The Jersey City news., 1891-10-13
''CROWNER'S QUEST LAW
No Better Now Than it Was
a Thousand Years
Ago.
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH ACTss
Will Make an Effort to Have the
Massachusetts, Bill Passed By
the Legislature Of New
Jersey.
TATE BOARD OF HEALTH ACTS,
Special to the JERSEY city Ns,o,.


ductive of so much scandal and
abuse of power that movement has be-
gun which seeks to wipe out the present
system and adopt the Massachusetts,
idea. The State Board of Health is tax
ing the initiative In the matter, and DR..
Ezra M. Hunt, the Secretary, is preparing
a paper for the coming annual report
which will show the defects of the pres
ent Coroner system. The matter will be
brought before the County Medical So
ciety and discussed, and bill will be in
troduced during the next session of the
Legislature looking for a complete
change of the system.
There are sixty-three coroners in New
Jersey. the law allowing three for each
county. 1t is free office, and upwards
of fifty Thousand dollars of the ia xpayers'
money goes for useless Investigations | n
cases of suspicious deaths There has
just been shocking exhibition of mis-
placed authority In Camden county,
while in Mercer much complaint is made
over the useless inquests held and the
heaping ap of bills of cost. In fact. COM
plaint Is made in nearly every county,
because of the waste of time and money
incurred by coroners anxious TO make
fees. The whole system has been brought
into bad repute because Of the many USE
less inquests and the disgraceful strug-
gle for jurisdiction between coroners.
The present movement has been
going on quietly for some
time and has been theme for discussion
in the medical societies of several coun-
ties. DR.. Hunt, who is preparing the
paper, states that Massachusetts has q
new system and very successful one
which will no doubt be introduced into
this State sooner or later. New York is
anxious to have the same idea and the
medical societies there are giving the
matter some attention. The once OF
Coroner was abolished in Massachusetts
in 1877. During the fourteen years which
have elapsed since the enactment of the
new law. about fifteen thousand cases or
death from sudden, suspicious, violent
or unknown causes have been investi-
gated in manner much more satisfac-
tory than was possible under the old sys-
tenn. The present Coroner's system, as it
is known in New Jersey, was borrowed
from the English. In the time OF Ed
ward I. it was held by reputable men.
bat later, as Blackstone observes, ''The
Office fell into bad repute and got into
lax and indiScreet hands,"
The present method of investigating
deaths has been In operation In most
English speaking nations. except Scot
land, for the past thousand years or more.
1t has not undergone any notifications
for centuries. One of the chief faults of
the present CoroAer's Investigations is
that 1T inverts the natural process of In
Quiry. The principal features of the Cor
oner's inquest are essentially the same In
nearly ali parts of the Union. The offic-
ials concerned in an inquiry as to the
ner and the jury. 1t may reasonably be
asked for what purpose the latter body
exists. Whenever Coroner's jury by
their verdict fix crime upon an indiv1d-
ual, the same evidence which has con-
victed them is again rehearsed before
court of law, and usually in q much more
thorough manner. Wherefore the expense
of two tribunals sitting and deciding
upon the same question? Another ev'~
dence Of the uselessness Of The Coroi
inquest is the greater facility with W ich
medico.legal inquiries are conducte N
countries where Coroners' inquests b..
unknown.
THE PURPOSE OF THE BOA RID.
It will not be the purpose of the State
Board of Health to criticise the jury
system in general. but only so far as it
plays part In the Coroner's inquest. The
ordinary jury of courts of law Is called
upon to consider questions having very
wide bearing, both of a civil and OF crimi-
nal nature Financial and other business
transactions, pertaining TO the dealings
of men with each other In the daily walks
of life, are among the most common
questions submitted to the test OF trial by
jury. OF these, every man having an
ordinary amount OF common sense and
liable to jury duty is expected to have
some knowledge. and can usually form
an opinion. On the other hand the ques-
tion properly and directly before the
Coroner's Jury is one and only one:-
What was the cause of deathp While in
many cases this question may be so clear
as not to require the interv ention OF an
expert, it is also true that cases are OF
frequent occurrence In which no jury, se-
lected as juries usually are, can compre-
hend the exact cause of death. The ques-
tion is purely medical one. and as such
requires a thorough knowledge Of
anatomy. chemistry, nlGte7i0 nIedtcG and
toxicology. A knowledge of pathology
is especially necessary in certain cases
where considerable length OF time has
elapsed between the primary injury and
fatal result. Under such circumstances
a thorough medical training is absolutely
essential.
1t is for these reasons that no tribunal
has been subjected to so much we'll
merited ridicule as the Coroner's inquest.
Scarcely week passes in which ver-
dict is not recorded in some part of che
country proving the failure of the Coroner
system to accomplish its work in maDs
ner which is at all creditable or salts
factory.
a few weeks ago Coroner Coulter Of
Mercer county held an inquest at flights
town, where man died of apolexy.
The Jurors were SO disgusted with the
whole affair that in their verdict they In.
serted clause "that John Morris, for cir
culating false rumors, should be taken
out and hanged to the nearest sour apple
tree.' This and twenty-five cents for
Jury service was all these citizens re-
ceived for neglecting business for whole
day. In many counties the jurisdiction
of Coroners is not defined and there is a
lively chase after dead bodies. In Mer-
Ger comfy it is known as a fact that the
rival Coroners have sat on the doorsteps
of a man injured by accident, waiting to
pounce on the body. AS rule it is f1rst
come, first served. The Coroner on the
ground first, gets the body, the fee and
the inquest No better illustration OF
this disgraceful struggle for jurisdiction
can be had than the celebrated Kniffen
murder at Trenton. The police notified
Coroner Bowers and reporter notified
Coroner Abbott. ABBOTT keeps car-
riage and is one-legged war veteran.
| His horse was driven at rapid rate
erough the streets of Trenton at break
y sDeed and the two Coroners arrived
house at the same time Abbott's
81 jon was impeded somewhat from