The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-24 00:00:00

AFFLICTING SUICIDE OF A YOUNG LADY.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
On Thursday night a Coroner's Inquisition was held at the
Artillery Arms Tavern, Vauxhall-road. before Mr. limos, the
Deputy Coroner for Westminster, and a respectable Jury, to in-
quire into the death of llfi.s Elizabeth Georgians Burt, a young
lady just turned sixteen years of age, daughter of Mr. Henry
Burt, of the house of Wood and Co. the brewers, in the Horseferry-
road.

The Jury, afar taking a view of the body, returned to the
Tavern, when the following evidence touching the lamentable
affair was brought forward:—
Mary Gale stated that she was a servant to Mr. Baker, the pro-
prietor
of this tavern, and knew the deceased young lady, who re-
sided with her father and mother in Willow-street, Vauxhall-road.
On Tuesday evening she met her, and the deceased said she was
very ill. and that some person had told her that James Gant, a
youth with whom she kept company, had been seen walking on
the Sunday previous with another young lady who resided in the
neighbourhood. IVitness laughed at her, and told her not to mind
It. She seemed terribly affected, and shed tears. tVitness saw no
more of her until about ten o'clock the next morning, wben she
(witness) was in her master's yard washing dishes, and the deceased
spoke to her over the wall that separates the yard of the house of
her parents from that of witness's master. She was crying bitterly,
and on witness asking what was the matter with her, she said she
was very ill, and requested her to go and fetch Mrs. Thatcher, a
neighbour. Witness observed she looked very dejected and pale,
and repeated the interrogation—WhlCl the matter? The deceased
then said she had just taken half on ounce of arsenic, avid that she
had purchased it at the shop of Mr. Kendrick, an oilman opposite.
Witness was not aware that arsenic was of a poisonous nature, and
asked her it she thought it would kill her ? and sbe said. " Oh yes,
I am dying I-1 am dying !—Oo and fetch Mrs. Thatcher." NA'it-
ness was terribly alarmed at what site had heard, and went to Mrs.
T.. .eho proceeded to the house of the deceased
Juror—Did at :deceased state. whether she had been cautioned
by Mr. Kendrick as to using the arsenic?
Winn es—She said that she told Mr. Kendrick, when she bought
the pakiMr that it was .0 destroy rats; and he (llr. Kendriik)
had told her to be very careful of it, as it was rank poison, and
that the least bit would destroy any person.
Coroner—Did the deceased, when you saw het last,-seem to be,
in her senses ? _

Witness—She cried bitterly, and seemed to be quite thought:cse
of the danger 'the was in, and appeared melancholy.
Mrs. Thatcher, who resides next door to Mr. Burt, stated that
when the last witness told her that Miss Burt wanted her, she went
immediately to the house, arid in the parlour she saw the deceased
sitting on the sofa, weeping very much ; she seemed to be dying.
On her speaking to her, she said she had taken poison, and that '
her father and mother were from home. Witness saw on the table
a tea-cup which had contained the draught. The deceased said
that she bought the arsenic at Kendrick's, had mixed It in the tea-
cup, and bad 'swallowed it all. Witness instantly ran for Mr.
Painter, the surgeon, In the Horseferry-road, who came instantly,
and used every means in his power to prolong life, but she died
after the most bitter agonies, about haltpast seven in the everjng.
Mr. Painter, the surgeon, said that when he saw the deceased
she was quite sensible, and told him what quantity of the poison
she had taken. lie ettendecl her for nine hours, during which
time he administered emetics, in which were upwards of forty
eggs, and other remedied, to counteract the effects of the poison,
but without effect. She lingered in the most excruciating agony
till eight o'clock in the evening, when she expired. Ile had opened
the body, and found that the coats of the stomach were completely
destroyed • that five minutes after she had taken the draught there
was not the least prospect of her recovery, the internal injury being
so great, from the quantity she had taken.
Mr. Henry Burt, }he father of the deceased, was called in ; lie
I was deeply affected, and shed tears. He stated that he had of late
observed a great alteration in his daughter's behaviour, and from
circumstances that since her death had occurred to him, he had no
hesitation latticing she laboured under an aberration of intellect.
He knew nothing of any intercourse between her and young Gant,
I nor had'he seen any letters.
Mr. Kendrick, oilman, in the Vauxhall-mad, stated, that about
10 o'clock, on Wednesday morning, Miss Burt came into his shop,
and asked for half an ounce of arsenic ; he asked her for what pur-
pose she wanted it ? She said that their cellar was overrun with
rats, and that she was going to spread it on some bread and butter
to destroy them. Witness served her, anti she, looking at the
quantity, said, Why, Mr. Kendrick, here's not enough to de-
stroy one rat," Witness told her that there was enough to poison
fifty such rats as her and he ; had he suspected for what purpose
she wanted it, of course, be would not have served her at all, nor
would he, had she been estranger.
One of the Jury thought Mr. Kendrick had acted highly intim.
per to ll such a dangerous drug to an inexperienced person.
Mr. Kendrick said, he did not usually mil it : he hept it for the
purpose of:introducing it into green paint. Me had taken every
pains to caution her, and told her to throw what she did not use
down the privy.
The Jury consulted a short time, and then returned a verdict—
" That this decrawsl poisoned herself in a state of temporary
insanity."

An Inquest was held 'yesterday at the Star, Spitalfields. on
view of the body of Elizabeth Bonner, who was supposed to have
come to her death by apoplexy. Frances Kelly, an inmate of the 1
Star, which adjoins the house in which the deceased used to reside,
deposed, that on Monday last. between the hours of twelve and
ot:e at noon, she heard a noise something resembling a groan, and
finding that it proceeded from the mom occupied by the deceased,
she at first coneidered that she might be intoxicated, to which pro-
pensity she was greatly addicted, and therefore took no notice of
it. The noise, however, having been repeated several times, she
gave the alarm, and in company with the landlord forced open Owl
door, and found the deceased quite dead, lying stretched on the
fluor. Surgical aid was immediately sent for. but life was quite
extinct. The deceased was nearly sixty years of age. The sur.
geon's opinion. which was that she died in a fit or apoplexy, was
tally confirmed by the circumstances attending her death. and the
conduct she had for some time past pursued. and the Jury without
hesitation returned a verdict of tt Accidental Death."

A melancholy accident befel Mr. Remington Hoare, of
Hornsey, well known as a frequenter of the turf, on his way from
Doncaster, after the gold cup had been run for on Wetinteday.
He was travelling home by way ((Nottingham, with a Me. Evans,
in a gig, when the home shyed. and ran the vehicle off the road
down a precipice of four or five feet. clan upon Iyealtam ;
and 111 r. H. who wan driving. was killed on the spot by the
chaise falling upon him. Mr. Eva:mead the hone were pot ma-
terially hurt.
The house of Vincent Abdy, FAq. No. S, Walra-terrace,
A.ing's.road, Chelsea, was broken into on Thursday night by
getting over a back wall; but fortunately Hansard, who is an
;n-door servant, 111114 awoke by the breaking open of some
drawee in the parlour: and the thieves escaped, without taking
away a single article which they had packed up.
The Proprietors of the Aoglish Gentleman having offered
to insert gratuitously (it being for a charitable subscription) the
Hs: of the kind persons whose timely donations enabled ins to ex-
tricate two young and respectable women from custody, and maw"
them to their former pursuits, that of conducting* seminary, 1 beg
to state that 1 shall avail inyaeff of the columns of that Paper on
Sunday next, the Ath inst. Ws. Jannis, AlvahPL
King's &oat Pisan, Sept. 2h 1838.