Biography

The deceased was manager of the Davyhurst Bottling Works and formerly a brewer at the Toorak Brewery. He had been granted a gallon licence just a couple of months before he was found to have died very suddenly. Dr McKell, who held the post mortem examination, refused to produce a certificate of death and informed the acting coroner that he wanted the stomach analysed as the case was of a suspicious nature. The contents of the stomach of the deceased was forwarded to the government analyst on 20 November. The inquest heard that Dr McKell smelled an odour which was suggestive of some derivative of prussic acid, which prompted him to not open the stomach but to send it away for analysis. Apparently the deceased had recently determined that there was a tin of cyanide in the cellar of the premises. It had belonged originally to Mr Soden, the chemist, who was now deceased. Cocks had free access to the cyanide in the cellar. However, no suggestion was put to the inquiry as to any reason why the deceased would wish to commit suicide. The Coroner announced at this stage that he had received a certificate from the Government Analyst on the previous evening stating that 14 grains of potassium of cyanide had been found in the stomach of the deceased. The jury subsequently delivered the verdict that the deceased came to his death by cyanide of potassium poisoning, self-administered, while suffering from mental depression caused by the excessive use of alcohol. The deceased was well-known throughout the goldfields and had also been connected with breweries in Mt Morgans, Laverton and other places. He had arrived in Davyhurst about five months previously and had been drinking heavily for about a week prior to his death. He left a family of grown up sons and daughters.