entered the witness box and gave particulars regarding the inquest. He described the-tatoo marks he had seen on deceased. On the rightforearm was tatooed the American coat of arms with two flags. Every effort was made by the police to have the body identified before the inquest. Mr. Kettle: How long was the body in the morgue before the inquest was held? Sergeant Ramsay: About nine or 10 hours. The police knew nothing about Holt or Krause till the morning of the inquest. We could not find any of the people belonging to the scow. I looked for Holt, but I could not find him. When the jury were sworn in the two men (Holt and Krause) were there. To the best of my belief neither of them was called as a witness at the inquest. Mr. Kettle : Who had charge of the inquest? % Sergeant Ramsay : I had. Mr. Kettle : Then why didn't you call these men as witnesses?" Sergeant Ramsay: The Coroner ruled otherwise. He said it was not necessary. Mr. Kettle.: Did you ask him to allow you to call them? , ; Sergeant Ramsay: I told him they were there, and he said he would ask them what they knew about it. They made statements, and he did not think them of sufficient importance to write down. He said the evidence was not sufficient to identify Smith. It was stated that Smith had had his leg broken about 18 months ,ago, and Dr.,Moir made a thorough examination of deceased's limbs. He did not make an incision in them. Deceased was buried, and I was told to hand the sovereign found on him and the clothes to the Charitable Aid Boa.rd. Deceased was buried as an unknown person. One of Smith's mates, who had known him fen- 30 years, could not. identify the body by the tatoo marks. Mr. Kettle : It seems a pity that more care was not taken by somebody. It is a pity that this man was buried "as an unknown, although there seems to have been some doubt in the case. . , . Sergeant Ramsay : Everything was done by the police to have the man identified. A lady came afterwards and identified the same clothes as these men identified as those belonging to her husband, who had been missing for about five weeks. This shows how hard it is to identify by cloth- i ing.