From the November 15, 1877 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Coroner Carroll, of Newtown, was called to the hotel of Christian F. Siebs, at Middle Village, on Monday, to hold and inquest on the body of an unknown man. Mr. Siebs testified that at ten o’clock on Sunday night he heard a noise outside of his house, and calling two men, they procured a lamp and went out. They found the man on the road in a comatose state, and unable to stand. His clothes were very wet. They carried him into the house, replaced the wet clothes with dry ones and they carried him to the barn, laid him on some hay and covered him with some blankets and robes. Next morning he was dead. He was apparently an Italian, about thirty-five years old. The jury found that he had died ‘from congestion of the brain caused by excessive use of alcoholic liquors.””