Bandsman A verdict that he committed suicide while temporarily insane and that death was due to asphyxia from drowning, was returned by Mr. I. T. Morris, H. M. Coroner at H. M. Court yesterday morning, when an inquest was held on Private Bert Reginald Durrant, aged 23, a member of the band of the Ist Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, whose body was recovered from the river by the Customs River Police after he had jumped overboard from a sampan in midstream on August 31.
The first witness to give evidence, Captain Clayton Henry George of the Royal Army Medical Corps, stated that he viewed the body of deceased at the parlours of the International Funeral Directors in Kiaochow Road on Sept. 2 after it had been recovered from the river. There were no noticeable marks of violence, and the findings were consistent with those of a drowned person.
A Chinese sampan man, Shu Ah-ying stated that at 11 p.m. on August 31 he noticed a Customs Officer and a British soldier on the pontoon at the Customs Jetty. The Customs Officer signalled to him and said "Take the British soldier to the British Naval ship", following which the soldier boarded the sampan and they went alongside H.M.S. Duncan. Here the soldier motioned with his hand and told the witness to turn away and go further along.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.