Coroner of New York City

The Coroner of New York City issued death certificates and performed autopsies and inquests for New York County, New York, for all homicides, suicides and accidental deaths and any suspicious deaths.

The office served only Manhattan until 1891 when the city expanded. After the 1891 consolidation of New York City the office handled the outer boroughs, with each outer borough having two coroners.^[1] Coroners were elected at the same time as the Mayor of New York City for a term of four years and there was no requirement that the candidate had to be a physician. They could be removed from office by the Governor of New York.

If a coroner died in office, or was fired, or quits, someone was appointed to fill out their term.^{[citation needed]} The coroners received a salary and also billed the city for services rendered for each autopsy and inquest.

By 1896 the Manhattan coroner was earning $6,000 per year, and in 1897 each inquest was billed at $8.50.^[2]

In 1915 a law was passed to abolished the office on January 1, 1918. It was replaced with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. The medical examiner was to be a physician and no longer had the ability to hold inquests, which became the responsibility of the district attorney.^[3] Between 1898 when the city was consolidated and 1915 when the office went from coroner to medical examiner, 65 coroners had served in the position. Of them, nineteen were physicians, eight were undertakers, seven were politicians, six were real estate agents, two were saloon keepers, two were plumbers, one was a musician, one was a dentist, and one was a butcher.^[4]