The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-23 00:00:00

LOVE, DESPERATION, AND DEATH IN

AMERICA.

SUICIDE OF TWO YOUNG LADIES AT MAN-
CHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE.—PREMEDI.
TATION AND COOLNESS UNEQUALLED.
About eight o'clock on Sunday evening, August 14,
two young ladies, operatives in the mills, committed sui
cide by drowning, the particulars of which are as fol.
low :
One of them was Miss Catherine B. Cotton, of Pow.
nal, Maine, aged 22 ; the other, Miss Clara C. Coch.
rane, aged 19, a native of New Boston, but who had
lately been at home with her brother at Hopkinton.
They roomed together at No. 24, Manchester Corpora-
tion, this city, and had frequently expressed a purpose
to drown themselves, but their friends had no appre-
hension that such was their design. For a few days
previous they had talked freely of doing so, and com-
municated their intention to a room-mate, but still with-
out creating any alarm. As they left their boarding-
house late in the evening, however, the lady rooming
with them followed, and watched them. They pro-
ceeded hand-in-hand, and with great apparent cheerful-
ness, to the bridge crossing the upper canal leading to
the Manchester Mills, stopped together upon the stone
wall of the canal, just above the bridge, and together
leaped into the water. The act was seen by one or two
persons, and the alarm was instantly given, though 10
minutes elapsed before either was taken out. In that
time the body of Miss Cotton was recovered ; that of
Miss Cochrane, having floated down the canal, was not
recovered for some time after. All efforts to resuscitate
them failed. Miss Cochrane, for some days previous,
had been very much depressed and low-spirited.
Their whole proceedings were marked by great cool-
ness and deliberation. Both of them left letters to their
friends announcing their purpose, and giving directions
in regard to the settlement of their affairs and the dis-
posal of their effects. Miss Cochrane, we understand,
was to come into possession of several thousand dollars
at 21 years of age. Various rumours are afloat in re-
gard to the cause of this rash act. From all we can
learn it is to be ascribed in both cases to the grief of
disappointed love.
Miss Cochrane enclosed in her letter the following
scrap of poetry, which, no doubt, expressed her feelings
at the time of writing :
" I shall soon in death be sleeping,
Far away, where strangers dwell,
Far from all those haunts of pleasure
That in youth I loved so well.
Flow'rs shall not be o'er me planted,
Nor shall willows o'er me wave •
Marble columns, decked with grandeur,
Ne'er shall mark my humble grave.
" Friends will shed no tears of sadness
When my dream of life is o'er,
For around me all are strangers—
I am on a distant shore.
Hear me, then, oh friends of childhood,
Hear an exile's dying prayer ;
When I soar to climes Elysian,
Let me meet my loved ones there.
"My heart now droops in loneliness—
My misery's perfect now •
For dark Despair his seal has stamp'd
Upon my throbbing brow.;
No voices in affections tones
Upon my ears now fall ;
Alone I tread the path of life—
I am the last of all.

" I would not have proud marble piled
Above my grassy bed ;
One simple stone to mark the spot,
And one to weep me dead."
The body of Miss Cochrane was placed on board the
cars and conveyed to her friends. The public mind, as
is natural, is anxious to know the causes of such strange
proceedings. Was it disappointed love ? Was it shame
for past acts ? Or was it fear of bringing disgrace upon
themselves and friends ? A tattling, surmising, evil-
minded class in the community simultaneously cry the
last. But we are authorised to say, and feel warranted
in saying, that such surmises are all false. Disappointed
love was the cause, and the only cause, that brought
about such sad and fatal results ; not a late disappoint-
ment, but in the case of one of them wearing and prey-
ing upon the mind for some fourteen months, so that
almost nightly her pillow was bathed in tears. The fol-
lowing letter, written by her, and addressed to Cyrus
-, Biddeford, Me., has been found, and tells its own
story : -

"Manchester, August 14,_ 1853,

" I now for the last time will attempt to scribble you a
few lines, and ere those few lines reach you I shall be
sleeping in death. Think not that I shall ever trouble you
again with a letter, for I shall not. No, this is the last.
You will receive this with anger perhaps ; but, Cyrus,
forgive me for troubling you. I have forgiven you long
ago, but have not forgotten. I suppose you are in Bidde-
ford now, happy and contented. I hope you are. As for
myself, I am not happy, but in a few moments I shall be
free from the sorrows of this world, and I cannot be more
unhappy in another. When you read this think that I
am cold in death, and shall one day meet you in another
world. So farewell, Cyrus; go and be happy.
" From your friend and well-wisher,
" CATHERINE COTTON."

Miss Cotton left %15 50c. in money. She also left a
short letter for her father and one for her sister, bidding
them adieu, and stating that she should not be alive
when they received the letters. These letters contained