mNQUEST ON MRT. clare str, C, Il, Haines, Coroner That the Into Mr. Terence George Randal Skeffington-Smyth, who was found dead in bed on March 9, had fon occasions taken opium and. sleep-Ing draughts, and was a heavy drinker. were facts revealed in H. M. Police Court last Wednesday when the Coroner, Mr. C. H. Haines, pursued his Inquiry, opened on March 10, into the deceased's death. Mr. Skefington-Smyth, who was the son of Lieut.-Col, IG. TH." J. Skellington-Smyth, 0.8.0. Jand a nephew of Viscount Galway. came with Mrs, SkoMington-Smyth and Mr. F. E, Lo Cremtien, a Peruvian tourist, to Shanghai about three weeks ago.
Mr, C. B, Lowe held a watching "brie on behalf of interested parties, No definite opinion of the cause of death was given "by the two doctors, who were called in to attend to Mr.'Skeflngton-Smyth on the day of his death, One, Dr. F. Meyerbach suggested that the deceased must have been unconscious for sometime before he died, Mrs, Sketington-Smyth said that her husband was in the habit fof drinking quite a largo amount alcohol. Once he took opium, She knew because he had told her the following day when he was very ill. Mr. Lo" Cremtlen asked. by the Coroner if the deceased drank heavily, replied that he did but not the ight before his death, "Coroner: Did you know if ho was In the habit of taking narcotics?—Ho always did when he had to get up early.
Mr. Lo Cremtien explained that the deceased was not in the habit of getting up early. It he had to he lured 0 go to bed early and tuke a sleeping draught to help him go to sleep. Mrs. SkeMngton-Smyth, in her evidence, said the same things.
Coroner, to Mr, Lo Cremtien: Did hho occasionally take oplum—He took once here in Shanghai, He took it in pills, Do you know how much he took?
What occasion was this?—About three or four days after we arrived How did he got hela of it? Were you present?—We asked some coolles Where it could be found, we had had an awful lot to drink, and we were taken (0 an awful plice........
'What kind of pills were' these?—Red.
Mr, Lo Cremtlen said that some four or five hours later Mr. Skemtington-Smyth had been very ill, He did not receive treatment. To his know-edge the deceased had taken opium once before and that was in London.
Coroner: He did not try in Hong kong did he?—Well T do not know. Tdid not go out with him one night and he was very ill the next day. went out alone and never said a word about what he did.
That the deceased complained when ascending heights was also mentioned by Mr. Lo Cremtien, in answer to a question put by the Coroner whether the deceased had complained of his heart recently. Mr. Skeflngton-'Smyth, ho said, always said he could not go up high, could not do much exercise, could not walk very far, In the mountains of Austria and Switzer= Tand he used to feel tired and could not breathe, "Estill think tt was something to do with his health more than anything else because he always reacted that way," Mr, Lo Cremtien added,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.