Coroner's Inquest.
The Times, 1824-09-22T00:00:00

An inquisition *.as taken at the board-room of St Bartholomew'e Iles ital. last evenir,g, on viCw of the bod* of 'Mr. John Orpe, organ builder, in the cmr,loy of' Messrs. Clemnenti and Co-, who came bv lis death in con6cquence of being run over by a titngle_horse chaise, at the foot of' Eyrr-street-hill, on Friday evering latt, and who e- pired in the hospital the f'}lowing aight. From a great mass of contradictorv evidence, it was almost impos., sible to form any clecisive conclusion as to the conduct of the person wvho 'rove the chailse, a M r. Caleb Nesbirt, a horse-dealer, of Lea. th er-lanet all! the u.itnesr.es spoke to the fact of the excessive v eloc;lty | .f the veliicle, which was represented to travel at the rate of from fifleen to twenty miiiles an hour. Onie man, Charles Sinu nonds, a watchmian, sworc, that he saw the driver flourish bis whip in the air, as if urging the animal to thle top of its speed; another person insinuated that the driver was in a state of intaxicution, and conse. ;ucndy incapable of managing the horse; others were of 'oinion that there had been no excitelment usedl be the person in the gig nreither did lie appear to labour under tlle effects of drink ; and finally, that the mielancholy event was wholly accidental, thehorse ha%ing taken triiu, and become unmanageable. Nesbitt had it appeared, first returned fron Enfield, and dropped acompau,oR Mlr. WVilliamns, in Coldbatii-square: there were two persons foliosed in another chaise, II r. Clarkson, the proprietor of Barnard's Inn, and a Alr. Emmerson, wbo both deposed that Nesbitt was perfectLy sober. When deceased was taken up. he was apparently lifeless, but heing irmnediately removed to the house of hIr. Henry W1hitmore, suTreon of (.oldbathisquare, that gerincnan examin-d tine wounds, and laving e'levated some fractures in the skull, which produced a depression of the brain, the decea-sed becamne sensible, and told his name. The collar-bone and several ribs werc brsken: he was subsequently removed to the Hospital, where be lived only 24 bours atter. The head and body wvere examitned bv Mlr. Boulten. one ef the Hospital siugeons,. wlho stated, thlat thiere were no fewver than eleven ribs broken on the left side, the skull was fractured all round, particles of which wore driven in, and the temporml bones -were dreadfuUy crtshed: the woounds were of the very worst description; ard it was only won.. der-ul that life wresnot instantaneousl estroved. The Go R oEi summ11ed up at considerable Icngth, and left it to the jury to determiine whether the accidcnt was produced merely froton th horse taking fright, or whether it was not from a trant of proper care in the d iver. Ater soret consultation, a verdict of Accide,tde Death was re- corted, with a decdand on the horse and Chaise of 51. lMr. Paesbitt, on heaving thatthe man had died, wurrendered hin- self into the custody of Read, sen., chief tonstable of Hatton-garden pelice office, where he underwent two examinations on a charge of furious driving, before A. S. JAN co-, Esq., and Mr. Sergeant SEL. LON : the evidence was generally the same as at the inquest, but no decision has been mrade, as the Coronec's warrant was not returrnei in sufficient tbme, the investigation basingoceapicdaipwerds ctsevem. hours. He will be brou-ht tp again to-morrow for rehearing. It is not a little singular tbat the deceased's fatbermut'a qriod tc% his existence within a few yards of the place where this-accident oc- cur-red. The deceased was between 40 and,50 ye=s 61d; a- eer in. dattrtous man, and muds esteemed by hiset gnloyers. ' CORONERR's IQU-EST,