The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-12 00:00:00

Inhuman Treatment of a Dying Man.

An extraordinary tale of inhuman treatment of a
dying man by his wife was disclosed at the Guildhall,
Plymouth, on Tuesday, when Mr. Clements, one of
the relieving officers, attended, and made a charge
against an old woman named Brown, who keeps a
stall in the market. Mr. Clements said that James
Brown, husband of the accused, had been receiving
relief from the parish. The poor man was dropsical,
and was not expected to recover. According to the
statement made by Mr. Clements, his wife was not
content with the prospect of ultimate release, but
was impatient at the slow march of death, and en-
deavoured to quicken his. steps. She would leave her
husband unattended, and without food or drink,
from morning till night, and on returning has been
known to greet her dying husband with the words,
" What, you there still ; b'aint you dead yet ?" A
neighbour, Mrs. Brewer, who from kindness of
heart occasionally took the sick man broth, and
stayed awhile with him, was reproached and threat-
ened, and on Sunday night last the wife refused Mrs.
Brewer the use of some things to raise the man up
in bed with, saying, " As long as you keep propping
him up you keep rallying him." Her impatience for
his death increasing, and stimulated apparently by
the prospect of receiving £l4 from a burial club on
the death of her husband, she applied to an under-
taker. A coffin was made, and Brown was actually
stretched out in it, and salt had been put on his
body to prevent his bursting, just the same as a
corpse would be treated. Mr. Clements said he had
conversed with the poor man, who said they could
tell all they were doing at the time, but that he
was "in such a state that he could not help himself."
Mrs. Brewer was examined in reference to the heart-
less treatment of Brown by his wife, and the follow-
ing dialogue took place between the witness and
the magistrate as to what occurred on Monday
morning. In answer to a question Mrs. Brewer
said—Well, the bell was ringing eight o'clock when
Mrs. Brown came into my room, and I asked
her how her husband was. She said, " He's
gone." I said, " Dead ?" and she replied, " Yes." I
then asked her why she had not called me, and she
said "He is laid out, and it is all done." When I
came down I saw Mr. Brown stretched out in the
coffin, but he was breathing. I asked Mrs. Brown
to let me have abed to put under him, but she would
not allow it. His clothes had been taken away, and
a shilling and a few pence removed from his waist-
coat pocket. All the bottles containing his medi-
cine had been put away, as well as the teaspoons he
used. The room had also been washed out, and
there was Mr. Brown lying in the coffin.—Mr. Lus-
combe : Did you see the body move when you went
down and saw him stretched out ?—Mrs. Brewer:
He spoke to me, and asked me how he came in that
position. He said, " 'Where -be I, Mrs. Brewer ?"
—Mr. Luscombe : Who put him in the coffin ?
Mrs. Brewer : I asked her, and she said herself, but
I told her she could not have done it without the
assistance of the evil spirit.---Mr. Luscombe : Have
you seen him this morning ?—Mrs. Brewer : Yes,
and he is sensible ; he is betfer than he has been for
several days. He is properly supported at the pre-
sent time. Yesterday Mrs. Brown told me that if I
came into the room she would take me by the shoul-
ders and put me into the street.—Mr. Phillips :
Who was with her when the poor man was put into
the coffin ?—Mrs. Brewer : I am told that a man
assisted her.—Mr. Clements : Mr. Brown has told
me there was a man there, but being in a confused
state at the time, and thinking it was some one mea-
suring him for a coat, he held up his arm, thinking
it would assist him.—Mr. Luscombe said Mrs.
Brown would be detained in custody until Superin-
tendent Freeman had had an opportunity of inquir-
ing into the circumstances of the case.—Mrs. Brown
said she was quite ready to remain, but she could
assure the bench that every morning she had got up
and done everything for her husband.—Mr. Lus-
combe :It seems from the evidence of to-day that
you are very desirous of sending your husband out
of the world as soon as possible for the sake of hav-
ing £l4 from the sick club.