The Sun.
London, England, 1817-01-14 00:00:00

CORONER'S [NQITEST

Last night an Inquest teas held before TFTOMAS
SiIk:UPON, Esq. Coroner for the County of Mid-
dlesex, upon the hods of - Johnson; H ruln
of colour. The decea.ed teas the sailirr Wilt) ts.us
refused ndthission to Si. Tilontits's-litispiLil, iu
the! Borough, notkviltstknding the order of tho
Lotto AlAYoa.Tlie liaitiut was held at the
Giltspur-street Compter.
Mr. Teague stated, that the deceased had been sent by the
Lord :klayortd the 'hospital, and i'efusvd :,dinksmo. Thu
man who took hire theta was not present at this inquest..
Joseph Sivtiar,,assistant surgeon, in between G.
and 7 on Friday ciening, to sce tha decvaset, who appeal-vd
in the last stage ota decline, and aid he -had been i;1 for a
long time. ‘Vitness ileired that he should be put into
%Imo bed, and sent him such medicines n$ were proper for
the occasion. Ile was surprised to hear that the deceased
was dead the nett morning. His death took place
after eight, and the witness did nut apprehend he was so pear
his dissolution: There were, however, many deceptions in a
ease of this kind. •

• In answer to questions from souse of the Jury, the witness
strtted,,.lJuat the deceased did not say a word about ill treat-
ment at, .174.Thomas's hospital ; that in all probability his
death was' niit accelerated by the refusal of the porter to
admit hies, .and that as great care WWI Aitken of him at the
Compter as could lie expected in }toy Witness no.
&World that the deceased hail bee'ti taken to St. Thomas's
hospital, ;+,ol refused admission.
One of the jury ashed`why the deceased had not been taken
to Bridewell after the refusal to admit him into the hospital
MVVettgue said, that he could not have bean adwiticd
without a commitment into lirlilewell, and therefore ,N4ll •
brought to the Compter, which was an asylum to all pour
creatures from any parr of the town without tiny forum,
The Coroner expressed his dissatisfactiuu at the absence
of Allen, in whose care the deceased had been NMI to the
hospital, and who bad Witnessed the refusal.
Mr. Teague said, that Alien could merely state that he had
taken the deceased in the closed cart lib the hospital, end that
alter thu refusal he conducted him to the Compter. Ile also
said tlpt Allen bad no idea That his presence would be ne.
cessafy at thd Inquest.
The Coroner, its addressing the Jury, said, it
was e'Vlifeht that the deceased, upon Isis discharge
fronritadtwCll, must have been, to till human
appearance; •in a state different from that of h
dying man, else he would not have been so dis•
charged. If theease were otherwise, blame was
attachable there. If the appearance of the man
also at the Mansion-house, Subsequently„ was in-
dicative of danger, he should not have been kept
there for several hours before he was presented to
the presence of the Lord Mayor ; 'and it would
still be more -blameable, if he really was in the
state described whets taken to the hospital, to
be refused or interrupted in his admission.
The porter, however, • who had acted as relat-
ed, teas ' not • only subordinate to certain roles,
but perhaps an ignorant person ; no evidence,
however, appertaining to this person had been ad-
doted, and the .jury therefore could not take the
accounts they had either heard or read respecting
him into their consideration. lie would postpone
the investigation if the jury thought proper, in
order to Ithtain the evidence of Allen, but from
all the- circumstances, particularly those of the
deceased, appearing so well at the Compeer, eat-
ing end drinking so heartily, but labooring na
'doubt wider sense very uncertain disorder, he MIS
at opinion that he cause to his death naturally.
Alter some deliberation, the Jury coincided in
the opinion of the Coroner, and returned a veva
did to that effect.