LATE SUDDEN DEATH OF MRS. QUARRIE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 368, 28 June 1877, Page 2

LATE SUDDEN DEATH OF MRS. QUARRIE.

The inquest touching the death of Mrs. Sarah Eleanor Quarrie was resumed at one o'clock to-day, before T. W. Parker, Esq., KM., Coroner, and the jury, whose names have already been published. Sub-Inspector Smith conducted the inquiry ; and Mr. O'Meagher watched the case on behalf of Daniel Quarrie.

Louisa Castle Cleary, doposed : I am mistress of the Oamaru Grammar School. I knew the deceased (Sarah Eleanor Quarrie). I saw her on Thursday last, up to about a quarter to one o'clock in the afternoon. When I went into the house at twelve o'clock to dinner, there was only Mrs. Quarrie and her daughter Mona. Miss Dugan and Mrs. Claridge came in whilst I was there, took their dinners, and went away. George Quarrie came into the dining-room just as I was leaving. I did not see Daniel at all that day. I saw nothing unusual about Mrs. Quarrie ; she spoke as cheerfully as usual. To Mr. O'Meagher : Mrs. Quarrie did not complain to me that day of anything, but she had several times previously of headache. She did not speak much to me on the day of her death, as she was busy about the dinner. To Sub-Inspector Smith : I have known Mrs. Quarrie a year and a half, and she has frequently during that time complained of headaches. Thomas Richmond deposed : I am a publican residing at Waimate. Previous to going to Waimate I resided in Oamaru for eight or nine years. I know Daniel Quarrie. 1 saw him at my place last Friday, at about a quarter-past 9 o'clock in the morning. Tiie first place I saw him was in the passage. He was alone. I said, "Good morning, Dan." He remarked to me, "I killed my mother yesterday." I said to him, •' Are you sure you have not been to bed and dreamt it ?" He said, "No ; I have done it, and I am very sorry for it." He seemed to be shaking, like with the cold, and appeared very excited. I asked if he would have a glass of something to drink. He came to the bar with me, and had, I think, a glass of beer. James Shaw, my barman, was behind the bar serving, and Quarrie and I stood at the bar window. Shaw could have heard everything that was said from the time that Quarrie spoke to me first. While at the bar window, Quarrie told me that he came home to his dinner as usual, and that when he was getting his dinner his mother accused him of staying out the night before, and of his coming home drunk. He and his mother had some words about this and other private business, which he did not mention. He said he got up and pushed his mother, and that his mother lifted a tomahawk, and struck him on the hip. He complained of it being very sore, and that lie could scarcely walk. He said his mother hit him with the tomahawk and knocked him down, and that his brother and sister picked him up. He said that he then picked up a piece of wood and threw it at his mother, but he was not certain whether he hit her or not. He said that a little time afterwards his sister told him that his mother had fallen down in the back yard. He said that he and his brother George carried her into the house, and that when they got her in he thought she was dead, and he sent his brother George for a doctor. He said

that he then left the house and walked all night, and he was going to his uncle's at Timaru; but that he did not know where he was until he got under my lamp, and struck a match and saw my name. He thought he was on the main road to Timaru, but that he had made a mistake, and found he was at my place. He said it was between four or five o'clock when he came there. I asked him how it was that he got in at that time, and he said that one of the waiters was up and showed him to bed. I told him the best thing he could do for himself would be to report the whole thing to the police, if he thought he really had killed his mother. He said he thought he would go back to Oamaru at once. I told him that I thought he should go over to the police and give himself up. I persuaded him to do so several times. He consented at last, and went over to the police office with me. If he had not done so I should have reported the matter to the police myself in justice to the young fellow, as he might have done himself an injury. The first person 1 saw at the police station was a trooper, and I afterwards saw Sergeant O'Niell take Quarrie into the station. To the Foreman : When I first met Quarrie I thought he had been drinking, and that he was shivering from the effects of drink.

To Mr. O'Meagher : He did" not tell me how many blows his mother hit him with the tomahawk. He said it was the blow on the hip which his mother gave him that knocked him down. He said he was very lame. I think he said it was in the kitchen that his mother knocked him down. He said that when he got up he picked up a piece of wood and threw it at his mother, but he did not say what kind of a piece of wood it was. He did not say whether his mother hit him with the back or the edge of the tomahawk. He said he thought he was on the main road to Timaru until lie found himself at Waimate. I did not ask him what was done with the tomahawk after his mother struck him.

James Shaw deposed : I am barman at Mr. Thomas Richmond's hotel at Waimate. I was in the bar on Friday morning last from about 7 o'clock until 12. 1 know Daniel Quarrie ; I have known him for three years. I saw him in the Waimate Hotel on Friday at a little after 9 o'clock. He called me out of the bar, and I went into the passage and met him and Mr. Richmond. Mr. Richmond asked Quarrie, •' What brought you here." He comruer-cod -vying, and said that he had killer Lis mother. Mr. Richmond said he. must have been asleep and dreamt it. Quarrie said it was true, but he was very sorry for it. He explained that he had had a quarrel with his mother, and that she hit him on the back with a tomahawk. When he recovered himself he picked up a piece of wood and threw it at her. He believed he struck her on the back of the head. I then went back to the bar, and left Quarrie along with Mr. Richmond. To the Foreman : When I first saw Quarrie it was between 9 o'clock and halfpast 9. From my own knowledge I cannot say whether he had been in bed, though I heard afterwards that he had. He looked as though he had been crying, and was very red in the face. His conversation was addressed to both Mr. Richmond and myself. To Mr. O'Meagher : He said ho threw a piece of wood at his mother and struck her on the back. He was a little excited, but not much. He told me the same story upstairs, with the difference that his mother had picked him up and carried him inside when she knocked him down with the tomahawk. He said he then recovered himself, and went outside and picked up a piece of manuka wood about a foot and a half long, and about as thick as his wrist, and threw it at his mother. He did not say how thick it was. Quarrie said he struck his mother on her back. At first he said he struck her on the back, but afterwards he said he did not know whether he did strike her or not. To Sub-Inspector Smith : Mr Richmond did not appear to believe Quarrie's statement at first, and cross-questioned him about the matter.

Dr. De Lautour was then called and examined at great length. His evidence was of a most important nature, and we regret that, owing to the lateness of the hour at which it was concluded, and pressure on our space, precludes the possibility of our giving it in full. During his evidence the doctor stated that he discovered a lacerated wound at the back of deceased's head about an inch and a half in length, and extending through the skin down to the bone. On removing the brain he found a depressed fracture of the internai tablet, at a point corresponding with the external wound. He gave it as his decided opinion that death resulted from this fracture, which could only have been produced by direct violence.