SUDDEN COLLAPSE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18546, 5 November 1934, Page 6

SUDDEN COLLAPSE

ELDERLY MAN'S DEATH NATURAL CAUSES An elderly man, Mr. Charles McNulty, died suddenly while leading a horse and cart down Hospital Hill early yesterday afternoon. Mr. McNulty, who had previously suffered from heart disease, collapsed suddenly, and at an inquest this morning a verdict of death from natural causes was returned. The deceased was bom at Nowra, New South Wales, in 1867; it is believed that he was a singlq man, without relatives in New Zealand. The inquest was held before the district coroner, Mr. E. L. Walton, S.M.i and Senior-Sergeant Wade represented the police. Hiki Martell, a laborer employed at the Cook Hospital, stated that at 12.30 p.m. vesterday he was carting firewood from Hospital Hill with McNulty, using a horse and cart. McNulty was leading the horse coining down the hill, and near the bottom of the hill witness noticed that the deceased was distressed. McNulty complained of a pain in the chest, and witness offered to help him. McNulty suddenly fell to the ground, and witness saw that he was dead.

Dr. J. R. Elder, a house surgeon at the Cook Hospital, who held a postmortem examination yesterday, stated that in his opinion death was due to extensive coronary thrombosis, the extent of the condition found being sufficient to produce sudden death. James David Burns, 123 Roebuck roatL - with whom the deceased had been living for the past year, stated that McNulty had not been in the best of health during the last week, but although he had been treated previously the deceased,put his condition down to indigestion. He was a man of active habits, and would not lie up in bed. Formal evidence was given by Constable Heaslip, and the coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.