The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-12 00:00:00

SUICIDE BY PRECIPITATION
PROM THE MONUMENT.

Wednesday merning a repert became prevalent in the
neighbourhood of Fish-street-hill that a female had
committed suicide by throwing herself from the galle.ry
at the summit of the Monument, which on inquiry proved
true. Shortly after the rumour hod gone abroad Mo-
nument-yard was thronged by persons anxious to obte]:,
a sight of the spot where so remarkable a cf.,strophe
occurred, but a force of the city police
1
end preserved order. Various :e the versions circu-
lated of the melancholyufekly arrived
-
°-eurrence ; but from inquiries
made it would an
Pee.r that the following is the real out-
line of the facts,.
questiorl About a quarter before 10 the female
in
the ;" presented herself at the door of the entrance at
-stenutnent and paid the admission fee, being seem-
ingly unembarrassed, and was directed the way up by the
attendant. She had not been up more than 20 minutes
when the porter was alarmed by a cry from settle per-
sons passing through the yard, and immediately he heard
a crash, as if of a heavy substance falling. On gaining
the doer he was amazed to fled a body huddled up,
blood flowing profusely from the back part of the head,
and from the left arm, but life was extinct. On rais-
ing the body he immediately recognised it as that of the
female he had but shortly before admitted ; a shell was
speedily procured, and the remains removed to the
watchhouse of St. Magnus-the-Martyr, Upper Thames
street. Crowds followed with the removal of the body,
but very few gained admittance into the watchhouse.
The appearance of the body is that of a fine young
woman, of about 25 years of age, height about 5 feet
2 inches, fair complexion, with auburn hair ; the
hands have not apparently been ever engaged in
rough labour, and the dress denoted that the unfor-
tunate wearer ',lad moved in a circle above the middle
class of life. It consists of a good black silk dress, under
garments of fine linen, silk stockings, and worked habit-
shirt ; on the fore finger of the left hand there was a
gold signet ring. It was said there was a bonnet, shawl
and shoes, but a description of them was not attainable.
Upon examination of the body, it was found that the
spine was fractured, as also the back of the cranium, but
the features are in no way disfigured, save by the ap-
pearance of coagulated blood forced from the nostrils;
eyes, and mouth, by the sudden concussion ; the left
arm is severed just above the elbow, and is only retained
in its place by the integuments and the sleeve of the
dress. On viewing the spot where the unfortunate
woman fen, it seems she must have narrowly escaped
the coping and abutment on which the ornamental
griffins have their base, if she did not strike them
as she fell is ithin the iron palisades on the left
hand of the entrance to the Monument as coming
up Fish-street-hill. An idea may be formed of the
violence of the concussion, as it appears her weight
bent one of the rails, which at first intercepted her
reaching the ground. A rope, it is said, has been
found, but in what way it is connected with this trans-
action is not at present known ; one rumour is, that the
unfortunate creature elevated herself above the iron
palisades which encircle the gallery at the summit by
means of this rope, and thence threw herself. over ; a
second is, that, fastening the rope outside, she formed a
noose, and after fixing her feet in it as a support for the
moment, threw herself backwards ; and the third is, that
she attempted to hang herself, but failing in the execu-
tion of it, precipitated herself from that height in de-
spair. Information has been forwarded to the Coroner
on the subject, and the inquest is fixed for this day.
The deceased's connections have been discovered, and a
communication made on the subject to the Lord Mayor.
About 6 o'clock in the afternoon, a gentleman informed
his Lordship, who was then at the Monument, that he knew
the deceased, and requested that the body might not be
any longer publicly shown. His Lordship immediately
gave directions to that effect. The gentleman stated
that the deceased was Miss Margaret Moyes, of No. 3,
Hemmings-row, Charing-cross, one of four sisters ; that
she bad breakfasted at home that morning, and had gone
out soon afterwards. That she bad been in an excited
state for above a week, frequently crying, and that she
was observed to cry before leaving home in the morn-
ing. The gentleman added, that about an.hour before
her friends heard the report that a lady had thrown her-
self off the Monument, they found a piece of paper, on
which the deceased had written, that they need not ex-
pect to see her again, as she had left home for the
purpose of destroying herself: Her father is an old
man, confined to his bed. This is the secondin-
stance of suicide by leaping from the Monument on
record. The former occurred as far back as the
year 1810, on the 18th of January, and is thus de-
scribed in the Times of the 19th January of that year:—
" Remarkable Suicide.—Yesterday Mr. Lyon Levi, a
diamond merchant, of about 50 years of age, precipi-
tated himself from the top of the Monument, and was
literally dashed to pieces. Mr. Levi attended to several
appointments in the city about eleven o'clock, and trail-
acted his usual business, and at twelve obtained ad-
mission to view the Monument. He walked several
times round the outside of the iron railing before he
sprang off, and in falling the body turned over and over
before it reached the ground. When near the bottom
it came in contact with one of the griffins which orna-
ment the lower part of the building. A porter with
his load on his back narrowly escaped the body of the
deceased, which fell a few paces from him in Monu-
ment-yard. It is said that two days ago Mr. Levi
visited the Monument and continued at the top for
some time. Nothing has transpired from which the
friends of the deceased can judge of the cause which led
to the sad catastrophe. Mr. Levi has left a wife and
eight grown-up children."

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS

(WEDNESDAY EVENING.)

TIMES.—The aspect of affairs in the City continues
to improve. Money bears a good rate of interest, be-
cause the employment of it is in few bands, but it is by
no means scarce. While the amount brought forward
by capitalists, tempted by the late rise, has increased,
the quantity of bills in circulation, owing to the pressure
by the Bank, has diminished, and people suddenly find
themselves comparatively in a state of case, not reflect.
ing, however, that it is produced by a prostration of the
commercial vigour of the country. Among the events
which are supposed to have had influence in producing
a change for the better may be mentioned the recent
importations of gold, which were quite unexpected, from
the United States ; the bills on Amsterdam and Ham-
burg produced by the operations of the United States
Bank adverted to yesterday ; and also the late exten-
sive rise and eager speculations in Spanish stock. The
latter, in all prohebility, will now be employed usefully
as an instrument in turning the exchanges in favour of
this country, under the varying fluctuations which occur
in the other money markets of Europe. Thus every
thing thing tends at present to relieve the Bank from
the necessity of continuing its restrictions, and people
here firmly rely that when this is felt to be the case in
the Bank itself, there will soon be another expansion of
the circulation.

POST.—We understand that good commercial bills
have been freely discounted by the large money houses
at six per cent. interest, without commission, and, upon
the whole, the comparative easy state -of the market
observable yesterday and the day before has undergone
no change that may not be considered for the better.
The public funds in the meantime continue a little
upon the advance, although, in the English House, the
variations have proved of no importance. Consols left
off at 91k, sellers for Money, and 911, buyers, for the
Account. Exchequer Bills were done at 7s. to 9s.

premium.
In the Foreign Market, Active Spanish Stock
began at 28, and from this it advanced to 281. Later
in the day it retrogaded to 27k, showing that, what-
ever may be the efforts of those most deeply inte-
rested, and it is well known that they are indefati-
gable, they must prove unavailing. Yet befora the close
of business a rally was effected, and the bonds were
finally quoted 283 to The long-looked-for speech
of Donna Christina on the opening of the Cortes at
Madrid has at length arrived, but that portion of it
which relates to the claims of the bondholders appears
to us, as we presume it must do to them also, and to
everybody else, miserably lame and unsatisfactory. The
Spanish Government never fail, on occasions of this
kind, to repeat the boast of their good faith, A " good
faith, which has never been denied," is what they per-
sist in taking credit for. It must have required a con-
siderable share of impudence on the part of the Minis-
ter to make so ridiculous a boast in the present instance,
for it is now notoriously a very long time that the
good faith of Spain has been not only everywhere de-
nied, but nowhere admitted ; and such will assuredly
continue to be the case as long as the same iniquitous
system of finance which her Ministers have adopted
shall be persevered in. Five per Cent. Dutch Stock
was quoted 1043 to s ; Colombian, 32 to ; and Five
per Cents. Portuguese, 32 to
There is little or nothing doing in Shares. London
and Brighton Railway are marked 13k to 13 dis. ; Lon-
don and Blackwall, 3-I to 3 dis. ; London and South-
ampton, 42 ; and London and Croydon, 10k per share.

HERALD.—Money for commercial purposesf is
decidedly more easy to-day than it has been for some
days past ; the rate of interest on firs!-rate paper is
about 4 per cent., with an advancing scale according
to circumstances ; these rates out of doors appear also
to have governed the value of money upon the Stock
Exchange to a very considerable extent.

Lieutenant- General John IVlaister has been al-
pointed to the command of the forces in the Windward
and Leeward Islands, in succession to Lieutenant. General
Sir Samford Whittingharn, K. C. B. and K. C. H.
The Earl of Morton has returned to Dalmahoy
Castle, the family seat, near Edinburgh, from a visit to the
Earl of Aberdeen, at Haddo Castle.
Earl and Countess Cadogan, and the Ladies
Augusta and Honoria Cadogan, are still residing at
Cowes, Isle of Wight. It is not yet positively determined
whether they will pass the winter in Paris or in Scotland.
The Earl of Eldon is causing considerable it-n
provements and alterations to be made itt the elegant
mansion left to his Lordship by the late Earl, at the corner
of Hamilton-place, in Piccadilly, where his Lordship has
determined to reside.