The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-31 00:00:00

Tim EXPRESS, TlillitsDAT &TIM% DECEMBSE 31, 18$1.

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The prisoner was fully ecusisitted for trisl, his defense
bring reserved. The investigation lasted eve hours.
The inquest on the body of the reordered nuiti Kemp
was held after the examination before the makistreinr ;
and after another my length
invidry been Kr.
E. Z. B.ek, the elety coroner, a visage of " Witfal
murder " against WZliast Bridgwatir was reburied.

EXTRAORDINARY DRAM OF 4 WOMAN AN
A FOLIC6 CELL.

WPM/ CZAIIOI sonnet' TIE FOWL
Last evening Mr. John Humphreys, coroner,
held an inquest at the Old Mermaid Tavern, Ifigh-street,
Hackney, respecting the death of Mrs. Hanaah Sounders,
aged 66 years.
The deceased was the wife of a cab proprietor, and her
family alleged that her death had been caused by.treat-
anent which she bad received while • prisoner in the
Hackney Pelice.station, after the officers in charge of her
bad been informed that she was ins dangerous state.
Mr. William Saunders, 68, Orwat Chard-street,
Hosten. deposed that the deceased was him wife, and
that the family had lived in one hone 16 years. Wit-
ness bad had a quarrel with the landlord and he gave
hem notice to quit, but witness refused to leave, and that
fact preyed upon her mind. On Sunday he was informed
that the police bad arrested her on the charge of attempt-
ing. to commit suicide. He went to the station, and after
wring his wife be told the police that she was ill and be
offered to bail her out, but-they refused to allow him to
do so. SW died five hours afterward, from the sleets of
the cold in the damp cell. Before her death repeated
spelicstions were made to the police for additional
c'othing for her, as she was very eold, the cell being paved
with alone. She had nothing to rest upon except •
wooden bench, and that was so uncomfortable that she
had to tit upon it. Her feet—she bail only stockings on
touch( d the wet stones. She had been locked up in the
eell for 24 hours and there was no light in it.
Jones Saunders, • boy aged 12, said that on Saturday
evening, at half-past 6 o'clock. his mother bid him "Good
bye" in so strange a manner that he was induced to fol-
low her, but he lost sight of her while she was turning
the corner of Huntington-street. She said to him when
she was going out, " You will have to get • new mother."
John lionson, a policeman, said that between Sand 9
o'clock on Sattuslay night he heard • splash in the
Regent's Canal, near the Sir Walter Scott bridge, and
upon going to see what was the matter, he saw
• dark object in the water. He procured the
drags, and in seven minutes the deceased was taken
out alive. She was carried to the SieWalter Soon timers,
and her clothes were taken off with the exception of her
chemise. Br. Thornton was sent for, end ho said. "She
is all right for removal," and he left. Her chemise was
cuite wet, and she was then placed on • stretcher. TIN
eople at the tavern did not bud her any clothes; but Mr.
Jm a. a fruiterer, seeing her lying on the stretcher in her
wet t hetnise, covered her with a sack which he lent for
the purpose. She was then carried from the Queen's.
r, ad Bridge. Balaton, to the Hackney polioastation.
Witness charged her with attempting to anoint suicide.
The reason why he sent for the stretcher, was that
*l,e aas natal for • time before it arrival. . .

,Coroner—What evidence heal you when you arrrtnll
that woman and took her to a police station invtead of
taking her to an hospital that she ever intended to OUZ-
mit s4ic.de

%its:mi.—None. Ido not know how she came in the
wattr.
. . .

Corona—Huy( you any instructions how to act in suzl
u (-ate? _ .

Witness—None. The deceased was sensible when she
was on the stretcher. for she said. "Wont are yo going
to do with no I told her, and she replied, —1 wiser
was in the water."
Mr. Saunders said that his wife had stated that she was
not sensible until after she was put in the well.
The witness stets d that the deceased was put into the
till at the station house about 9 o'clock.

A jui or— With her chemise all wet
Witness—Yes. 1 was then sent to the workhouse for
clethes, and I brought back two skirts, a petticoat, •
chemise, • pair of stockings, and • gown.
P. S. Hawkins, 33 N, said that when the deooased was
brought into the station she was placed lying on a
stretcher in front of the tire. She refused her name and
address. Witness sent for clothing, and a female searcher
to put the clothes on. At 2. minutes. past 9 o'clock she
was placed in the cell. During the night she never com-
plained. Atter she was put in the cell she got nothing to
eat, but at 7 o'clock on Sunday morning she was given
F,nie coffee. At half-past 4 cm. she gave the address
of her husband.

Ellin Howes, the female searcher, deposed that Vie
deceased said to her, " I hope you win take the wet
clothes off, and put dry ones on." She seamed quite
ctupid—witness thought from drink and from going into
tLe water.

F. Etftn, 604 N, deposed that a 7 o'clock on Sunday
evening ho found the deceemed dead in the all. A doctor
was then called in to see her.

Sergeant J. Keenon rid that he and his inspector had
refused to allow the deceased out on bail when her hus-
band requested them to do it. She had said to him during
Sul:day, "I do not feel well." She did not say that her
feet were cold.

By Mr. Saundere—Tie thought that the cell was a fit
place for the deceased to be locked up in. taking into con-
siderst),,n the state in which she was after she had been
in tLe canal. Witness let her husband see her in the cell.

Inspector J. Gibbons said that he refused to take
bail en the grr and that attempted suicide is not a bailable
offence. The cell was warm, and was heated bye fur-
nace underneath. The police regulated the amount of
held which the futnace was to give. The police have no
repulations about the removal of half drowned people to
hoepitals or infirmaries. It is left to their judgment. If
the deceased had been insensible she would have been
taken to an hospital.
Ey the Coroner—Wither did not know the fact that
sudden immersion is likely to produce shah and c /Win
&Mb 24 hours after the person has been taken out of the
water. He did not think it necessary to scud for the d:vi-
riot,' surgeon to see the deowed.
Mrs. Mary Burdott 60, Great Chard-street, said that
the MT/ the deceased in the cell on Sunday at 2 o'clock.
She paid that she was very cold, and had wit slept. She
complained of her head and cheat. She had ad.hing to
he on except a bard bench. Her feet were on the cold
stone pavement, which was wet. The cell was very cold
indeed. Witness gave her some brandy, and brought her
some clothes. She said, "lam so cold." She was se ill
that she could not be dressed in the additional clothing.
Witness told the inspector that the cell was dreadfully
cold, and that the deceased begged for a coat to throw
over her feet. Witness entreated of the police to let
her out on bail. The family brought a cab to
the door, and they asked the police to let the
prisoner out, so that she might he placed in
a warm bed. They asked the police to give the woman
a bed while she was lying in the cell, but they refused to
do so. The deceased told witness that she was not sensible
until she awoke in the dark cell. The cell was not a fit
place for a person in the condition of the deceased to have
been placed in.
For the defence Inspector Gibbons called
Mary Tuppley, the wife of a boot-closer, who stated
that she was an inmate of the East London Union. On
Boxing-day she became intoxicated, and the police put
her in a cell. While she was there the deceased was
brought in. There was no light in the cell, and the de-
ceased was placed lying on a wooden bench, and she spoke
of the cold. It was a very cold and damp cell, and it had
a disagreeable smell. The deceased could not eat when
she was offered a bit of bread and butter. On Sunday
night she fell off the bench on to the stones, and
then she groaned. Witness called the policeman in, and
be turned his light upon the woman's face, and it wee
very white. She was then dead. The doctor came and
said en. She ought never to have been put in the cell,
she ought to have been taken to some place where a
sob woman, who was very cold, could have been put into
a bed to get warm. She asked the police for an old coat
during the Saturday night, but they would not give her
one. The cell wail in a filthy state, but the police refused
to (lean it.

Mts. liurlatt deposed to the same fact.
Mr. W. H. Wright, police surgeon, Raid that he saw
the deceased after death. A post snottern examination of
Ler body proved that her lunge were inflated and die-
ts oiled with water. She was suffering from disease of
the heart and liver. She had died fro:a shock caused by
the immersion in the water. Great earn ought to have
lo in used to prevent fatal results after the immersion.
Attention and warmth were abmlutely necessary. The
elite cell was not a lit plane fur her to have Mien put in.
t he ought to have been removed to an hospital, and if
wants, had been called in to me her he should h-ive
colleted her removal to one. The mill was warm when
wit:lilt was in it.

TLc Comner said that the police had, without evidence,
charged a half-drowned woman with attempting to com-
mit suicide, and then carried her through the streets only
covered by a rack. She never had a chance for her life,
for in the cell she was deprived of ventilation and warmth.
The jury, after a long consultation, returned a verdict,
"That the deceased expired from the effects of shock
caused by immersion in the water while she was in a state
of unsound mind, and they censure the police for not
calling in the divisional surgeon, and locking her in a cell
the whole of a night when she might have been taken to the
German I lospital or to &workhouse infirmary, and they's,
that the police should in future call in the divisional our-
geon of the force to see persons who have been rescued
from drowning."