The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-08 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS.

MELawcernew Accinewe'.--Yesterday evening an Inepti- 1
sition was taken at the Bricklayer's Arms, Elisa-street, Five
Yields, Chelsea, before Tnos. 11 :Gus, Esq. Deputy Coroner for
Wountin eeee on the bodiesof John Puton Humphries and Mi-
chael Newateld, who came to their deaths under the following me-
lancholy circumstances :
Dlr. John Samuel Emery, builder, residing at No. 2. Ebury. I
street, Five Fields, deposed, that the deceased men were employed
by him u labourers. They were each about 22 years of age. 31r. I
Bramwell et Ebury.street, wine.tuerrhant, employed witness to .
take down a brick arch, about 9 feet in Indent. On Saturday
• morning the deceased men commenced pulling down the said arch ; .
witness was
.superintending. About twetty minutes past ten
o'clock, witness was called out from under the arch by a friend,
named Harvey, who ,aid that he imagined there was great danger '
he being under the arch; witness, hoesecer, considered it perfectly 11
safe, but removed front under it. At this time Humphries and .
Newsteed were working underneath. and another lehoer, r, named ;
Dlimaid, was on the top, sweeping °tithe rubbish. iVitneie had ;
not been above five MillUtel from under the arch, end was standing :
near, talking to Mr. Ilarvey, when it fell in. and buried the tie.
ceased men underneath. %Vitness, ar.d a number of other hands,
instantly eommeneesl, with the utoaest precipitation, to retnose the ;
bricks, for the purpose of extricating the unfortunate men. Hunt- i
nitric* yes taken out in about tierce-quay sof an hour, he ap-
peered quite lifeless. The other uetertunate man, Newstead, was
1 taken out a few minutes afterwards ; he also was apparently quite
dead. They were both conveyed to a surgeen's in the vtemity,
who, with the greatest promptitude, used ever' exertion to restore
life, but without effect, as the vital spark had lied. AVitnefs, due.
ing the whole of his pradize, never remembers an arch failing in
in a 'tinnier manner. It was purely accidental.
Edward Flogers, a fellow-vorkinan of the deceased's, on being
sworn, stated that on the rimming of the accident lie was ordered by
Mr. Ente-y to dear away tie bricks in the vicinity of the ardl . •
about half-past ten o'clock, Ilumphties and Newstead were under 1
the arch ; witness heard Mr. Emery say, that he considered the i• '
arch perfectly safe ; a few mien:es afterwards, however, it 11l in,
and antothert:ti the deceased ; witness assisted in extricating them
frotu under tie bricks ; boththe men were quire lifelees ; the arch i
was net very old.
Two of the labourers were examined, but their evidence was I '
merely s corroboration of the last •:•itecet. . 1
The I:011031Eu addressed the Jury, and said that it was evilest I i
that the death* of the unfortunate teen vas acciderral, but et the i '
same time he considered that the catastrophe might have been fore- 1 ,
"MO 1)." the person who WU! °vet looLitig the work, and he conceived 1 '
that a dAsfund ought to be put on the inch.
The Jury, after a few minute's consultation, returned a verdict i
;
of " Accidental Death, with a deodand urea the arch of ji." I .

I.nst night an Inquisition was tahen at the George pub:'; -house
in Wartlitur.street, Soho, before Mr. II tces. the Coroner, on the
body of 7..1r. Joseph l'earce. aho pot a period to his life.
Mr. Robert Pmrce, residing at No. 48, Greek-street, Film.
roared, that he was brother to the deceased, who was forty years
old, and lived at 11'ardriur-street. About nine o'clock
yesterday mernirg, be was tint for to the house of the deer:vil,
and on his arrival he found him on the bed, mill afire, but suite
unable to Niesk. Ile had a must desperate wound in the neck, and
his person was deluged with blood. There was a auzgton preNtiot,
who declared the wound to be mortal, and in two or three minutes
after his arrival the deceased expired. It would appear Mat the
deceased had been shaving himself when he comniitte.d the dread-
ful act, as the shaving apparatos was on the dressing-table, and also
a razor, covered with blood. About two months ago his father died,
since which the deceased appeared always in a melancholy stale,
and frequently complained of his head, and that he felt a dtitct its 1
him it ; his friends entleavounnd to cheer him, but it was of
no aysil, he always seemed desponding. Witness was with him till
eight o'clock the preceding night, and left him in his usual state of
mmd. lle has left a wife and two young child: en.

MELANCHOLT OCCURIIENCE-3londay night an Inqui,ition
was taken at the IVelbegton Tavern, Brook-street, Kumla be-
fore J. vr. L etwiy, Esq. and a very respectable Jury, on view of
the bedy of Mrs. Margaret Elleed, aged thirty-nine, wife of Mr.
Eldred, a veterinary surgeon, who was unfortunately killed by her
husband.

Alm. Sarah /Inflict, sworn.—l reside next door to the St erased,
in Glass-house.fields, Ilateliff. On Monday night, the 23:11 ult.
the husband of the deceased came to me. and requested I would
come to his wife as soon as erosible. Witness immediately went,
and on entering the bed-chamber, found the deceasttl lying ). bed
with her clothes on. I ask, ti what was the matter, and the de-
esased answered feeble, that she was very ill. and that it was tl:c
Wee% of passion. 1 'asked her why site put herself in a passim),
particularly when she was situated as she was (the deceased was in
the last month of her pregnancy) ; the deceased said that site and
her husband had bad a few words, and that she wan more to bl.:r.:e
than him ; thee he had staid out later that night than she wished,
and that she fl:gv at him directly he open.A the street door. I told
the deceased that it would have beets much better if she had hcid
her peace in her present situation; the deceased said she wished
si. had. No forthereonversarien woke at that time. I un.
dreseed her, put her to bed, and sent fur Pr. Harkness, who im-
mediately attended. I rent sine:l with the deceased all that ;dein.
eStier Pr. Darkness went away, deceased said site was getting very
ill, anti desired me to call her husband to the hs...side ; on his ap-
proaching her the deceased said. "Joseph, I hope the Lord will
forgive you and me, for one is as bad as the miser ; be kind to my
babes. fur I ant going to that place front whence I shall never re.
turn." I desired the husband to go again for the Doctor, and net
to come back saluted him. lie did so. and Mr. Darkness again
attend.al. The deceased became more composed, and told me that
she thought site had broken a blood-vessel. tshurdy after this she
asked me if I did not think it would have 1-e.. .n better if she had
told the Doctor she had been kicked by her husband ? I persuaded
her to tea the truth, which she agreed to do. On the Wednesday
she seemed somewhat Bence, but in the course of We day she be.
came worse, and expired about ten o'clock that night.
In anew: rto a question front a Juryman, the witness said that
the deceased had teld iter before herdcath that her husband had given
her a dreadful kick.

---
Mr. Harkness and Dr. Conquest, of Finabury.equare, deposed
to the marks of violence on the body of the deceased.
The eosins:Ea recapitulated the evidenc:, and the Jury, after
a long dad:ration, returned a verdict of " Manslaughter" against
Mr. Eldred. the husband. who we. immediately apprehended on
the Coroner's warrant, and committed to prison.