The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-01-10 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF A BARRISTER.

An inquest has been held in London at Serjeants'-
inn, Chancery-lane, on the body of Mr. Gil to me Evans.
aged forty.four, barrister-at-law and the Registrar of
her Majesty's Commission on Railways, who was found
dead in bed, shot through the brain. Mr. GJodman,
solicitor, having identified the body, Mrs. Wright, the
housekeeper of 3, Serjeante-inr, deposed that the
deceased bad been in ill.health for some weeks Fast,
but on Thursday evening a4peared more cheerful than
usual, when she tiok him his dinner at a qua ter-past
six. The next morning she went upstairs to call laini
about eight o'clock, but getting no answer to her re-
peated knocks at the door, and being fearful that he
might have become ill, the sent for Mr. Hall, the lock-
smith, of Fetter-lane, who brokeoperi the door. Witness
then went into the bed-room, arid discovered Mr. Evans
lying dead in bed, with a small revolver grasped in
his left hand, and a large pool of blood upon the floor,
which had flowed from a wound in his head. She at
once sent for a doctor and the police, but the services
of the former were of course unavailing, for the poor
gentleman had been dead for rime six or seven hours.
Mr. Hall, the locksmith, and the Police-constable
having given confirmatory evidence,
Mr. Macnamara, barrister, mentioned thst
Evans had recently been appointed Registrar to the
Rail way C.thmiesion, at a salary of i!800 per annum.
Su convinced were the commissioners of his qualificas
tions for the office, that he was not required to undergo
any examination whatever. As he had been complain-
ing of illness, witness advised him to go to the country
for a short time, but he objected to leave town. lie
always seemed anxious to shirk every kind of personal
responeibility. On one occasion, he spoke of blowing
his brains out, the folly of which witness pointed out to
him. He was a man of high character.
Mr. Phillips, barrister, who had long known the
deceased, stated that latterly he Buffered from nervous
agitation and morbid fears. Ile also manifested an
anxiety to evade the company of his friends and rela-
tives. For some time past he had not been working
so hard as formerly.
Mr. Jenkins, another barrister, who had chambers
on the same floor, also spoke of the change of manner
noticeable in the deceased, and mentioned that on
Christmas Eve he went to his chambers and invited
him to dinner for next day, but he declined the offer
on the ground of indisposition.
After hearing the evidence, the jury returned a ver-
dict " That the deceased had committed suicide whilst
of unsound mind."

THE BISHOP OF LONDON ON SENTI-
MENTAL RELIGION.
The Bishop of London, according to annual custom,
preached at St. Paul's on Sunday night, and in the
course of an earnest sermon on the true work of life
—religion, not merely w aship, which* only a part of
it, but the fulfilment of our duty to man and God—
the Bishop made a protest against a form of religion
much in vogue among the educated classes of the
present day. It is, said his lordonip, a kind
of sentimental religion which loves to dream
over devotional books, over what may be termed
the poetry of Christianity, which makes much
of the beauties of architecture and music, and
longs for a gorgeous ritual such as primitive Christi-
anity never wanted, and such as is not required no*.
This religion, said the Bishop, knows uotlimg of stern
realities of life, for mere religion's sentiment by no
means necessarily involves self.denial. It is not even
connected with the doing of God's will, while it may
exist with grosser sin. It often leads to irreligion and
vanity; it seldom leads to Christ. There WB.B a large
congregation filling the space uodewthe dome, and the
Bishop's sermon was listened to with great Attention.