Asphyxia There were no signs of foul play, nor any internal or external evidence of death having been caused by drowning, said Dr. I. G. Anderson at the continued inquest yesterday} afternoon on the late Mr.
Harold Porter:
At the same time, Dr.) Anderson said that owing to the] length of time the body had been) in the water, he would not care to state definitely whether or not death had been caused by drowning. The inquest was subsequently adjourned by Mr. C. H. Haines, H. M. Coroner, to Thursday, May 5.
As in the previous hearings, Mr, J. E. Badeley appeared on behalf the next of kin and Mr. C. E. Lowe on behalf of the insurance company with whích the late Mr. Porter was insured.
Dr, Anderson, who performed the post-mortem on April 8, said that he thought that two clean-cut gashes on the left flank of the body had been caused, after death, by a propeller. There was no water nor foreign matter in the aural cavity, larynx, trachea and stomach, This was unusual in cases of drowning, but if the body had been in the water for three weeks or more any water in the stomach might be absorbed. He estimated that Mr, Porter's body had been in the river for about two weeks, The heart muscle was weaker than it ought to be in a man of his age, but, without previous medical kno: ledge of Mr. Porter, Dr. Anderson said he found it difficult to say when ther or not the condition of h heart would render him liable to fainting fits or loss of consciousness.
"Cessation of Life"
He was unable to say whether or not death had been due to drowning or other causes. There were no signs of death due to asphyxia and. except in certain special types, it was generally impossible to say definitely that death had been caused by heart failure, as the latter usually. implied just a cessation of life. Had Mr. Porte: had a heart attack and fallen into the river, there would have been no signs of drowning.
Inspector J, Kirichok, of the Customs River Police, said that during his sixteen years of service he had made a special study of the Whangpoo River. In view of the fact' that Mr. Porter's body was found off the No. 3 pontoon of the APE. Lower Wharf, Pootung. he was of the opinion the deceased had entered the river somewhere between the Soochow Creek and Lay Road: the body might have gone into the river from either bank or even from the middle of the river.
He explained that the set of the tide would tend to make bodies entering the river there move across to the Pootung side of the river. If the body, however, had gone into the river the other side of Lay Road, on the Shanghai side, the shallow water and many small craft anchored there would have prevented the body from being found where it was
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.