The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1908-04-22
THE CIRCUIT CORONER.
A SUMTER PHYSICIAN MAKES A
SUGGESTION.
would Have Office Of County Coroner
Abolished and judicial Circuit COrO-
her Office Established.

DR.. Waiter Cheyne's suggestion that
the office of county coroner be abol-
ished and that medical coroner be ap-
pointed with territory corresponding
to the judicial circuits has caused con-
siderable comment on the streets. A
great many people agree with the
Sumter physician that numerous mis-
carriages OF Justice would be avoided
If man Of experience and ability and
one with a medical learning be elected
to the office to hold inquests and to
assist the prosecuting solicitor of his
circuit.
In speaking about the matter
DIR. Cheyne said:
Il believe that every coroner in our
State should be graduate in medicine
and surgery
"In ancient times it was necessary
that the coroner be knight possess
ing sufficient means to answer to all
manner Of people. for if he had not
enough estate to answer all fines and
duties imposed, the county as his fsu-
perior and surety, and as a punish
ment for selecting IN inefficient Officer.
must answer for him. later. this re-
quirement was dispensed with
I'm Louisiana, n coroner is elected
by the qualified doctors of parish.
and must be a lawful citizen of the
State, OF fair education, good moral
character. and must be possessed of
general business qualities, and must
have medical or surgical education
In Rhode Island, the town councils of
the several towns and the city coun-
ellis respectively elect as many coro-
ners for their towns or cities as they
deem fit. In Connecticut the coroner
Is appointed by the judges Of the SUI
preme court, upon recommendation of
the state attorney. In New Hamp-
shire, he is appointed by the governor
and council. In West Virginia he is
appointed by the county court In
Tennessee he is elected by justices Of
the peadA in county court assembled.
1.-THE qualifications of the old Eng
lish law are good ones. He should
be probus homo: legalis homo; Of
sufficient knowledge and understand
ing; Of good ability and power to exc
cute his Office according to his knowl-
edge and, lastly, OF diligence and at-
tendance for the due execution of his
"The Office is equally as important
or should be. as the office of the prose-
cutting solicitor Of judicial circuit.
Our state has been accused time and
again, of condcning crimes. of allow
ing murderers to escape without a
trial. DR. the state is satisfied with an
acquittal by an ignorant coroner's jury
on insufficient or partial testimony,
not rebutted by cross examination. A
coroner Of education, with power Of
law to impanel an intelligent jury, is
the first step to aid justice and punish
the guilty. Ask the solicitors Of our
state the value Of the ordinary coro-
ner's evidence in his murder cases, and
he will tell you 1t Is defective in some
point or other. The doctor as coroner
means today an educated man as coro-
ner. II a doctor must be called as a
mcdico-legal expert. would he not be
the better man to have charge Of all
the legal forms The medical coroner
then must be a man who is not
neophyte in medicine, whose know
edge tells him whether the corpse
found In the water has been drowned
accidentally or has been poisoned, shot
or knitted and thrown In to cover the
crime.
"Who must know the petechiael
marks Of the early stage Of decom-
position and how they differ from con-
tusions The examination Of a body
is both external and internal. Frac-
lures OF the skull are easy to escape
observation. Direction of a wound is
the first and most important detail.
Wounds of the scalp, clean cut as by
a knife can be produced by blunt
instrument. Corrosive poisons always
leave their mark on mouth, throat or
gullet. Time of death, tie onset of
rigor mortis all rssquir" special knowl-
edge. And yet, with all t.l:j pc cal
knowledge and Cx, erieace nCoLcd to
know the cause OF dca;h. the state OF
South Carolina requires no condition
Of the man who is coroner, except that
he gives bond and be elected by his
mn .txv