INQUEST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9300, 16 December 1891, Page 4

INQUEST.

[ An inquest was held at the hospital ycsters day before Mr E. 11. Carew (district coroner) 0 and a jury of six (Jlr Thomas Chapman, fore, f man) upon the body of a married woman named " Jlary Jlontollo, otherwise known as Polly , Baker, who died in the institution on Sunday " morning last. -' Eliza Harding, a married woman residing in c Great King street, identified the deceased as a _ person she knew as Polly Baker. She had uot known her by any otlier name. She had heard -> that the deceased was married, and had . a " couple of children in the Industrial School. 1 There was a " row "in witness' house on Sun- , day week, and the deceased was there. She _ lind been coming to witness' house off and on , for about a week. She was attending the t hospital for a sprained ankle, and used to come and ask for permission to lie down for an hour. AA'itness was not aware that the deceased ' had any other injuries. She had been drinking '■ very heavily. AA'itness could not tell the day ■ she saw her sober. Every time she camo to r witness' house she was muddled in drink. 1 AA'itness could uot tell where the deceased was 1 staying for the last week, but she used to say ! that she had been living at Sawyer's Bay with some one. To Sergeant Brown : AA'e were all the worse i for driuk for a week before AVednesday last. There were no blows struck at the "row" on Sunday week. Dr Copland, house surgeon at tho hospital, deposed that the deceased was brought to the hospital on Saturday last between 5 and 6 p.m. by Jlrs Freeman. Sh<' was quite unconscious— in fact, moribund. Tho only sign cf injury visible externally was a slight bruise ou the right knee, and another mark—which might have been a bruise-Jon the left collarbone. Her symptoms were those of a person suffering from compression of the brain, from what cause it was impossible to say. There were no signs of injury about the head. She became gradually worse, and died at 5.35 on Sunday morning. On examining the body after death, he found a very slight bruise on tlie left side of the forehead. The cause of death was hemorrhage pressing on the substance of the brain, which might be caused by injury and might be caused by disease. In hemorrhage from injury there was usually some sign of external injury. Iv this case there was only the bruise on the forehead, which was only visible after death. Heavy drinking might have caused hemorrhage, and a a slight injury where the bloodvessels were diseased, as by drink, might cause rupture and hemorrhage. During the whole of two years during which he had known deceased he had never seen her sober. The last ocensi.n on which he saw her prior to her being admitted to the hospital on Saturday was one day when she came to the institution in an intoxicated condition. She had been ill the habit of coming to the hospital about once a week. Sometimes she wanted to get away from the police, and at other times she wanted to be admitted to tlie hospital to get sober. Sarah Freeman, residing iv Great King street, deposed that the deceased came to her house on Friday uight last. She seemed sober, | j | and complained of being very bad, Sho asked i ' | witness to let her stay all night, and she would J go and see the doctor in the morning, AA'hwi ! ] she got up iv tlie morning sho said she felt much better, Sbe lay down about 3 o'clock in tbe afternoon, and when she awoke an hour later she .ecn-ed hardiy able to open her eyes, find ■■or.iii'.niw'd C-i il headache, She got Up, will a. slw ay». uQivs out of ths te.vk dpor

she fell down. She vomited a great deal, and witness took her to the hospital. Sho complained to witness of having influenza, and also said that she had a sprained ankle. On Friday night she told witness she had come from Sawyers' Ba}'. She had told witness that her husband was up the country, and that her married name was Jlontollo. Regarding the mark on her forehead, she said she must have fallen down while drunk and got it, Peter Rankin, tailor, said he had known the deceased for some time. Her married name was Montollo. Deceased was in the Army Home for a period, but left it six months ago. AA'itness had since tried to get her to go to the refuge. He noticed a bruise on her forehead the week before last, but it was a common thing for her to have bruises on her. The woman sometimes came to witness' house to get food. The Coroner remarked that deceased's marriage certificate (produced) showed that she was 30 years of age at the time of death, and that she was bom in London. The Jury returned a verdict of " Death from natural causes, probably accelerated by excessive drinking."