The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-06
DOESN'T THINK 1T MURDER.
GRAHAsrs DEATH CREDITED To
NATURAL CAUSES OR ACCIDENT.

NATURAL CAUSES OR ACCIDENT.
A Thorough Examination of the
Body and Investigation of the
Surrounding circumstances Have
Brought This Conviction to the
Mind of Coroner Goette-The
Wound I'm the Temple Not at Ar
Sufficient to Cause Denth-DecOm-
position Had Exaggerated Its APP
parent ImpOrtn Places
Responsibility for Death at the
Door of old John BRrIeycorn.
Coroner Goette. after q complete investi-
cation of the circumstances attending the
find OF the body OF John Graham, is in
clined strongly TO believe that there was
no foul play but that the man came to his
death through some accidental means. The
coroner does not now believe that The
wound in the head is al all sufficient in It.
self to have caused death.
This expert decision of the coroner Is at
variance with the opinions Of those who
found the body ana others by whom it
was soon afterwards seen. They all be-
lieved il TO be a clear case Of murder. The
rigidly contoyted position in which the
body was found, the evidences Of a strug-
gle and Of pain in the fact that the hands
We're tightly clasped around bits Of turf,
and small masses of dirt and clay. and the
wound in the head, all forced them to the
conclusion that there had been foul play.
The decomposition that had set in prevent
ed an accurate determination Of the nature
of the wound, and this also tended to ex-
aggerate its apparent fatal nature.
The coroner, however, was not content
with such a cursory examination. He had
the body thoroughly ceansed and made
a careful ana painstak ng search FOR any
evidence of violence. b sides the wound in
the side Of he head he could fnd none
Of any Iaoment and even this one was soon
shown 10 be nothing almost in The explain
alton of the cause OF death The appar-
ent fracture of the skull had been due 10
the decomposition of the body and not 10
the wound itself This resolved into
scalp flesh wound that in the opinion OF
the coroner was Of sight seriousness and
could not have produced death.
The coroner is now inclined TO reject alb
solutely all suspicion Of foul play. 1t has
been shown that on he night when era
ham LETT Savannah on the suburban car
for home, he had been drinking and was
in an almost drunken condition. lie was
in the habit OF drinking TOO much ana it
is quite possible that in this manner he
had undermined his constitution and ac-
quired some physical infirimity that was
not apparent and Of which even he was
not aware. At any rate. il is certain that
when he left the car he had got beyond
the stage when walking a straight llne
was an easy accomplishment. So near
asleep was he that he permitted The car
10 carry him some short distance beyond
the point at which he was accustomed to
leave it and finally got off at place where
there was no road and started out across
the fields in the direction Of his home.
1t is Coroner Goette's theory that as he
pursued his drunken way across the fields
stumbling over the rows and occasionally
falling TO the ground, he had at last a fall
that was harder than those that had pre-
coded IL. Perhaps he struck his head on
some bit of hard clay or a stray stone,
and for a moment or two was stunned,
lying on the ground on his face, too drunk
to move, and with his nose and mouth
showed in the dirt, the coroner believes
that he was suffocated, or that he was
overtaken then by an attack of some NAL
ady brought on by drink, and died. The
coroner does not credit the story of viO-
lence, in which the neighbOrs place such
implicit confidence, and is assured that
some natural means forms the explanation
OF the death. He is strengthened in this
opinion by the fact that in the eXamina
ton of the body a small amount of money
was found in one Of the pockets. Had
the motive of the supposed violent death
been robbery, and the coroner has heard
no other reasonable suggestion. he thinks
that this money would not have been in
the pockets.
The friends and neighbOrs of the dead
man still hold to their first conviction, and
a : certain a they that era
ham was murdered. To these conclusions
the coroner attaches no Importance. His
Investigation. he says has been thorough
and complete from every standpoint. Not
only was the body examined for all posi-
bic signs or Indications of violence, but
the neighbors and every one who saw era
ham on the night he was last seen alive,
have been questioned, and cross-question-
ed on the subject. Everything he has
learned has but served TO strengthen the
coroner's conviction, and he has determin-
ed that no inquest will be held.
-e-~es-s--