THE INQUEST

Edna Farnsworth's inquest was held on "the 24th day of June in the 51st year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Victoria" by William Jackson, "gentleman, one of the Coroners for our lady the Queen". At 10:30 am on the morning of June 24, 1889, the coroner gathered together the jury of six-T.W. Fletcher (foreman), C.W. Rodgers, A. Henderson, Joseph Somers and John. J. Wilson-in order to first view the body and then proceed to the office of the Superintendent of Police in order to hear the testimonials of the witnesses:

Witness #1: Dr. G. S. Milne: The first medical doctor on the scene of the shooting.

"Yesterday morning at about 4:30 o'clock, I was called to see a woman in no. 14 Broughton Street. I went there, and saw a woman lying in one of the back rooms. She was lying on the floor, with her feet towards the window, across the room. On examination, I found that she had a bullet wound on the right temple on the level with the eyebrow about two inches backward from it. There was considerable blood on the floor. She was still breathing when I saw her, and lived about fifteen or twenty minutes after I arrived. I found the pistol lying at her feet. I noticed also the bloodstain on the barrel of the pistol. I saw that one chamber was empty but did not look at the other barrels. One chamber only was empty now. The blood on the pistol indicates the pistol must have been held very close to the head when it was fired off. With assistance I removed her and placed her on the bed before she died. I telephoned to the central police station. Officer Thomas came and took charge of the pistol and the body.

previous page next page

Click HERE to go to the basic facts of the Belle Adams case.