Hi Dianne Now that is surprising! Seems I might have to do some more investigating!! In all I have some 300 or more Death Certificates and not one says how the person died only why. I must admit I've only one criminal in the lot on a distant branch of the tree and he died whilst in prison but not from hanging. He died of chronic Cirrhosis of the Liver, Heart Failure and sever haemorrhaging of the brain all caused by a lifelong habit of serious substance abuse but there is no mention of substance abuse on the Death Cert only the string of medical diseases and health problems that actually caused his demise. Likewise none of the others say how either but go to considerable length in stating why. I kind of draw the conclusion from what you have said and from what I have discovered that perhaps some Doctors did in fact state the 'Why' on the Death Cert. but it was perhaps not a regular practice. Interesting - lets hope Julie can manage the Death Cert for her enquiry and hopefully she will publish the results. Regards Ron Phillips Melbourne Victoria ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dianne Hughes" <bill.di@bigpond.net.au> To: <aus-vic-western-district@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 1:39 PM Subject: [AUS-VIC-WESTERN-DISTRICT] Death by Hanging > The death certificate sometimes states the cause of death was "Judicial > execution" and an inquest would be held immediately and usually the > coroner gives the cause of death as either by hanging or judicial > execution. With the way the wording is on the cause of death nothing is > left to the imagination. I've looked at a few hanging for Geelong and > they usually make it very clear how the person died. > Dianne Hughes > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > AUS-VIC-WESTERN-DISTRICT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message