The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-08 00:00:00

POISONING BY MISADVENTURE.

An inquest wail held by Mr. W. Carter, the
Coroner for East Surrey, yesterday, at the Salutation,
Princes-street, Stamford-street, on the body of Christopher
Kemish, aged 50, who has for a great many years Leto in the
employment of Mr. Roupell, M.P., as • workman upon his
Lambeth estate, who came by his death by taking an over-
dose of colchicum, under the following circumstances
appeared from the evidence of the widow of the deceased
and other witnesses, that the family lived io Catherine-
street, Cornwall-road, and that for a considerable
period the deceased had suffered from gout, and
he was in the habit of doctoring himself, his
principal remed being tincture of colchicum, •
deadly poison, but which, taken in small quantities,
the deceased fancied gave him relief, or warded off an
attack. The deceased went to bed on Tuesday night4u%
parently well, but from the evidence of his wife, it would
seem that about one o'clock on the following morning he
felt some indications that he should have so attack of gout,
and he got up for the purpose of taking a dose of what be,
no doubt, believed to be an infallible remedy. It was his
custom, it appeared, always to have a supply of colchicum
at hand, and there were two bottles, one containing a small
portion of colchicum, and the other nearly full, upon the
drawers, and it is supposed that he took up the
latter, and according to his usual habit he placed
the bottle to his mouth, and drank what be
considered to be his usual dole ; but there is no doubt that
owing to the bottle being full he took very much man of
the deadly ingredient than he intended. He was very
shortly afterwards seized with violent purging, but he did
not think that anything was wrong until about 7 o'clock in
the morning, when, upon getting lapsed looking at the
bottle', be exclaimed " Good God ! I have taken the wrong
bottle." Soon after this the deceased became very ill, and
Dr. Johnson, a medial gentleman residing in the Waterloo-
road, was sent for, aid he et once saw the nature
of the case, but owing to the period the noxious
ingredient had been in the stomach of the de-
ceased, the stomach pump would have been useless, and
all that could be done was to employ stimulants and other
remedies to arrest the prover of the poison. These, how-
ever. proved of no avail, and the deceased gradually sank
sod expired in great agony in the course of the evening.
The coroner hrtieffy called the attention of the jury to the
facts of the case, and said that the evidence left so doubt
that the melancholy occurrence was the result of accident,
and the jury at once returned a verdict, " That the
de-
ceased had poisoned himself by misadventure."

We (Dover Chronick) understand that the South
Eastern Railway Company intend shortly to comtnesice a
day service between Dover sad Ostend. It is not unlikely
also that ere long a service will commence between Dover
and Boulogne. The facilities offered at this port for em.
barking and disembarking, at all times of the tide, are
highly appreciated by the great body of travellers between
England sod the Continent, and the wisdom of the judg-
ment which guided the government in their determination
to erect the Admiralty Pier at Dover, is being more and
more recognised by the travelling public.