_Whether the cloaths of the deceased betray any odour of spirit, tobacco, sourness, or putridity?_—In every case of mysterious death it is an important object to ascertain whether the deceased had been in a state of intoxication; of which the odour of the clothes may in some cases furnish a presumptive proof. It will be seen by consulting our chapter on “Death by exposure to Cold,” that the life of an individual may, under certain circumstances of intoxication, be extinguished by a very slight degree of cold; _see vol._ ii, _page_ 60.
_Whether any articles have been broken or injured in the pockets?_—The case of the Cornish murder related at page 27 affords an example of the value of this inquiry; but in appreciating the indications which it may furnish, we must view the circumstance in relation to the other features of the case, when it may acquire an importance which the fact did not individually assume; or it may lose by such a comparison the little value which it appeared to possess.
_Whether there is reason to believe that the deceased had been robbed?_—We are to derive from this question a probable argument in support of the fact of suicide, for in such a case it is not reasonable to expect any evidence of robbery. In the unfortunate case of suicide lately committed in Hyde Park, a base sixpence was found in the pocket of the deceased; had he been plundered, the robber would not have left the base coin, which in the dark and hurry he could not have distinguished. In the instance of a travelling empiric, of the name of _Evans_, or _Evando_, as he called himself, for the sake of euphony, who was found dead in a ditch in Cornwall, the exact sum was discovered in his pocket, which he had taken in change at the last public house. Any memorandum found on the person of the deceased, in his own hand-writing intended to convey directions, or his last wishes, to his friends, is a strong presumptive proof that he fell by his own hand. The remains of any poison found about him is one of those facts that is equally favourable to the suspicion of murder as of suicide. We must be allowed to observe that upon the occasion of an unknown person being found dead, some responsible individual should examine the contents of his pockets, and having, if possible, acquired every information as to his name and residence, he should carefully enclose every article so found in a paper, and place his seal upon the packet, and his signature, and the date of the event, upon the cover.