From the Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald. 16 February 1901. Price 1d.

A STRICKEN HOUSE.

An Inquest was held at the “Park Hotel,” Ashford, on Thursday evening by Mr. E. M. Mercer, the County Coroner, on the body of Mrs. Mary Ann Sharp, of 37, Park Road. Dr. Wilks, who was the only witness, stated that he was called in on Tuesday to see Mrs. Sharp, who was suffering from excessive bilious vomiting. He told her she was not to stay in the house alone with her husband, who was confined to his bed, and Mr. B. Wilks, a gentleman in the house, being also confined to his bed. Witness left the house entirely under the impression that another woman would he called in. The next morning he went to the house, and upon entering found the deceased lying on the stairs dead. She had not apparently fallen with a crash, but had evidently sunk down on her knees first while going up. In his opinion she died from syncope, caused by exhaustion, consequent upon excessive vomiting. This concluded the evidence, but Dr. Wilks added that the husband of the deceased told him that his wife went downstairs about half-past nine in the morning to unlatch the door. Soon after she left the room he heard her stumble and groan, and though he called out to her, he obtained no answer.

The Coroner in summing up, said that it was a stricken house, for the nurse had told him that Mr. Sharp was practically expiring.

The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence. Additional sadness is given to the tragedy by the fact that Mr. Sharp died on Friday morning. He was 62 years of age.