The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-12 00:00:00

ALLEGED POISONING AT BER WICK.

On Thursday se'ennight an inquest was opened at
Berwick, on the body of Jane Angus, wife of James
Angus, china merchant, who had died on the preceding
day, under suspicious circumstances. Mary Stewart,
sister of the deceased, was examined at some length, and
from her evidence it appeared that the deceased and her
husband had not been upon good terms, and that Angus
had ill-used her, and threatened to do her an injury. Mr.
Angus had shops in Newcastle, Berwick, and Glasgow,
residing in the first-named town, and on the 27th ult.
he had gone to Berwick for the purpose of examining
the books of the deceased, and had charged her with
being behind hand in the money. A quarrel took place
on Sunday, when he handled her roughly, and she be-
came unwell, and died on the Wednesday following.
Witness had sent for wine on Tuesday evening, and was
going up stairs to give it to the deceased, when she met
Angus, who said, "he had given her wine, and it was
all right." Deceased vomited very much afterwards,
and expired in the course of the night. The inquest
was then adjourned to Tuesday, when Mary Stewart,
sister of the deecased, was again sworn. She identified
some papers produced as having been in the possession
of her sister. One of these was a certificate of her mar-
riage
with Angus, at Lumberton Toll, on the 6th of
April, 1851, signed by George Sharp. Another paper,
not signed, set forth that the writer had never married
the parties, although he had given her a paper to
that effects on a pretence. Another was a promis-
sory note to pay deceased 201., and a further 301. to
her father on his proving a claim to it ; but that, if
she took the writer's name, she should lose all
claim to it for seven years. Dr. Kirkwood was next
called, and detailed the symptoms shown by the deceased
on her taking ill. Deceased complained of violent
vomitings, with a burning pain at the pit of her stomach.
Her voice was very hoarse, and she was frequently in
convulsive fits. The fits were not of an ordinary charac-
ter, and he asked deceased if she had taken anything de-
leterious. She replied that she had been unable to take
anything for some days. Witness had never seen a case
of poisoning by arsenic. He had made a post-mortem
examination 'of the body, but found nothing which would
account for death, either by natural causes or otherwise.
He had not examined the vomiting. From appearances
previous to death, he imagined arsenic had been taken,
and that suspicion was neither confirmed nor removed by
the examination. The coroner said he proposed sending
the contents of the deceased's stomach to Dr. Glover, of
Newcastle, for a more minute analysis, and the inquest
was accordingly adjourned to Monday, the 21st instant.
The following letter, written by Angus to deceased's
father, was given in evidence at the first sitting. The
letter was without a date, but the postmark was " Edin-
burgh, June, 6, 1851":

" Edinburgh.
"Dear Sir,—Don't alarm yourself about me being mar-
ried to your daughter Jane. I never was or never will be,
as you stated to me child. If I had been, she would have
been in eternity and me in prison. I wish you well. I
also wish her from me heart well. I could explain all—no
credit to her, no easement to you. And it only makes me
blood boil to hear and look back on her conduct. Meet me
—reason with me—condemn me if you can.—l am your
wisher, " JAMES ANGUS.
" Mr. John Stewart, Earthenware Dealer, Dumfries."

RAILWAY BETURNE.

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE PAST WEEK.