John Marshall et al
As part of the Chinese Historical Wrongs Legacy Initiative, we’ve digitized a small selection of inquests and inquiries from 1872 to 1934, found in series GR-0431. These were chosen to reflect the experiences of early Chinese immigrants to B.C. – their living and working conditions, and their unfortunate accidental or unusual deaths. They range from a woman working in a brothel in Barkerville who died of natural causes to three sawmill workers who died from malnutrition. Learn more.
*All transcriptions are provided by volunteers, and the accuracy of the transcriptions is not guaranteed. Please be sure to verify the information by viewing the image record, or visiting the BC Archives in person.
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No I
3
I next examined the chinaman, I don't know his name, a man of thirty of thirty-five years of age, and found he had a cut above his eye. I could see no other visible signs of injury, concluded he had died from drowning. I examined John Marshall, a man about twenty-nine or thirty years of age. He had quite a deep cut in his upper lip in the centre; no other visible signs of injury, concluded that he had died from drowning. I examined the body of Mr Smith, a man about thirty-eight years of age -
Coroner; - You did a post mortem on him did you?
A; - I also did a post mortem on Mr Smith. I found post mortem rigidity and abnormal lividity present. His eyes were almost closed, his mouth almost closed; his privates were contracted, a somewhat gooseflesh appearance of his body with redness of face. I might say the redness of the body, of the face was noticeable in almost in almost all the cases, except the stiffness of the body; nothing else by way of marks was noticed, excepting for the stiffness; I didn't notice any marks on the man but the marks I mentioned. I then did a post mortem. On opening the brain, I found no visible signs of injury, either before or at the time of the accident. On opening the abdomen there was a noticeable distention of the organs, especially of the intestines which is common at post mortems. I next examined the lungs. I found them lower in the middle line; the edges of the lungs on the middle line about four inches apart. On opening into the pericardial sack surrounding the heart, found a normal amount of fluid. I examined the heart and consider it slightly enlarged, the muscles slightly softened. These were not contracted at all. I found clots in the heart most marked on the right side. On examining the lungs they had the appearance as if full of air. I removed a lung and found about half an ounce of water but not of the bronchus. in examing the lung tissues itself there was no appearance
BC Archives, GR-0431 Box 10 File 4 / BRITISH COLUMBIA. ATTORNEY GENERAL/ Inquisitions/inquests conducted by coroners in British Columbia.