The Inquisition: Quite Expected

Coroner’s inquests were very common in 1880s in New York City. Any unusual death or questionable death had to pass by the coroner (or one of his deputies or assistants) and sometimes an inquest was empaneled.

In the case mentioned below, the coroner was Richard Croker, a life-long politician with no medical training whatsoever. This was the primary problem with the coroner system: as an political position it was especially prone to corruption. Corruption was so extreme that eventually the cor...