Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-08-08
THE CORONER'S OFFICE
A Change Of Some Kind Seems to Be
Absolutely Necessary.
Recommendation Made by DIR. Wood
ward as to the Abolition
of the Office.

in the Green case, suggests to the
minds of persons interested IN the
coroner's work, that some change IN
the matter of holding inquests and select
ing juries should be made. When DR.. WOOD
ward was coroner he made some recon-
mendations of a sweeping nature.
1.-The law with reference to the coroner's
office was brought before the public once
during the past year by the Introduction
of bill in Congress requiring the coroner
to be an attorney-at-law and appointing
a physician as medical examiner to do
the medical work of the Office" said DR..
Woodward in the report.
Upon this bill I made an adverse report
to you, and am still opposed to the enact
ment of any such measure. The Massa-
chusetts system abolishes the office OF
coroner altogether, creates the office Of
medical examiner, and provides for the
holding of inquests before any trial justice
1t is in my opinion superior to the meas
ure proposed. and modification Of it might
be adopted here with advantage.
Abolition Suggested.
II would suggest that the Office of cor
oner be abolished and in it's stead be Gre
ated the office of medical examiner, whose
duty it shall be to Investigate from med
ical standpoint. such cases as are now
investigated by the health officer and the
coroner. Such deaths as are found by the
medical examiner to be due to other than
natural causes should be certified at once
to the chief of police for investigation and
reported to the district attorney. Should
the district attorney find as the result of
the police investigation that the circum-
stances required it, he should present the
case to the grand jury at once and they
should return the indictment upon which
the accused is tried. Much needless ex-
pense and delay would thus be avoided.
Viewing the Body.
1.-The absurd reGuirem ent that the jury
shall view the body of the deceased should
be abolished. 1t serves no good purpose at
the present date, being a relic of a time
when the jury viewed the body where it
had been found dead, and when such view
aided them in determining the cause of
death. The custom is repulsive to public
sentiment and often necessitates holding
an inquest at some out-of-the-way place.
1t often renders it necessary to hold and
complete an inquest before all the wit
nesses in the case can he found, or re-
quireS an adjournment from time to time
with results equally disastrous to the ends
OF justice. 1t may necessitate an inquest
at time when it is important that it
should rot be known that suspicion has
even been aroused. This requirement is at
the present day absolutely unnecessary,
and can not too strongly urge that steps
De taken to secure Its immediate abolition.
Jury Serves Ne, Good Purpose.
I'm the plan outlined by me 1t is sug-
Gested that the coroner's jury be abolished.
l do not believe that this jury serves any
good purpose. better plan would be to
have the evidence given before the Judge CT
the Police Court without any charge being
entered, as it Is at present given before the
coroners jury. The judge could then hold
for the grand Jury any one who might he
implicated by the evidence. The crimes in
yolved in these investigations, however, be-
Ing of such extreme Importance, and the
early conviction and punishment of the
criminals being of such vital interest to
the community, believe that the case war
rants the immediate Investigation by the
grand jury, summoning a special grand
jury with special powers, if necessary, as
suggested above
Change of Some Kind Necessary.
The present difficulty makes it clear to
the mind of DIR. Woodward that there is
an absolute necessity for a change Of some
kind in the coronerS service.
1t has been suggested that there should
be change in the manner of selecting
juries for this work. AS it now IS, most
of the inquests are held at the sixth pre-
and the police in selecting jury have it in
their power to make a selection of six men,
favorable or unfavorable, in the particular
case, should they desire. 1t Is a no.
torious fact that the men who usually do
jury duty are confined to a small number
of persons and some of them do not wait
to be called upon. but when they hear of
an inquest to be held they appear and ten
der their services, knowing they are to he
paid S1.2o in each case.