The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-12 00:00:00

A BUU.KDIAKEB.'S SUIUIDE.
FELO DE SE.

On Monday afternoon Mr. Carttar, West Kent
coroner, held a lengthy inquiry into the death of
Charles Sinclair Middleton Cox, aged 43, a bill dis-
counter, of Rose Lawn, Southend-road, Lewisham,
who on Friday of last week shot himself in the head
with a gun, he at the time awaiting his trial at Staf-
ford Assizes on charges of conspiracy and perjury.
The widow having identified the body, the evidence
showed that on Friday last the deceased,after writing
for some time in a book, went upstairs to his bed-
room, telling his daughter Lilian, aged 14, that he
wanted her directly he was ready. She shortly after
heard the report of a gun in the room, and called the
cook and gardener, and on the latter opening the
door he saw the deceased lying dead on the floor.
The gardener went for a doctor, who came with a con-
stable. Police-sergeant Rogers, 23 P, the coroner's
officer, said he found the deceased in the back bed-
room, lying on his stomach, with his head under him.
Lying under him was a double-barrelled gun (one
chamber of which had been recently discharged and
the other was loaded), and a steel for sharpening
knives. There was smoke in the room. He picked
up deceased and laid him on the bed, and found the
back of his head was blown completely away, and there
was a wound on the front of the forehead, where he
had been shot, On examining the room he found a
book (produced) and some memoranda. He should
say Mr. Cox was sitting on the bed when he shot him-
self, and fell forwards. In a drawer he found some
cartridges. Deceased would be too short in the arm
to reach the trigger of the gun the way he was sitting,
but could reach it with the steel. He had heard there
were criminal charges pending against Mr. Cox. The
widow, recalled, said her husband had said if his
troubles lasted much longer he would destroy him-
self. The Coroner read from the documents para-
graphs in the deceased's handwriting, in which he re-
ferred to an action tried at Shrewsbury, in which he
was plaintiff, and amongst other things be Wrote
that he was smarting too much under injuries
done him to wish to quarrel with anyone. In
another place he spoke of wanting money for his
defence at Stafford. A letter, c ipied by his daughter,
spoke of his determination to raise £lOOO by Monday,
but he must put up with high terms if he could not
get it otherwise. In another place he wrote that he
did not conspire to get money from Mr. Wood (the
defendant in the action), as he could have got it
upon certain horses he named without getting into
trouble. Wood's solicitor had offered him his claim
in full. In another place he said Mr. Baron Huddle-
ston had been " squhred." He would swear it on
his dying oath. The jury, he also said, was packed,
and now he was asked to take on another packed
jury. By the miserable affair he sacrificed his life
and £2,5,000, or equivalent to it. If he had put his
money into Consols instead of being lured into dis-
counting bills he would have been a rich man; bat
now he was "broke." George W. Whitfield, chief
constable of Shrewsbury, said he saw deceased at
Shrewsbury Assizes on July 20 last, when he was
plaintiff in an action against a Mr. Wood. On the
second day of the trial the action was stopped by
the direction of the judge, Mr. Baron Huddleston,
and a verdict given for the defendant. Cox and
four others were then given into witness's custody on
charges of conspiracy and perjury. Witness charged
tbena at the M .yor's Court, and they were remanded
in custody with the exception of Cox. They were
brought up again and committed for trial with the
exception of a man named Slack, who gave evidence.
The magistrates refused bail for Cox, but nearly a
month afterwards he was -admitted to bail—himself
in £lOOO and two sureties of £5OO each. The assizes
at Stafford, at which the deceased was to have
appeared, were arranged to commence on the 14th
inst. Thomas Roots, detective-inspector, from Scot-
land-yard, said he had had the case of Cox in hand
by direction of the Public Prosecutor. He was
present when the deceased wan committed for trial
at Shrewsbury, and had seen the body and identified
it as that of the man Cox who was committed. After
the coroner had summed up the jury deliberated for
nearly an hour, and then returned a verdict that the
deceased came by his death by feloniously shooting
himself with a gun, which verdict, the coroner said,
was one of felo de se.