The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-28 00:00:00

The Holborn Union.

An inquiry was held last evening at St. Barth°.
lomew's Hospital, by Mr Payne, respecting the
death of Timothy Daly, aged 28.
Mr Lewis, jun., was present on behalf of the
widow of the deceased; Mr James represented the
guardians of the Holborn Uaion ; and Mr Humph-
reys watched the case on the part of a Pcor Pro.
ttction Society.

Dr James Andrews, assistant physician at St.
Bartholomew's Hospital, said that on Thursday
morning the deceased was brought to that institu-
tion suffering from large bed sores. He was so
prostrate that nothing could be done for him but to
give him food and stimulants. He died at half.past
11 o'clock the next morning. The pest mortem ex-
amination showed that there was inflammation of
the pericardium of some weeks' standing, and re-
cent inflammation of the right pleura and lung.
The cause of death was exhaustion, produced by
the sores, With proper care and attention the de-
ceased ought not to have got into such a condition,
even though suffering from rheumatic fever. A
waterbed and spring mattress ought to have been
employed. Poultices should not be kept on for a
fortnight, nor even for half that time.

Thomas Spillem, 10, Bishop's Head-court, Hob•
born, said that deceased was a railway labourer.
Last Tuesday seven weeks he fell ill, and was re-
moved during the ensuing week to the Holborn In-
firmary, Witness visited him there every Sunday.
Ile said that he bad no attention. On Wednesday
week he came out and went to No. 2, Union-court.
Ile said that if he had remained in another night he
should have died. A week later he was taken to the
hospital. He was a strong man when he went into
the workhouse. He was sft nin in height and he
had got a bed not Gft long. He used to lie with his
knees bent up. He complained that his poultices
were not changed. He said to witness, "If I could
get out to the gate I would leave myself." It was
on the third Sunday he told witness of the sores.
Mary Fitzgerald, 2, Union-court, proved that she
was sent for by the deceased, who begged of her to
take him out of the infirmary and get him into a
hospital. She took him half a quarters of wine, and
in consequence the master would not allow her to
visit him again. When he came out he was pro-
perly attended to in her house for a week.
Dr Thompson Lowe, resident medical cfficer of
the Farringdon Dispensary, 15, Bartlett's- buildings,
said that he was called to the deceased at 2, Union-
court. He was much emaciated, and his knees
were drawn up and contracted. He would have
been permanently crippled if ho had lived. He was
suffering from rheumatism afLcting the great joints
of the body. There were two large sores denuding
the big bones of flesh for three inches. He com-
plained that he had been put in a bed only fit for al
lad to lie on. He said that hie poultices had not
been changed, and that no charcoal had been used.
The sores were very much inflamed, and the stench
was dreadful. He was a strung, powerful man, of
muscular frame. His death arose from bed sores.
He would have had no bed sores if he had been under
witness's cire.

In reply to Mr James, the witness said it was not
only prudent, it was necessary to remove the man
from the Holborn Infirmary when he was so treated
in it. Ihe witness had got rid in 48 hours of the
horrible smell by proper antiseptic appliance. The
witness had 2,000 cases a year, and they never had
a bed sore. in rheumatic fever a man could be kept
in bed 12 years without sores.
Mr James said that parhaps the witness sent all
his bad cases to the hospitals, to which the witness
replied, " Thank God, I never had such a case in my
life."

Mr John Norton, surgeon to the Holborn Union
Workhouse, said that he first saw the deceased on
October 30, when he came into the house. He was
emaciated and dirty, and had not been properly at•
tended to. He was suffering from acute rheumatism.
He got bed sores when he was four weeks in the house.
Poultices of linseed meal and beer grounds were ap-
plied 3 times a day. His bed was 6ft long and 2ft Tin
wide. Re was very low, and sometimes delirious.
His hands.knees, and joints suffered from rheuma-
tism, He never complained about his bed. Disin-
fecting fluid wua used. Milk, wine, beef tea, and
porter were given to him. He expresftd no wish
to leave the workhouse. He was 45 days in the
house, and in that time he got 10 pints of wine and
40 of porter, 2 pints of mirk el-try day, arrowroot
whenever he could eat it, and mutton for dinner.
There was a card at the head of the bed, On which
the dietary, &e, was written by the master of the
workhouse, Mr. Francis. The cower used to sign
witness's name to the cares. The' Trances had given
him no authority to ill eo, bit lie knew it Was dote.
The entries in the medical book were copied by the
master from the card, bnt witness initialed it. There
was no necessity for witness to make the entries
himself. Any clerk might do it for him. Mt
deceased died from exhaustion from rheumatic fever
while in a typhoid stEsto. There was a complication

of bad diseases. I: was highly dangerous to remove
him from the house.

William Lewis, wardsman, gave similtr
dence, as did also the deputy assistant surgeon of
the workhouse.

Mrs. Daly, a domestic servant, s iid she visited
deceased in the workhouse. He complained of want
of attention. Witness spoke to the master, who
said he had all the attention possible. The young
man Lewis appeared to be attentive. When the
deceased was removed he said,:" All the kindness 1
have got is from the master. The poultice has never
been changed. The doctor has passed by but never
looked at me." Witness had thanked the master
for the kindness which deceased had received in the
house.

Two nurses deposed that they had seen the doctor
examine the deceased's sores at least three times a
week, and also that deceased :was inattentive to
cleanliness, Sze.

Mr. W. Francis, master of the workhouse, gave
evidence similar to that of Mr. Norton. He said
that deceased's linen was changed whenever re•
quired, and that he and the chaplain had requested
the wife not to remove the deceased.

The Coroner 'said that, in his opinion, a case of
manslaughter had not been made out against the
workhouse surgeon. It was in evidence that the
widow of the deceased had expressed her thanks for
the treatment he had received.

The jury, after three-quarters of an hour's de-
liberation, returned the following special verdict :
—" We find that deceased died from exhaustion
from bed sores, and from rheumatic fever; and we
find that while he was in the infirmary of the
Holborn Union he did not receive sufficient care
and attention from the medical officer."

niE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 28, 1864.

articles, upon whomsoever they might be found, would
prove awkward pieces of evidence. Hale and Baker were
both born at Coseley, within a few doors of each other. The
former had always been idle and dissolute, and when under
the influence of drink very quarrelsome, and used to indulge
in violent threats. Scarcely anyone can be found who will
speak well of him, He was once in custody charged with
incendiarism, in having fired some ricks of a dairyman at
Coseley. The evidence was insufficient to justify the magis-
trates in sending him for trial, and he was discharged. But
the offence with which, before this murder, Hale's name
was most associated was that of cruelty to his wife, the de-
ceased mother of Eliza Sillitoe, which resulted in his com-
mittal to Stafford assizes on a charge of manslaughter. For
that offence ho was committed on the coroner's warrant on
May 7, 1863. The evidence produced at the inquest and
on the trial showed that the woman had frequently gone
to neighbours complaining that she had been starved,
not having, she said, tasted food for three days. She was
then likely to become a mother. The time of birth arrived,
and no provision had been made for the event. There was
very little food in the house, and when Hale was reminded
that there was no oatmeal he said that he had a bad finger,
and had nothing to buy food. She was placed on a straw
mattress for a bed, and a horsecloth and quilt covered her.
She was delivered by the mother of the culprit Baker, and
the child, which for a week could not be nourished by the
mother, had to be during its few remaining days fed by the
hands of sympathising neighbours. To these the mother
was indebted for nursing and occasional food during her
illness. The witnesses all spoke to her constant complaints
during her illness that she was suffering from want of food,
&c. These complaints were carried to her husband, who
made the same reply as before about his inability to find her
food. Twelve days after its birth the child died. On the
day following, at about 11 in the morning, a neighbour
went upstairs, and the words of the deposition before the
coroner were as follows :—" I found the deceased lying on
the bed with her body doubled up, and her hand hanging
over one side of the bed, quite dead. The body appeared
stiff, and had upon it only an old sheet and quilt. The body
consisted of only bones and skin," The evidence of the
surgeon who made the post mortem examination was that
the woman had died from exporure to cold, want of proper
attendance, and the ordinary necessaries of life. The parti-
cular evidence, however, showed that the midwife had not
skilfully completed her work, and the assize jury giving the
prisoner the benefit of a doubt which was raised as to the
effect of this unskilfulness, he was acquitted.
Of Brough and his offence the tale may soon be told. A
oollier, only 24 years of age, suffering from that wasting
disease, diabetes, he had been unable to work for three
months, when on July 7 he went to the house of his father
at Audley at night to sleep. The father, a widower, was
living unmarried with a widow, who herself had a family.
The young man was reproached for being unemployed.
A dispute between him and his father ensued, and the cul-
prit left the house. Walker was an old man over 70 years
of age, and lived in a hut on the edge of a farm of which
he was at one time a tenant. This place seemed to offer a
shelter for Brough. What took place there we give in the
words of the culprit's confession, made soon after his arrest,
and subsequently to pawning the watch of the murdered
man. Brough in the call said,—" I went to the old man's
but to ask him to let me sleep there. He opened the door,
but refused to let me in. I then picked up a piece of iron
which was lying near the hut, and struck him a blow on the
head with it. I could not tell if he fell down; it was dark,
about 12 o'clock. The old Bean began to make a noise, and I
struck him again. I then struck a match, took the watch,
and went away, leaving the old man on the ground. Is he
dead ? Poor fel:ow I I did not intend to kill him."
The woman Baker who was condemned with Hale will
not know her fate for some four or five months, by which
time she will have become a mother, and " her Majesty's
pleasure" will then have been made known.