View report page

24
INQUESTS.
The cause of death was returned by the Coroner in 164 oases,
inquests having been held, viz., 129 in the Town, and 35 in the
Brompton sub-district. The cause of death was ascertained by
post mortem examination in 116 cases. The reason for holding an
inquiry was the suddenness of the death in 88 instances: in
36 cases the deceased had been found dead, in bed or otherwise.
Forty deaths were due to violence. The ages of the deceased were
as follows: Under 1 year, 48; between 1 and 5, 22; between 5 and
60, 67 ; 60 and upwards, 27. The violent deaths were caused by
accidents in 31 cases, viz., by falls under various circumstances
(12), by crushing (2), by being run over by a railway train (4),
by a horse (1), scalds (2), burns (1) suffocation (8). One death
from accidental drowning was recorded. The suicides numbered
9, viz,, by hanging (4), by drowning (1), by poison (1), by cutthroat
(1), by falls from a house and window (2). Some of the
accidental deaths happened in unusual ways, e.g., one man was
killed by a fall of earth on him while grave-digging; another
(a servant man) was fotmd dead in an area, a grating having fallen
on him apparently as he was descending the steps in the night:
a third was killed by the giving way of an arch, which fell on
him : another by falling into a grains-pit at a cowshed and being
suffocated: another by a fall from a tree. The fatal scaffold
accidents were 2- not a large number having regard to the
extensive building operations going on. Seven of the victims
by "suffocation" were young children. Of the deaths
returned as "sudden" all were due to diseases, viz., of the
lungs and respiratory organs generally 22, of the heart 31,
of the brain 22, diarrhoea 3, measles 1, embolism 2, abscess 1, scrofula
1, indeterminate 5. The causes of death in the cases returned
as "found dead " included brain diseases 6, heart diseases 13, lung
diseases 6—in several cases the verdicts being " open." I entered So
fully in my last annual report into the subject of death after neglected
illness, which from the absence of a medical certificate of the cause
of death, necessitates the coroner's inquisition, that I do not
feel it incumbent on me on this occasion to do more than call
attention to the fact that in a very great many of the cases above
alluded to, the inquest would have been totally unnecessary had the
deceased received proper attention in illness by a medical man being
called in. It must be obvious even to those least acquainted
with illness, that not a few of the subjects of enquiry in the coroner's
court died of diseases of a more or less prolonged and acute character,
and such as any medical man would readily detect. Had there
been medical attendance in these cases an inquest would have been
unnecessary, and it cannot be too often or too strongly insisted
on that in a large percentage of such cases the mere fact of an inquest
being necessary is proof of neglect against those in charge
of the deceased—neglect which, if justice were always done,
' would not unfrequently involve a very serious charge in another