DEATH FROM STARVATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18346, 12 March 1923, Page 9

DEATH FROM STARVATION.

. .«. VAGRANT'S MISERABLE END. NO WORK FOR THREE YEARS. An extraordinary rase of a man who starved to death rather than work to earn a living was revealed at an innuest conducted by Mr. J. W. Poynton, R.M.. coroner, at the city mortuary on Saturday evening. The inquiry concerned the death of James Glenny Maxwell, aged 50 years. The man was found in a very weak condition in a timber yard near the waterfront at mid-day on Friday. He was removed to the Auckland Hospital, but died late the same night. The proceedings on behalf of the police were conducted by Sergeant Fitzgerald, of the Freeman's Bay station. Evidence was given by Charles Goldsworthy, an employee at the timber mill, to the effect that at 11.45 a.m. on Friday he heard groans proceeding from behind a stack of timber, and, on searching, discovered deceased lying in a secluded spot in an unconscious condition. Dr. C. E. Maguire, medical superintendent at the Auckland Hospital, deposed that deceased was brought to the hospital by the police in a very weak condition, and that he gradually sank and died. A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr. Gilmour showed that the body was very emaciated. The man had not apparently suffered from any disease definite enough to have caused death. Death would be caused by acute inanition, due to starvation and exposure. The man, on admission to the hospital, was in an extremely filthy condition. Arthur McElroy, a timber worker, said he had known Maxwell for pome years, and often saw him in the vicinity of the timber yards, where he used to go for sleep at nights. The man had twice been warned to keep away from the place. Witness did not think -Maxwell had done any work for about three years; instead, he used to " cadge " for food. The coroner said that in his capacity as magistrate he recollected having seen deceased on several occasions. He knew the man had served terms of imprisonment for vagrancy, and remembered him as a perfectly hopeless individual who would riot work. If. was a, very sad case. When vagrants of his kind kept quiet it was possible for them to escape much attention as deceased had done to elude the hand of the law for long periods at a time. A verdict was returned in accordance with the medical evidence.