The brother-in-law, witness continued, found two empty bottles that had originally contained barbitone, and witness then gave treatment for Darbitonie poisoning, administering digitalin and strychnine, together with continuous oxygen, and apply-Ing warmth to the extremities. The treatment, however, proved to be too late, and'the coma became progress rely deeper and deeper, until. the patient died at 245 the next morning. He was quite satisfied that death was [due to barbitonie poisoning.
"The Coroner: Having regard to her Jcondition, do you consider it possible that' she might have taken two whole bottles of this barbitone?—It was quite possible that she might have done so, as her coma was extremely deep.
Deceased had taken the poison at east two hours before he examined her, but judging from the depth of the'coma she might have taken it the [night previous to her death, before going to bed. Each of the bottles contained 25 tablets of five grains ach, and untreated an overdose of the poison would comprise about grains, which would prove fatal, If the deceased had taken 250 grains, the outlook would have been hopeless from the time that he first examined her. The drug was relatively insoluble so that if it was possible to got the stomach washed Within the frst four hours, there was good chance of recovery, even if the whole 250 grains had been taken, In his opinion, there was no chance of her recovery at the time when he rst saw her, Two messages were found with the bottles, and these showed that there was no reason to suspect that the drug had been administered other than by deceased herself, Evidence of Brother-in-law Sergt.-Major H, S, Hill said that sister-in-law was staying with him at the time of her death, and on the morning of June 9 his wife called him, stating that she could not youse hher''sister. "He endeavoured to rouse her without success, He Immediately called Capt, Cross, and subsequently witness discovered' two bottles of the poison in the kitchen. There was nothing with them to indicate that deceased had taken the drug. On further search, he found two letters and also the charred remains of another letter, the contents of which he_was unable to decipher.
The Coroner: Can you give me an idea as to what her manner was like months, she had complained of occasional bouts of insomnia, and she had been depressed off and' on, Con you give any reason for her depression?—No, She had a usually happy disposition, and it was only during these occasional bouts that we noticed it at all. We thought the bouts of depression would pass off Just as the others had done, Deceased, continued witness, had never threatened to take her own life, happy as a general rule and had played tennis on the Saturday atter-noon and evening prior to her death, One of the letters left by deceased was addressed to her fiance in England, and the other to his wife and self, Inquest on Henry C. Myler joffre Mr, C, H. Haines, Coroner An adjournment to allow the evidence of Dr, C. ¥. Wu, of the National Quarantine Service, to be taken, was granted by Mr.
Haines, H. M, Coroner, on Tuesday, June 16, when the inquest on Henry Carisbriek Myler, second engineer on the s. Kanchow, was resumed. Deceased died after having been found lying on the floor of his cabin in a critical condition on the night Sune 1-12, Dr, S. K, Squires said that on June 42 be made an examination of the body, and found that death was di to injury of the spinal cord in the region of the nape of the neck, and also to external hamorthage, "The hemorrhage came from a cut on the skull, this being a contributory cause of death, The Coroner: What do you thine was the cause of the injury?—'The injury was due either to falling or receiving a blow fon the back of the head. 'There were two separate injuries, one on the nape of the neck, which' caused bruising. and another onthe head, which caused the cut.
Supposing he was climbing on to the bunk, and fell on to the steam radiator, "would that be consistent with his injuries?—Provided he fell a greater distance than 2 ft, that would be consistent, The cut could have been caused by quite a small fall, but the bruising was so deep that you would expect a man to fall a considerable distance to produce such If the injuries were not caused by such a fall. what could they have been caused by?—A blow on the back of the neck with a blunt instrument This might have been a soft instru ment, like a sandbag, Not Necessarily Fatat Witness stated that deceased had stone in the right kidney, and that might have caused excruciating pain, which might have made him. let go anything he may have been holding. There was nothing else that would account for his sudden loss of consciousness. The damage to the spinal cord was not of such a nature that it was necessarily fatal, Dut the question of recovery from an injury of this kind was so, problem= tical that it was almost. impossible to say whether deceased could have recovered or not. There was very little that could be dono in a case such as this. In order to stop the flow of blood from the head, something more than ordinary first aid measures would have been required. If a doctor had been present, could immediately have checked it.
Mr, Douglas McCormick. third engineer'on the s, Kanchow, said that,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.