RESULT OF STARVATION

Taranaki Daily News, 13 September 1934, Page 7

RESULT OF STARVATION

VERDICT ON YOUNG WOMAN.

DISCOVERY IN LOFT ON FARM.

By Telegraph—Press Association. Wanganui, Sept. 11.

An inquest was held to-day into the death of Olga Hanson, a young woman who was found in a weak condition in a loft on a farm near Hunterville last month and who died subsequently at Wanganui hospital. The finding was that the girl died as the result of starvation, which was due to her own actions when in a subnormal state of mind. The coroner, Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., stated that there was no responsibility on anyone but herself for the unfortunate young woman’s death. Her employer had treated her with every kindness, and had her presence on the farm been known sooner she would have received every attention. It was stated in evidence that deceased, who had been employed by Mrs. Ellen Lourie at Silverhope since December, 1933, retired to her room on June 8 last about five o’clock in the afternoon and was missed. A thorough search was made and she was discovered in a patch of native bush. . Her explanation was that she “felt tired and had a bad head.” On July 15 she left Mrs. Lourie’s employ and talked of going to Wanganui. On August 3, about five o’clock, James Donald Lourie and his brother, who were chopping wood, heard someone moaning in the loft. They discovered deceased, who was lying on the floor in a weak condition. When questioned she said she had been in the loft since Tuesday—four days before —and for a week prior to that had spent the tinu in Silverhope bush.