DEATH FROM CHLORODYNE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10451, 10 May 1910, Page 1

DEATH FROM CHLORODYNE.

(Per Pees 3 Association.) Duncdin, 2Jay 9

An inquest was held this afternoon on tho body of a -man named Henry Arnold Johnston, who held a master mariner's certificate, and was w'ellknown in shipping circles in Lyttelton. lie was fifty years of age. Johnston was discovered on, Sunday morning lying,on his bed in the Occidental Private Hotel. The proprietor thought he had been drinking, 'and as he seemed dazed and stupid permitted him to remain there till midday. As he then seemed.to be 'on the verge of delirium tremens the police were asked to remove him,' which they did at one p.m. The police treated it as. an ordinary caso of drunkenness, and Johnston was kept in a cell under observation. At three o'clock his condition was alarming, and a doctor was called in, and ordered his removal to the hospital. He was then in a state of deep unconsciousness. The symptoms shown at the hospital 'were consistent with the suggestion that ho had taken an overdose of chlorodytie, and he was treated accordingly, but he died late on Sunday night. The boordinghouse-keeper, in evidence, stated that after deceased was removed he searched his room, seeking liquor, but found four bottles which had contained clilorodyne. There was no evidence to show that deceased had been drinking recently, and the Coroner found that death was due to an overdose of clilorodyne, self-adminis-tered. the evidence not showing whether accidental 1 or otherwise. He considered no blame was attachable to the police.