HAMILTON MYSTERY.

New Zealand Herald, 23 May 1921, Page 6

HAMILTON MYSTERY.

INQUEST ON EXHUMED BODY. EVIDENCE BY MANY DOCTORS 'ALTERNATIVE POSSIBILITIES. THEORIES AS TO'POISONING. Tut telegraph.—own correspondent.] HAMILTON, Saturday. The reopened inquest into the circumstances of the death of Mr. C. R. Smallfield at Hamilton on January 26 was resumed before Mr. H. A. Young, S.M., to-day. Mr. H. H. Ostler, instructed by Mr, J. Wyndham" Hopkins, appeared for tho relatives, Mr. T. Neave, of Wellington, for tho National Mutual Life Assurance Company, and with him Mr. H. T. Gillies, who also appeared for the Government Life Department. Senior-Ser-geant Matthew appeared for the police. Dr. C. M. Munro, of Wellington, Government pathologist, was recalled. In reply to Mr. Ostler, he said he did not .take a sample of tho fluid from the coffin for analysis, nor any of the earth immediately around the coffin. In reply to Mr. Neave, witness said he was constantly engaged in post-mortem work. He had never known a post mortem to be effected by two incisions such as Dr. Penfold had made. The incision in the thorax did not permit of an adequate examination of the heart. The strong development of deceased's abdominal muscles -suggested a sound heart. Having beard the evidence given by the young men familiar w'ith deceased he would say deceased's heart was not in aaiy embarrassed shape at tho time they described. The "correct way to determine the size and normality of the heart was by weighing it. He knew the amount of poison in the body, and considered! it sufficient to cause dep-tii. Mr. Neave: What was the cause of death? .Mr. Ostler objected on the ground that that was the question tho coroner had to answer. Mr. Neave said the witness could assume that death was not due to drowning. Death Attributed to Carbolic Acid. Witness said it was theoretically possible that there was another cause of death. If there weire no other fact on ■ which to base his theory he was driven : to the conclusion that carbolic acid was the cause of death. An examination of the urine soon after deatb would have disclosed the ■presence of carbolic acid. Such an examination should have, been made by the man who made the'post mortem. It was not wise to venture an opinion as to the cause of death without an examination of the urine. If Dr. Pinfold's theory of heart failure was correct, he would have expected Dr. Pinfold to find blood" in the right side of the heart. Witness would say that deceased was apparently of sound mind. He knew of no case where a young man of sound mind, had committed suicide on purpose *o leave his widow the insurance money. Assuming that another man was interested in the, wife and the insurance money it was improbable that be would -administer poison to the deceased without-..his know-, ledge. ; Witness could not conceive of ■ suoii a thing. ' ,r - - ' 7: He. Maelaurin, recalled by the coroner, said the smell of carbolic was noticeable ■f to some people and not to others. The doctors .might have noticed tho smell in the brain, but possibly ( not from the stomach, though one would expect jt after four days. He could think of no form in wbich carbolic acid could be. tered without a person's knowledge. .It mjgbt bV possible by masking the; flavour; in some other liquid. Carbolic might act as an anaesthetic. He could think of no case Of murder by carbolic acid. He had never heard of a man committing suicide on purpose to leave the insurance money tc.aryoung widow. If witness had wanted to murder deceased with carbolic acid he could not say how he would haVe gone about' it.; It would be possible to disguise , carbolic, but he had no knowledge of it having been attempted. '■ Tt be given in tabloids flavoured with, something else. He did not think it could be administered in sufficient quantity;.to; cause deathV ■•-. ' :.-,.•■"' ' '>'"■„. Effects of .Doses. ~-.. ,Dr.. E. W. Giesen, of Wellington, said in. bis opinion there was no justification for a person saying that death was due to heart failure when he bad not examined the brain, the urine, the kidney, and the intestines, Pr. Penfold's conclusion of heart failure was unwarranted before he had precluded other possibilities. Witness bad beard Dr. Maclaurirt's evidence .. and seen his report. With, that .before bim and with the possibility of drowning excluded he. would be' compelled' to T "come to the conclusion that-.tbe-'poison ■wasth.e cause of death,' He bad beard of deceaued's behaviour on the, afternoon of , his disappearance, and did not think be took jjhe poison on the river bank. If a... man took a big dose of carbolic acid he did not die from', poisoning but from shock. A large dose would have been found in deceased's stomach, not in bis kidneys. The inference was that the poison was taken at some time or times previously. Death could have resulted from the: cumulative effects of several doses. It could be taken in a form that, would not entail discomfort. The two attacks previously were, similar to the Sunday attack, and this made [Witness come to the conclusion that deceased was within -an ace .of dissolution /then, and made witness think the poison, was taken before Sunday. Some of the poison would be naturally excreted,; but the destructive effects of tho poison passing through the body would remain, but not indefinitely. Effect of Poison on Health. If a person recovered completely there would bo no signs of him having taken it. A man might take a dose, recover, and be quite well until he took a further dose. If the. second dose was taken soon after the first the effects of the first would not have departed, and the second dose would affect him more. A non-fatal dose might be repeated and become fatal if a man took repeated doses. The physical phenomena on tho Sunday, and Monday would be a natural consequence. ' Supposing that ur> to the first attack de- . ceased bad been in good health theh'eart failure would make him perturbed, and one would expect him to get medical ad- - vice. '—. To Mr. Ostler, witness said that if the heart was found emptv of blood it was consistent with the opinion of Dr. Pentold that death was due to shock When one clear cause of death was found art examiner might" not proceed further. He would suggest that if the man took carbohc and if it caused his death, ho must have token it prior $© Sunday. Witness Mali thought carbolic acid poisoning waa the cause of death Deceased must have taken the poison sufficiently diluted not to burn him. He would have had to take Mmething under 5 per cent. It was q „He likely that deceased took over 20 doses. The happenings on the Sunday and Monday were consistent with the man having taken poison previously. He did not say they were not heart attacks. He believed the poison injuriously affected all his organs, and in time of stress one of. nil organs felt it most in this,case bis heart. In other words the heart attack may bavo been caused by previously small dose 3of poison. That 7 was bis opinion. To the Coroner: There had been coses of unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide - and efforts made to repeat it. However' he had never beard of a man setting Qu fc to kill himself by taking small doges at different .times. He was consulting {officer .'•':' to the National. Mutual Life Assurance Comp»ny. also other companies. jr Q did not kiiQWiWiy when the insurance com, pames-were given 16 boura' notice of the post-mortem they were not represented afc x 1 Neave said it waa not the custom of ■■'. hisicompany _tp be represented at the ■■;.;■ |>oßt-niorletii> It wag only the apparent

incompleteness of the post-mortem, and the knowledge that death was not due to drowning that caused the inquiry to be reopened. Witness said that when passed for insurance deceased had perfect heart, lungs, and other organs. This was about 12 months ago. ' To the Coroner: A man could be murdered with carbolic acid, but it would be most unlikely. Carbolic acid would be hard to mask. The colour of the wine woidd make a man curious. One could commit suicide with small doses of any poison except prussic acid. If the carbolic acid could be masked 'it might be possible to murder a man. The coroner said it was more likely that a man would murder deceased with a view perhaps to marrying his widow and getting the insurance money than that at' young, healthy man should commit suicide. Witness agreed that this might be so, as the carbolic acid might not be traced" after some time. Witness knew of no reason why liquor should not take away the taste of carbolic acid. He had not tried masking it in that way. In water the flavour of carbolic acid was most persistent. Deceased might have had small doses given to him in the same way it was suggested he took himself. Witntss did not think it likely that a man in sound mind and good health would set out to insure himself for £15,000, and then commit suicide to benefit his wife. Death Consistent with Heart Failure. Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, of Auckland, said he bad heard the evidence as to facts,_ but in his opinion, they were not consistent with deatnv by carbolic acid poisoning, but were consistent with death by heart failure. The cause of the Sunday incident, in bis opinion, was. that the man who had not previous training fainted while making the strenuous ,e£Eort to cross the river. That was a probable and sound medical opinion based upon the evidence. The fainting fit was not consistent with his having taken one or more doses of carbolic acid. Regarding the Tuesday incident, witness thought it was an early stage of the same fit that deceased had on the Sunday. The symptoms he showed them, taken with the evidence of his state cf health on that day, were inconsistent with the theory that it was caused by repeated doses of carbolic acid. Regarding the Wednesday attack it was impossible for him to have died from a dose taken immediately before he dived into the water, in view of Chapman's evidence that deceased was never out of his sight. He did not think deceased's death was consistent with his having taken a single dose 35 minutes before. Half-an-hour after taking sucb a dose he could not have jumped fences and walked to the river. Regarding the theory of repeated >doses taken over several days witness thought it impossible for such to have occurred. He based this on the absence of all symptoms of illness except those possibly advanced in connection with the" faultness, which he did not lay much stress upon. The death of deceased was consistent with heart failure, due to shock, using the term in a wide sense, including exertion. It was a fairly common cause of death. The heat of his body would have, a predisposing effect. The emptiness of the heart was not consistent with carbolic acid poisoning. It was consistent _witfi heart failure from shock. Regarding the lungs, the condition as observed by Drs. Penfold and Garland was not consistent with car. bojic acid poisoning. He thought Dr. Giesen was theorising as to the appearance of the liver, because, he had not jufficient authorities to support liim. If carbolic acid had been present in as large a quantity as suggested, the weight of authority. ,wa<? that it was difficult to miss the smell of the carbolic. If be wanted to commit suicide by degrees, as suggested, he might find it difficult to know bow much he should take. No authorities could have given deceased such information, . - . , Shock Lid used by Exertion. To Mr. Neave: Shock was the probable cause of the. heart failure. He would expect the shock to be induced during or after .the exertion. Both were possible. With .poison, plus, violent exertion, the chances of< cardiac failure were doubly increased. The action of a heart affected by poison might be accelerated by exertion.* He agreed with Dr. Giesen that there had been shock. The previous good health, and muscular activity were not opposed to his theory of heart failure, because it might require some unusual exertion to bring about the heart failure. If determined on poison, rand finding one dose not enough, deceased might have taken several more. The absence of water in the lungs was consistent with carbolic acid poisoning if the man got into the water after he ceased to breathe. In his opinion the man was dead before he reached the water. To Mr. Gillies: The thinness of the walls was of 'more imporisnee than the~ •size of the heart in determining its strength. He thought the staining of the mouth would disappear after the body had been in the water four days, if a 5-pep cent., solution had been used. If the stain had been due to a 5 jer cent, solution he thought it might: have been missed'by" Drs. Penfold andi H Garland. He could show no authority that there would be a difference between the stain from s, five or 20 per cent, solution. - Re-examined by Mr. Ostler: It was medically possible that deceased could suddenly, collapse without any prior distress. T° *be Coroner:' The walls of the heart, if thin two years before, might not have been discovered by .doctors examining him for insurance. Witness did not think a person could give carboUc acid without it being noticed, owing to the numbing feeling it gave. With one per cent, the taste could not be dominated by anything else. He did not think that 5 per cent, doses accumulated, given without detection, would kill a man, as they would be got rid of too quickly.\; The inquiry was adjourned at 10.45 p.m. until 10 a.m. on Monday.