The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-08 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS.

On Monday evening.an inquest was held before
Mr.' &lilt bila at the Prince of Brunswick, in White
Conduit-fields, on view of the bodies of Janet and
Bessy Brown, two children, one seven, the other five
and a half years old.
George Waddington, police-officer of Hatton.
garden, had a warrant against the father of the chil-
dren for unlawfully pawning some materials with
which he had been intrusted by his master to work
up. On Friday morning, at a quarter to eleven
o'clock, lie went to the house in Rodney-street, and
saw his wife, who on being made acquainted with
his business, burst into tears, and said that two of
her children had died within the last few hours, that
another was in a dying state, and that her husband
and she were in the worst state of poverty. Wit-
ness said he would send medical assistance if she
wished it, and she said she should be extremely
grateful, and that she wished very much that the
bodies of her deceased children should be opened.—
The apartments and the appearance of the family
were of the most deplorable description. There
were three other children.

The CORONER—Yes, we have had an opportu-
nity, in viewing the bodies' of knowing that fact. I
scarcely ever saw so much wretchedness; the very
place itself, from the confined nature of it and the
number of petsons huddled together, would seem
sufficient to breed contagion without any thing else,
although the poor mother and every thing about
the place appeared remarkably clean. I hope you
did not execute the warrant ; for if ever a man
could be excused for unlawfully pawning, it would
be this poor fellow.

Charles Brown, the father, a man of exceedingly
good address, but,of most miserable appearance, was
called, and said he was a watch-escapement-maker,
but had scarcely any thing to do. He said that
Janet the eldest child died at eleven o'clock at night,
and Bessy the youngest very suddenly, at half-past
one (two hours and a half after). The latter ap-
peared in good health half an hour before its death.
The witness then went on to give a heart-rending
description of the wretched state of himself and
family, but expressed his gratitude for this investi-
gation, as some unpleasant rumours had gone abroad
in the neighbourhood.

The ConoNEß:humanely gave the poor fellow a
sum of money from his purse, and said he hoped
his case would be properly taken up by the parish
officers.

Mr. Whitmore, the surgeon, said he would answer
for that being done, and the Jury ceturned a verdict,
" That the deceased children died by the visitation
of God."

Yesterday an inquest was held in the Committee-
room of Camberwell workhouse, on the body of
John Clarke, about 40 years of age, who died in
consequence of taking prussic acid, after having
made an attempt on the lives of Mr. Westbrook
and his wife.

Charles Smith, of Meeting-house-lane, Peckham,
sworn—On Sunday morning, between one and two
o'clock, I was confined in the cage at Camberwell,
and at that time there were two others confined
in the same place. In the same afternoon I was
present in the cage when the deceased was brought
in, and I asked him what charge he was brought
there upon, and he replied, " You shall know what
it is in the morning," and that it would be all over
with him by the morning.
Ily the CORONER—I did not communicate to the
police or any other person what the deceased had said.
Witness proceeded—The deceased complained
very much of a burning sensation in his eyes when
he had been in the cage a short time, and this har-
ing been communicated to the police-constable, he
offered to take him to the station-house, and send
for a medical man, but the deceased declined, say-
ing that light would affect his eyes still more. The
deceased sat on the tipper part of the bench in the
cage, and appeared anxious to avoid conversation;
and witness, as well as the other persons locked up,
went to sleep, about tetro'clock the same night, and
on awaking the next morning at six o'clock, they
discovered the deceased lying dead on the floor of the
cage, with one hand placed on his breast, and the
other by his side with a piece of newspaper in it.
At this stage of the investigation, it was stated
that a penknife, and also an empty phial were found
in the possession of the deceased after death.
The Jury were of opinion, that the knife must
have been concealed in the deceased's coat. The
Jury here requested that the letter found on the de-
ceased might be read, as it would show the govern-
ing principle that actuated the deceased. The letter
was of immense length, and its contents plainly
evinced that he was an unbeliever in the doctrines
of Christianity; it vowed great love for the person
to whom it was addressed, and strongly censured the
conduct of the friends who had prevented their
union. He declared that he cared not what became
of his body after death, and cited instances where
suicide was admitted in some cases to be perfectly
justified. The epistle concluded with the writer ex-
pressing his determination to destroy Mr. and Mrs.
Westbrook and himself.

Mr. Plower, surgeon, of Camberwell-green,
examined the body of the deceased, and assigned his
death to have been produced by taking prussic acid.
The CoRoNER inquired if any person was there to
speak as to the deceased's state of mind.

.....
The answer being in the negative, the beadle
stated that he had been that morning at Mr. Car-
lile's shop in Fleet-street, and that person said that
he knew the deceased, who had lived with him a
few years ago in the capacity of clerk, and that he
(the deceased) had suffered imprisonment for three
years, in consequence of his connection with. him
(Mr. CE►rlile.) The latter did not know the de-
ceased's friends, but believed he had none in London.
The Jury retired for about a quarter of an hour,
and returned a verdict offelo de se.

Yesterday an inquest was held in St. Bartholo-
mew's Hospital, before W. PAYNE, Esq., the City
Coroner, touching the death of Thomas Bradley,
aged seven years, the son of a respectable tradesman,
in Brill-place, Somers town. The decanted, it ap-
peared, was brought into the hospital, on , the 261h1
ult., in consequence of having introduced a nail (a
kind of trunk or coffin nail) into his ear, which he
was afterwards unable to extract. The unfortunate
occurrence took place at school, where, having told
his play-fellows that he could play the hocus pocus,
and astonish them by his art of conjuring, he said he
would put a nail into his ear, which should pass
through his nose. Shocking to relate, the nail re-
mained fixed in the ear. He was immediately taken
to a surgeon in the neighbourhood, but who, from
the boy's impetuosity, was unable to extract it ; and
he was afterwards brought to the hospital, where
the surgeon found it so completely jammed'
into the ear as to baffle all attempts then to get it
out. In this state he remained until Saturday,
when the nail was extracted by the forceps ; but on.
the Monday following he died of inflammation of the
brain—Verdict, " Accidental death."

Yesterday afternoon an inquest was holden at
the London Hospital, before Wit. BAKER, Esq.,
and a respectable Jury, on the remains of Martin
Martens, an infant 10 mamba old, who came to its
death from tl e cruel treatment of a girl named
Elizabeth Smith, in whose care it was left, and who
is at present in custody on a charge of having wit.
fully inflicted those injuries which produced its dish
solution.

The first witness called was the mother of the
deceased. She said that the girl Smith was very
good tempered, and always took the greatest care,
and appeared most fond of the deceased. She could
hardly think that she indicted the injuries wilfully.
but had exposed the child to the tire in order to
frighten it.
An aged man, the grandfather of the deceased,
heard the accused, about a fortnight ago, say to the
infant that if it wetted itself again she would do it
some mischief. In reply to the Coroner, however,