The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-10 00:00:00

SUSPICIOUS DEA TE OP A PAUPER.

On Thursday afternoon Mr. John Humphreys, the
Middlesex coroner, held an investigation at Hoxton, re-
specting the alleged murder of John Fresnall, who was a
pauper in the Shoreditch workhouse. The remains of the
pauper had been buried at Colney Hatch Cemetery,but the
coroner' ordered the body to be exhumed, and it was
removed to the Shoreditch dead-house. The court
was crowded. Tho principal witness was Joseph
Ha'let, a pauper, who said that on Monday, the 22nd
of November, he was in the workhouse. There was
a nurse named Hart in the ward of the infirmary.
The deceased was then lying on a bed, and he was delirious.
He shouted, " Tobacco ! tobacco !" The nurse Hart then
said, "Hold that noise," or " Stop that noise." Sho then
went and held a handkerchief over his mouth for two
minutes, and when it was removed the deceased shouted
"Murder." The wardsman, a man named Clark, then
said, " I will do it." Clark then went over to the
deceased, and he put a handkerchief over his mouth.
He was going to tie it at the back of his head, and the
:tune said, "That is not allowed ; soon quiet him."
The nurse then left the ward, and she returned with
something. Clark then held the deceased down by
pressing his hands against the chest. The woman then

stood on the opposite side of the bed, and she poured
something down the deceased's throat. After the dose
had been given to the deceased he never spoke or made
any more noise. He remained insensible until within about
an hour of his death—twenty-four hours afterwards.
—Clark, the wardsman, said that on the day mentioned
the deceased was very noisy, and Mrs. Hart said, " I shall
be under the necessity of gagging you." She then put a
handkerchief over his mouth. He was very violent, and
I thought that I would intimidate him, as I had done
the night before, to get him to take a pill, and I
went over to him. Mrs. Hart then went and got
some of the customary soothing mixture, and gave it to
him. When I put the handkerchief over the deceased's
mouth it was done for the purpose of stopping his noise,
and Mrs. Hart did it because the man would not keep
quiet. She put the handkerchief over him, and "it
was just what a mother would do for a refractory child."
The woman Hart admitted placing the handkerchief
over the deceased's mouth, and further said—The
deceased became outrageous, and I not having my senses
about me—nobody always has—said, " I will go and get
something that will quiet him." I then gave him some
soothing mixture which I have for noisy patients. It is
supplied to me by the dispenser, and it is left to my discre-
tion as to when I shall use it. Tho doctor never gave me
any instructions about using it. There is no morphia in the
mixture. Half a bottle of it would have done the man no
harm. Dr. John Whitmore, medical officer of health for
Marylebone, said that he had made a post-mortem examina-
tion of the body of the deceased man since it had been
exhumed. He had found no appearance of death from
suffocation caused by placing the handkerchief over the
mouth. Judging from the evidence, and finding that the
drowsiness did not increase during the day after the
morphia had been taken, he was of opinion that a
sufficient quantity of it had not been taken to cause death.
The morphia would become wholly absorbed into the
system, and that would account for its not being found.
In the opinion of witness death had resulted from dropsy.
Dr. Forbes, the medical officer of the workhouse, said he
agreed with the evidence of Dr. Whitmore. The jury,
after a long consultation, returned a verdict "That the de-
ceased man expired from the mortal effects of dropsy; and
they are of opinion that the conduct of Mrs. Hart, the in
firmary nurse, is highly censurable for administering
morphia without the doctor's sanction, and they are fur-
ther of opinion that the wardsman Clark and Mrs. Hart
are both censurable for their cruel conduct in tying a
handkerchief over a dying man's mouth."