The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-03-18 00:00:00

Egittsbirt.

TROWBRIDGE. DEATH OF AN INFANT
THROUGH THS UNSKILFULNESS OF A MIDWIFE.—
On Saturday evening an inquest wai held at
Trowbridge, before Mr. 6. Sylvester, coroner, on
the body of an illegitimate child of a woman named
Ellen Ship. It appeared that the midwife,
Catherine Roberts, performed her duties without the
assistance of a medical man; and the evidence of Mr.
John Stapleton, surgeon, proved that the child was
born dead in consequence of her unskilfulness. The
jury returned a verdict of stillborn, uniting with the
coroner in a caution to Roberta.

EXTRAORDINARY AND DISTRESSING SUI
CIDE THROUGH DISAPPOINTED LOVE.

On Thursday an inqnest was held at the Ship inn,
Trowbridge, before G. Sylvester. Esq., coroner, on the
body of a very fine young woman named Mary Moore,
aged 19, who died on the previous day from the effects
of poison.
It appeared from the evidence that the deceased was
devotedly attached to eyeing man named Pitney, with
whom she had kept company some time, but he being
very jealous, had sent her a note previous to her death,
in which he stated that he intended, from some ground-
less supposition he had formed of her conduct, to leave
home and wander as an outcast, and beg his bread. He
concluded the epistle with some foul and false aspersions
on her character. This, it is supposed, so affected her
mind that she determined to put an end to her
existence. On Saturday evening she went to four or
five different chemists' shops in Trowbridge. when she
purchased from one to two pennysworth of laud/mum,
and, as all the chemists identified the some bottle, the
inference is clear that she drank each quantity as she
purchased it. The total quantity she purchased was 9
drichms 27 grains. At five o'clock she took tea at her
sist3r's house, between which time and nine o'clock the
fatal deed was committed. She returned to her sister's
at nine, was taken ill, they put her to bed, sent for a
medical man, but she died early on Sunday morning.
Mr. G. M. Sylvester, surgeon, said he could not
ascertain what the deceased was labouring under when
he first REM her, but finding some letters which she had
written to her sweetheart, in which she had stated she
should be no more that evening, he suspected the
present* of poison, and treated her accordingly. All
efforts, however, were fruitless,
. _

All the witnesses who saw the deceased just' before
she was taken ill, concurred in saying that she seemed
perfectly sane. and there was nothing in her appearance
to excite suspicion.
The following is an extract from • letter she wrote to
her sweetheart just before she took the poison :
Trowbridge, March 8, 1862.
My Dear William—By the time you read this, I
shall, in all'probability, be cold in death. Do not, I
beseech you, cherish ill-will and hatred towards me,
even in my grave. I love you more than Ido my
life. If I live it must be without you, but what comfort
have lof my life. It is very wrong and wicked, I
know, to wish to rush headlong into the presence of my
Maker. But what can I do? My very soul recoils at
the prospect of death.

" hopes and fears start up alarmed, and o'er
Life's narrow verge, look down—on what?
A fathomles abyss—a dread eternity,
Now surely mines"
Yet, 11151liam, could I but be assured of forgiveness, I
should 'die comparatively happy. I could brave every-
thing for your:sake, love.
" With thee I hoped to pass the pleasing day,
Till in thine arms an age of joy were past ;
Then,.old,with love, insensibly decay,

. . .
And on thy bosom gently breathe my lest.
I have for ever forfeited your love, I know, by my
conduct tower& you. lam not, nor have I ever been,
as bad as you think I have. . . . You have been
kind and good to me, more than many would have been.
May the Lord reward you for it. . . . You did once
love me. 0, William, it is my dying request, do not
spurn it, turn to the Lord while yet there is time. You
have not long to live, make the most of the time you
have ; stay at home for my sake, and be as happy as
you can there. Do not reproach yourself for my death.
I deserve it; but do think as kindly as you can of me.

. . . Gino more let me intreat you to forgive ine,
Good bye, my dearest William; tongue cannot tell
how much I love you. May you be happy and forget
me. If it is possible. . . . I will appear to you
after death, and assure you of my never dying love.
[The following is written in deceased's blood.] Good
bye, my dearest, for ever.
Yours, in death,
MARY MOORZ.
_

Good bye ; be happy, William, for my sake.
Mr. Bartruin, solicitor, watched the proceedings on
behalf of William Pitney, the individaal referred to in
the above letter. _ _

The jury returned • verdict that deceased came by her
death from the effects of laudanum administered by her
own hand, but there was no evidence to show what state
of mind she was in at the time.
_ .

The- parents of the deceased are highly respected in the
town upon which the melancholy affair has oast quite a
gloom.
In June, 1249, the deceased's sweetheart, Win.
Pitney, wrote an extraordinary declaration of his attach-
ment to the deceased, in which he called upon all the
host of Heaven ~to witness "this solemn and binding
oath," "that he would devote his Itte and everything
connected therewith to her service." This epistle is
written in blood, and concludes, "Signed by Alfred
William Pitney, in his own heart's blood."