The Cannock Chase Examiner. — 1876-06-23 (Cannock, Staffordshire, England)

THE CASE OF MR. BRAVO. APPLICATION FOR A FRESH INQUIRY.  In the Queen's Bench Division, on Monday morning, before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn and Justices Mellor and Field, the case of the late Mr. Bravo, barrister-atlaw, whose sudden death from the effects of poison brie excited so much speculation, was brought before the court by the Attorney-General (with whom was the Solicitor-General and Mr. C. Bowen) in the torm of an application for a writ ad maims araio.reaelam. The learned counsel, in addressing their lordshi,n, said he appeared in the matter of Mr. Chance 'Punier Bravo, deceased, and he had to move t. .., the coroner's inquisition held upon the body of hi. • Tentleman on the 25th and the 28th of April last n. uld be removed into that court. by writ of cerborari. He had also to move for a rule v.. 0, calling upon the coroner to show cause why the inquisition should not be brought up to be quashed, or why s fresh inquiry should not be had either by the coroner or by a commission to be issued by their lordships, which their lordships were aware they had power to do under a writ ad vaelia.l I eapirradam. He made this application upon the I grounds—first, that the finding ot the jury at the ' coroner's inquisition was uncertain and incomplete; and, secondly, that the inquisition was taken in such a perfunctory and unsatisfactory way that it was really and truly a miscarriage of justice ; and he should to , also obliged to contend that there had been misconduct in the mode in which the coroner had conducted this inquiry. It appeared that Mr. Bravo, as their lordships were doubtless aware, was a barrister; he was shout thirty years of age, and was getting on well in his profession. At the end of lust year he married a Mrs. lhoards, a lady possessing a fol tune of between IMO and £4OOO a year. After their marriage Mr and I Mrs. Bravo resided at the Priory, 'Wham, where Mrs. I Bravo had resided before the marriage. As far as could be ascertained, Mr. Bravo had lived happily in his married life, and was of a cheerful disposition, and there was no reason why he should have taken poison. The cir' cumstances of Mr. Bravo's death, which have been fully ' before the public, were narrated, and the learned counsel went on : The coroner throughout appeared to have !entertained the foregone conclusion that Mr. Bravo .1 had committed suicide, while he thought their lordships would be of opinion that there were good grounds for doubting whether this was the case, and would think that the coroner ought to have beard further evidence I which would have probably thrown much additional light on the cause of death. The learned counsel then proceeded to read the depositions of the witnesses as taken by the coroner and compared then, with the evidence as taken by Mr. Reed, a ban ister who took careful notes during the inquiry, pointing out various important omissions in the former and considerable discrepancy between the two versions. The learned counsel , particularly referred to the variation with reference to the accounts given by the witnesses with regard to Mr. Bravo's statements about his having taken poison, the version of the coroner leading to the supposition that he bad taken poison knowingly, whereas that of Mr. Reed pointed to the fact that he was utterly unaware that he had taken anything deleterious. The Attorney-General then read the affidavit and statement of Dr. Johnson. It appeared from it that it was some hours after the doctors were called in that Mrs. Cox first spoke of poison. Dr Johnson arrived at half-past two in the morning, after the night of the seizure, and he said that he and the other medical men saw that the patient was under the influence of an irritant poison. He (Dr. Johnson) went into another room, and asked Mrs. Cox what Mr Bravo had said on the subject of poison: and she said his words were, " I have taken some of that poison." He asked her if she did not find out anything more—" the nature of the poison, or when or why he had taken it." She simply replied, "No." He returned to Mr. Bravo, and said, "Mrs. Cox says you told her that you have taken poison. What did you mean by it?" Be said, " I don't remember having spoken about taking poison I have rubbed my gums with laudanum for neuralgia, and I may have swallowed some." At the time Mr. Bravo appeared to thoroughly understand what he was saying. Dr. Johnson said, "That won't explain your symptoms," but he did not recollect whether the deceased made any reply, but he gathered nothing from him to lead him to believe be had taken poison. The deceased informed him that the poisons they had to the house were laudanum and chloroform, and also some rat poison which was kept in the stable. The medical men then searched in the , room and found some laudanum mid some compound camphor, which wa, a poison but would not explain the ayti.ptoras. The Lord Chief Justice Did it appear what the rat ' poison was? The Solicitor-General According to the coachman there hail been rat poison in the stable but there . was DOue at the time ot the occurrence. The learned I counsel then read Dr. Johnson's _statement as to  what passed in the presence of Sir William Gull. : Dr. Gull mid to the patient. "What you took you took yourself ?" and be replied, "Yes." Dr. Johnson said, "If you die with lit telling tis more about it some one may be accused of giving you the poison;" and the deceased replied promptly, clearly, and decidedly, " I am aware of that; hut I Coll tell you nothing more." Dr. Johnson added that he was left under a posiI Live impression that the deceased had not intentionally . .  DR