The herald., 1897-11-02
CORONER NOT NOTIFIED
UNTIL AFTER THE CORPSE HAD
BEEN STRIPPED OF EFFECTS
Parties Responsible Severely Cen
sured-Cupidity of Night Watch
man Olay Smith


quest yesterday over the body of John
Ingmanson, who died in a lodging
house at 519 South Spring street Sunday
night, censured the keeper Of the house.
David S. Richards, and Undertaken
Dexter Samson for their treatment or
the remains. 1t developed in the course
of the examination that the effects OF
the deceased had been gone through ana
the body removed to the undertaking
parlors before the coroner was notihec.
The law specially provides that the cor
oner or his deputy shall take charge OF
the remains of any person where death
has resulted from other than natural
causes, or where a physicians certlh-
cate has not been given.
In this particular case Ingmanson,
single man, "a years of age, had come
here few weeks ago from Chicago,
suffering from heart disease. Sunday
night he died suddenly at 519 South
Spring street from fatty degeneration of
the heart. Coroner Campbell was not
notified until yesterday forenoon. He
then learned that the body had been re-
moved to Dexter Samson's undertaking
parlors. The effects Of deceased had
been gone through by the proprietor ol
the lodging house and Ingmanson
money, amounting to s14.65, taken in
charge by him. The keeper of the house
was notified to appear at the inquest.
but did not show up and could not be
found at that time.
Olay Smith, night watchman, who
has visited Ingmanson frequently of
late, called upon the deceased yester-
day morning and found him dead In
bed. It was he who notified the keeper
of the house. He stated that S5 cents
in money and check book showing a
balance on deposit in one. Of the local
banks Of 5000 had been found. Under
taker Samson contradicted the state
ment as to the amount Of money found
and said that it was $1465. He said
that Mrs. Richards, who keeps the lodg-
ing house, would turn this amount over
to the coroner DR.. Campbell will re-
fuse to accept the money, claiming that
Richards had no right whatever to
touch the effects of the man, even though
he had died in his house. 1t is the duty
of the coroner to take in charge the
| effects found upon corpse, but after
| they have been collected by another ht
has nothing whatever to do with them.
! The jury returned the following ver-
dict: 1--WE, the jury, think that the un-
dertaker and proprietor Of the lodging
house where deceased resided should be
severely censured for removing the body
and going through his effects before
notifying the coroner"
David Richards, keeper Of the lodging
house at 519 South Spring street, was
seen last night by a reporter. He ad-
| mitted that he had taken possession OF
| Ingmanson's effects after the latters
death was discovered, and said that he
thought he had a perfect right to do so
The amount Of money found on the per-
son of the deceased he said was $14. Yes
| terday he telegraphed to Ingmanson's
brother, Robert E. Ingmanson, in Chi
cago and used a dollar Of the money
He stated that after the inquest Olay
Smith had come to him and asked for
the dead mans watch. Smith said thai
he had none himself and needed it.
Richards refused to turn over the watch
to him and later Smith came around
when he was not in and asked Richards
wife for the watch, saying that he had
been Ingmanson's friend and had as good
a right to the timepiece as anybody else.
Richards said that as soon as he
learned of Ingmanson's death he noti-
fed undertaken Samson, who promised
to see that the coroner was informed
and assumed the responsibility of re-
moving the body.
The coroner will probably investigate
the case further. He attributes Under
taker Samson's failure to notify him i'm
mediately of the case to desire to gel
the body into his possession before il
should be turned over to some other un-
dertaker.