Have His Carcase

‘In your opinion, what was the cause of death?’

Dr Fenchurch, still smiling slightly, said that in his opinion the cause of death was acute haemorrhage, coupled with the severance of the respiratory canal. In fact, deceased had died of having his throat cut.

The coroner, who was a lawyer and seemed unwilling to let the medical witness have his own way entirely persisted.

‘I am not trying to quibble over absurdities,’ he remarked, acidly. ‘I am asking. you whether we are to understand that the death was actually caused by the wound in the throat, or whether there is any possibility that the deceased was killed in some other way, and the throat cut afterwards to produce the appearance of suicidal throat cutting?’

‘Oh, I see. Well, I can say this: that the throat-cutting was undoubtedly the immediate cause of death. That is, the man was undoubtedly alive when his throat was cut, The body was completely drained of blood. In fact, I have never seen a body drained so completely. There was some very slight clotting about the heart but it was remarkably little. This, however, is no more than one might expect from the great extent of the wound. If the man had. been already dead when the wound was inflicted, there would, of course, have been little or no bleeding.’

‘Quite so. It is as well to have that clear. You said that the throat-cutting was the immediate cause of death. What precisely did you mean by that?’

‘I meant, to exclude the bare possibility that the deceased might also have taken poison. It is not unusual to find suicides doubling their precautions in this way. As a matter of fact, however, the internal organs showed no signs of anything of this nature having taken place. If you wish, I can have an analysis made of the visceral contents.’

Thank you; perhaps it would be as well. It would equally, I suppose, be possible that the man had been previously drugged by, some other party before the delivery of, the blow, or slash, that cut his throat?’

‘Certainly. A soporific might have been administered beforehand in order to make the attack more easy.’

Here Inspector Umpelty rose and begged to draw the coroner’s attention to the evidence of Harriet and the photographs that the deceased had walked to the rock on his own feet and alone.

‘Thank you, Inspector; we shall come to that later. Permit me to finish with the medical evidence. You heard Miss Vane’s account of her finding the body, Doctor, and her statement that at ten minutes past two the blood was still liquid. What inference do you draw as regards the time of the death?’

‘I should say that it had occurred within a very few minutes of the finding of the body. Not earlier than two o’clock at the outside.’

‘And would a person die quickly from the effects of having his throat cut in the manner described?’

‘He would die immediately. The heart and arteries might continue to pump blood for a few seconds by spasmodic muscular contraction, but the man would be dead from.the moment that the great vessels were severed.

‘So that we may take it that the wound was actually inflicted certainly not earlier than two o’clock?’

‘That is so. Two o’clock is the extreme limit. I myself should incline to put it later.’

‘Thank you. There is just one more question. You have heard that a razor was, found in proximity to the body. Inspector, would you kindly hand the exhibit to the witness. In your opinion, Doctor, is the appearance of the wound consistent, with its having been inflicted by that weapon?’

‘Decidedly so. This, or a similar razor, would be an ideal instrument for the purpose.’

‘In your opinion, would great physical strength be required to deliver such a blow with that or a similar weapon?’

‘Considerable strength, yes. Exceptional strength, no. Much would depend upon the circumstances.’

‘Will you explain what you mean by that?’

‘In the case of a determined, suicide, wounds of this kind have been known to be inflicted by persons of quite ordinary or even poor physique. In the case of homicide, much would depend on whether the victim was able to offer any effective resistance to the attack.

‘Did you find any other marks of violence on the body?’

‘None whatever.’

‘No signs of throttling or bruising?’

‘None. There was nothing remarkable beyond the natural action of the water and the complete absence of post-mortem staining. I attribute the latter to the small amount of blood present in the body and also to, the circumstance that the body was not left lying in one position, but was washed from the rock shortly after death and tumbled about in the water’’

‘In your opinion, does the condition of the body suggest suicide or homicide? ‘In my opinion, and taking all the circumstances into consideration, suicide appears rather more probable. The only point to set against it is the absence of surface cuts. It is rather rare for a suicide to be completely successful at the first attempt, though it is not by any means unknown.’

‘Thank you.’