“An inquest into the death of Dennis Christian Chaplin was opened in Whangarei by the district coroner (Mr. J. G. Draper) yesterday afternoon and adjourned pending the report of a post-mortem examination he had ordered. Chaplin, a soldier on leave, was found dead in the porch of the Commercial Hotel, where he was a guest, early yesterday morning. Ernest George Hartridge, licensee of the Commercial Hotel, said he had known Chaplin for 10 years. Thirty-six or 37 years of age, Chaplin was a barman in civilian life and had gone to the hotel as his guest last Thursday, when he had been in good health. On Sunday night he had complained of a touch of indigestion and at about 3 a.m. on Monday he had gone to witness' bedroom, where he had been given indigestion powder, had his chest massaged and had then returned to bed. This treatment had been repeated half-an-hour later when witness and his wife had been called to Chaplin’s bedroom by another guest. At 4 a.m. he had again complained of feeling ill and a cup of tea had been made for him and he had been taken to the lounge where he could get some exercise, but shortly afterwards witness was informed by the night porter that Chaplin had collapsed and had been found in the porch by the front door. A doctor had been called and had pronounced life to be extinct.

Another guest at the hotel and a soldier from the same camp. William Brown, said that early on Monday morning Chaplin had complained of pains in the vicinity of the heart, but said he had not previously been troubled.”

[Northern Advocate, 13 July 1943, Page 2]

“A verdict in accordance with medical evidence, that death was caused by ventricular fibrillation due to atheromatous osclusion of the coronary vessels, was returned by the district coroner (Mr J. G. Draper) at a resumed inquest in Whangarei yesterday, concerning the death of Dennis Christian Chaplin. 38, soldier and barman, who was found dead early this month at the Commercial Hotel, where he was a guest.” 

[Northern Advocate, 30 July 1943, Page 2]