The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-01 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS.

SELF MLTIIDER AND CONFISCATION OF PROPERTY.— I
Yesterday an inquest was held before Mr. CARTTER, the
Coroner for Surrey, at the Queen's Head Tavern, Char-
lotte-street, Blackfriars-road, on the body of John Au-
gustus Lassale, a French courier, aged 50, who committed
suicide by hanging himself.
Mr. James Milliken, a tailor, of No. 6, Charlotte-street,
stated that the deceased had lodged at his house for the
last three months, and occupied the room in which he was
found dead. He lived as a pntleman, and it was his
usual custom to leave home about noon and return at night.
On 'Tuesday night, in consequence of a statement made by
witness's brother that the deceased had not been seen all
day, and that on knocking at his door he could receive no
answer, he procured the assistance of Mr. Pitts, a lodger
in the house, and a policeman. They found the door
fastened inside, and not being able to obtain an entrance
or an answer the door of Mr. Lassalle's apartment was
forced open. On entering the apartment they found the
deceased hanging by a blue. silk handkerchief, twisted and
sewed together into a kind of rope. One end of the hand-
kerchief formed a slip noose, Which was round the de-
ceased's neck, and the other end was seeisred to a pair of
tongs placed over the cupboard door, which was made
fast. The tongs were closely tied together with tape in
two places to prevent their slipping. The deceased was
instantly cut down, He had no doubt the deceased had
destroyed himself.

COR.ONER—How do you account for this act of suicide?
Mr, Milliken—l can only account for it in this way. M.
Lassalle was in distress. I believe he expected a remit-
tance from the Continent, in which he was disappointed.
On Monday afternoon he appeared very anxious about a
letter, and said he should go to Gravesend. He returned
home about eleven o'clock at night, and asked her for the
letter. On being informed that it had not come, he swore,
and seemed vexed ; and before he went to bed he ordered
that it should be sent up to his room directly it came.
Next morning, soon after eight o'clock, the letter came by
the twopenny post, and it was sent up to him. He had

. . .
since searched the room occupied by the deceased,' but
could find no trace of the letter. He was not aware of the
contents.

Mr. Milliken, in his examination by the jury, said that
the deceased had not a farthing of money at the time of his
death. He found two pawnbroker's duplicates among his
effects—one was for a gold watch, pledged on the .sth of
June for eight guineas, and the other for some gold studs
pawned for 9s. The deceased's apartment exhibited the
appearance of great poverty. The--deceased was always
remarkably cheerful and lively, and full of anecdote. Ha
_ _

one day told him he had received several wounds, and that
his head was affected in hot weather, but he never saw any-
thing in his manner indicating unsoundness of mind.
The'ConoNEß said all the circumstances should be taken
together. The deceased had received wounds in his head—
he had been disappointed in a remittance, and was in want.
This might have preyed on his mind. The very act of sui-
cide was a rash one, and in itself an evidence of insanity.
The jury-room was then cleared, and after half an hour's
discussion among the Jurors the Coroner was called in and
the following written verdict was handed to lkm :
" The Jury are unanimously of opinion that the deceased,
John Augustus Lassallo, committed self-destruction by
hanging himself, and that he was in a sound state of mind
at the time."
ComoNEß—Then the verdict is fel° de se.

The Foreman—lt is so.
The CORONER then issued his warrant for the interment
of the body accordinc, to law, between the hours of nine and
twelve at night, in the church-yard of Christ Church, Black-
friars-road, without the burial service being read over him.
The Coroner said the deceased's effects had become for-
feited to the Crown, and it was necessary for the jury to
make inquiry and annex their finding to the inquisition.
Bridge, the beadle, produced an inventory of the de-
ceased's wardrobe and other property, in all its value was
about 101., exclusive of the duplicates, the truth of which
he was sworn to, and the jury returned that the articles
mentioned were the property of the late John Augustus
Lassalle.
Mr. Curtis said he must return the inventory to her Ma-
jesty's Exchequer, and the property must be delivered to him
as the proper officer of the Crown.
The Court then broke up.

Notwithstanding the suppression of the slave-trade
in Europe, and the strong representations made by the
European Governments to the barbarian Powers of Africa,
this cruel traffic is still carried on by the Pasha of Egypt,
of whose army no fewer than 40,000 are blacks, while in-
numerable other negroes, both male and female, are domestic
slaves in that country.
CATCHING A LAWYER.-Mr. 8., a notary of
Avignon, lately fled, carrying away with him property to a
great amount belonging to his clients, and sought refuge
from his defrauded creditors on the territory of Geneva.
One of his friends, an apothecary, who had become secu-
rity for him for a large amount, followed him. On finding
him in Geneva the apothecary, instead of overwhelming the
notary with reproaches, told him that he had followed his
example, and was come to establish a pharmacy in Switzer-
land. " Very well ; I'll assist you. Come to my lodging."
" But that's not all. I have my baggage at the Custom
House, and cannot get it away without money." " Let's
go and clear it ; I'll pay for you." They accordingly set
off, and, after clearing the goods, they sat down to a social
dinner. During the repast a friend of the apothecary's,
who had received the necessary hint, arrived with four gens-
d'arms, who demanded the papers of the strangers, now
just within the French frontier line. An eclaircissement
ensued. The notary was arrested and conveyed back to
Avignon in a carriage which he had himself obtained under
false pretences from the direcleur des dikiences of that city.
STRAWBEHUIES.-The strawberry is a delicious
fruit in itself, but, like every other good thing, it is sus-
ceptible of improvement. The addition of cream and sugar,
for example, makes it exquisitely agreeable. Some people
of refined taste have discovered a secret which renders it
still more ambrosial. The simple process of giving each
strawberry a gentle squeeze with the spoon produces as great
an improvement in the flavour of this edible as boiling
does upon that of the potatoe. Let the sceptical try,
and all doubt will vanish. Now for the philosophy of the
phenomena. A member of the Royal Society, who has
devoted much attention to the subject and made many
interesting experiments touching it, offers the following
theory. When the unbrUised strawberry is put into the
mouth, the pressure required to bruise it squeezes under
the surface those nervous papillae whose office it is to
detect the flavour of the edible, which is thereby made
to seem insipid in taste, though over so exquisite. We be-
lieve this to be sound philosophy, and heartily subscribe to it.
On Wednesday evening great excitement was
-caused in Clare-market by the discovery that the wife of a
person named Hughes, a blacksmith in the market, had
committed suicide by hanging herself. The deceased bad
been seen about an hour previously, and nothing particular
was noticed in her manner at that time, except that she
seemed greatly depressed when reference was made to a
quarrel which had taken place that morning between her
and her husband. The husband is a man of dissolute
habits, and bears but an indifferent character in the neigh-
bourhood. Immediately on discovery of the body several
medical gentlemen attended, but life was totally extinct.
The place in which the act was committed was a small par-
lour adjoining the shop, and the determined manner in
which the poor woman must have contemplated self-
destruction is shown by the circumstance that she must
have bent herself almost double to tighten the cord. She
had used a line about the thickness of a sash-line, which.
from the weight of her body and her struggles, hid cut
deeply into her neck. The -deceased was a young woman
of very industrious habits, and might frequently be seen
assisting her husband in the shop. She has left no family.
A report was spread about that she had been murdered, but
there is no doubt that she destroyed herself.
SALMON.—No season, for many years past, has
been so prolific of salmon as the present. Indeed, so plen-
tiful and so cheap has it been, that it has interfered very
materially with the demand for herrings. Salmon begins
to enter the rivers of Seotland and Ireland, more or less,
about the month of April ; it is, however, in June, July,
and August that the greatest quantity arrive. It is imme-
diately after its arrival from the sea that the salmon is in
perfection. In fresh water it eats comparatively little, and
its flesh becomes gradually less solid. Several of the salmon
the Shannon,
fisheries established on the Tweed, the Tyne,
and the Eden, produce an annual revenue of 5,0001., 7,0001.,
10,000/., and 12,0001 to the proprietors. Near the mouth
of the liver Eden, as many as 882,000 large fish have been
taken in seventy-two days.
About a week ago, a curious box was discovered by
some workmen whilst removing some earth near to a stone,-
quarry in the neighbourhood of Burdon•mill. The box is
silver, and contains about 30 gold coins and a few silver
ones.—Tyne Mercury.
Considerable reductions are spoken of in the Prus-
sian army. The latest letters from Berlin give the names
of seven Generals who are to be placed on the retired list.
The new Minister of War seems determined to introduce
every possible economy consistent with the military charac-
ter of the country.
The King of Bavaria has ordered the monument of
Latour &Auvergne, the first grenadier of France who was
killed 27th June, 1800, to be repaired and surrounded by a
plantation of trees. It stauds near the road foam Pans
nattwirth to Neuburg,
In bee husbandry the first and most essential requi-
site is the selection of sites for the skeps, at once properly
sheltered, and possessing what is called a good "PP"'
The force of the wind ulusL be
bi.g4e4 either by houses o
lofty trees in the immediate vicinity.