The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-24 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUESTS.

DETERMINED SUlClDE.—Yesterday afternoon an in-
quest was hold at tho Barley Mow, Duke's-row, Pimlico,
before Mr. limns and a respectable jury, on view of the
body of Joseph Biggs, aged 54, tapman of the house. Ver-
dict—" Died from having hanged himself when in a state
of temporary insanity."

THE LATE FATAL STEAM-BOAT ACCIDENT.--Yester-
day an adjourned inquest was held at the Gun, Gun Dock,
Wapping, on the body of Mary Ann Crannia, aged 33, who
was drowned on Monday se'nnight, in disembarking from
the Enterprise Hull steamer.
The evidence adduced on the former occasion was
briefly that of Mr. Jos. Crannis, the husband of the deceased ;
John Crannis, his brother ; and Mr. Sadley, a gentleman
who was in the boat in which the deceased was about to
embark.

Mr. Sadley stated that he was taken out into the stream by
the Enterprise, from Fresh-wharf, having gone on board of
her to look for the Gravesend steamer, when she suddenly
sheered off. When off the Tower-wharf a boat was called
for them to go ashere, and the deceased and her husband
wished to go into the boat also. The vessel was stopped, and
the boat came alongside. Witness got safely into it, but had
not sat down. Mr. Crannis followed, and the deCeased was
in the act of stepping from the ladder to the boat when the
paddle-wheels went' suddenly round, and the water threw the
boat up. The deceased fell into the water, her husband
was thrown out of the boat, the two watermen were
" canted" out of the boat, and witness was thrown into the
head-sheets, where he caught hold of the gunwale, and by
his weight, he believes, prevented the boat from being cap-
sized. It was filled with water, but did not sink. Mr.
Crannis regained the boat, but, missing his wife, jumped
into the water again, and dived after her. The steamer
never stopped her way, nor made any attempt to save those
in the water.
Mr. John Crannis stated that he went on board the
Enterprise to proceed to Hull, and his brother and sister-
in-law accompanied him to see him off. When out in the
stream, a boat was called to take his brother and sister-in-
law and the last witness on shore, ar.d h's sister-in-law was
the last who descended. While doing so, witness heard one
of the men say, " Look sharp, we are just going to set the
steam on." The vessel at that moment went on, and his
sister-in-law fell between the boat and the vessel, and the
boat was swamped. Witness begged of the captain to put
him on shore, and told him he had drowned his sister-in-law
and others ; but the vessel kept- on her course down the
Pool, though the people in the vessels around hallooed to
the captain, that he had drowned several persons. Witness
was put ashore at Rotherhithe. He attributed the accident
to gross neglect on the part of those who had the manage-
ment of the steamer.

George Everhard, a waterman, corroborated this evidence.
The boat was a large skiff, of from 20 to 30 tons burthen.
In answer to a question by one of the jury the wit-
ness said that passengers were always embarked and dis•
embarked from boats in a very great hurry ; sufficient time
to prevent danger was hardly ever given.
By the CORONER—If a boathook had been let down
and the boat hooked on, the woman would have been
saved ; but there was no time alloWed for here getting in
the boat.

George Webb, pilot to the Enterprise, was allowed to
make a statement on oath, after being cautioned by the
Coroner not to say anything to criminate himself. He
state that he knew the people were on board, and that they
wanted to go on shore, but he had given orders that they
should not be allowed to do so until the vessel hadzot down
as far as the London Docks. The vessel had just cleared
the Eel Schuytz tier off Billingsgate, and he was casing
the vessel to clear the Limekiln tier, when he turned round
to see Waterwitch, another steamer, belonging to the same
company, and he then observed the skiff alongside. He
saw she would be swamped, and instantly gave orders to
stop the vessel, which was done. He then suffered the
vessel to drift down the Pool, but put no way on her.
Webb then appealed to Mr. Crannis and the watermau pre-
sent. whether it was not tlleir own fault.

Crannis—l don't know what you mean. - I am sure
it, was not my fault, and you are now adding insult to injury.
Webb then went on to defend himself, and to charge the
waterman .with falsehood in the most impudent manner,
till stopped by the observations of the Coroner and Jury.
Mr. Joseph Crannis, the husband of the deceased, said
that while swimminr, about in search of his wife he saw the
steamer go down the river at a rapid rate.
In answer to a
.question by the Coroner, - •
Webb said it was his duty to see if any boats were near
the ship before he gave orders to go on ; but that on this
occasion "he ought to have eyes behind him to see
the skiff."

Mr. Riddle, a juror—The worst part of the case is tha
you lowered no boat, neither did you stop the vessel.

. . .
Webb—l had no boat.
(He afterwards said he had a boat, but that.he forgot to
lower it.)
The CORONER said he thought that there was no case
made out to render any one criminally liable ; if any-
thing, it was a case for a deodand ; but he thought the
paities who were leaving the vessel were much. to blame
themselves for not letting the pilot know 'that they were
going on shore.
ThomaS Gardener, an engineer on board the Water-
Witch, stated that he saw the boat come astern of the En-
terprise after the accident. The Enterprise was then going
very slowly.
By a Juror—The steamer Enterprise did not stop after
the accident ; she was gOing very slow, and it would have
been easy to stop her.
James Torrington deposed he.was in the skiff, and gave
an account of the accident precisely as related by the first
witness, and added that.' when the boat was driven away
by the swell he was left hanging to the ladder, and no one
assisted him. The men on board the steamer saw him, but
never lent him a hand. He had great difficulty in saving
his life Were he could recover himself so as to get on board
the steamer.

Thc'CouoNEr. thought the blame rested with the party
who wanted to go on shore ; they had wanted prudence,
and suffered for it.

The husband of the deceased repeated that the crew of
the steamer were perfectly aware of his going, and told him
to make haste ; they hailed the boat, and knew well he was
going.

The Juiy then retired to consider of their verdict, and
after an absence of two hours, during which an animated
discussion took place, as we understood, as to the amount
of deodand, returned into the inquest-room, when Mr.
Robert Forsyth, the f4reman, read the following verdict
—" We return the verdict of Accidental Death, with a
deodand of 1001. on the EnlerpriBe steamer, and the jury
cannot separate without expressing their reprehension of
the negligent conduct of the people on board the steamer
on that occasion, first for calling the boat to Come along-
side ; and secondly, for improperly setting the paddles in
motion before Richard Sadley, Joseph Crannis, and Mary
Ann Crannis, were safely in the boat, and the jury trust
that measures will be taken to, prevent the recurrence of a
similar melancholy accident."

......
The CORONER said it was a very proper verdict, and would
he believed have the effect of showing that the lives of his
Majesty's subjects were under proper protection, and that
juries were determined to do their duty, and sift such
cases to the bottom. lie thanked them for the very great
attention they had paid to the case through the long in-
quiry that had taken place.
Mr. Crannis and Mr. Pelham also thanked the jury ; the

former was much affected, and the latter, his solicitor, said 0
for himself and his client they were satisfied that the ver-
dict had met the justice of the case.
MELANCHOLY SUICIDE OF A YOUNG GENTLEMAN.—
Last evening, at eight o'clock, an inquisition was taken
before Mr. Payne, the Coroner for the jurisdiction of the
city of London, and a respectable Jury, assembled at the.
Duke of Clarence Tavern, London-road, Southwark, on
view of the body of a young gentleman, named John Squire
Carey, a youth of very promising abilities, who terminated
his existence by shooting himself through the head with a
horse pistol.
Miss Ann Watts, spinster, stated that she was living
with her father, who kept the house, N 0.9, in the London.-
road. The deceased and his mother had occupied apart-_
ments there for several years past. Ile was seventeen years
of age
.on Saturday last. Ile generally occupied his time
in literary pursuits, of which he seemed to be particularly
fond. He was generally regular in his habits. Between
twelve and one o'clock on Monday morning last witness
saw him-come down into the garden and fetch some water.
Nothing unusual then appeared to be the matter with him.
In about a quarter of an hour afterwards witness had occa-
sion to go up stairs, and saw the deceased on the landing of
the second floor, by the door of his sittingloom. • He had
a large pistol in his hand, and said to witness, " Ann, shall
I shoot myself?" and directly raising his arm to his head a
smoke in an instant spouted out against his face, accom-
panied by a loud report,-and he fell on the floor. Witness
looked at him for a moment when she saw the blood
streaming from his head, and directly ran down stairs and
informed her mother what had- occurred. The pistol he
shot himself with was one that belonged to his father.

The pistol was here produced to the Jury. It was a
large brass-barrelled horse-pistol, with a spring bayonet.
Mr. Thomas Watts, the uncle of the last witness, de-
posed that for the last month he had observed a wildness in
the look and manner of the deceased. His conduct on
many occasions had been unaccountably strange ; he had
thrown up the window of his apartment at night, and called
out " Fire—murder—police," and seemed pleased with the
alarm he created. His conduct did not appear to be the
result of any vicious propensity, but of a weakness of in-
tellect that had lately come upon him. He had held a
situation at the King's printing-office, from which he was
discharged some time ago.
Mr. W. Leddymain, a next-door neighbour of the de-
ceased, stated on hearing of the dreadful occurrence he
went up stairs, and saw the deceased lying on the floor
quite dead. On the mantelpiece was a paper, inscribed, in
the hand-writing of the .deceased, " My dear mother ; I
intend to shoot myself." The deceased was a. young man
of great literary attainments,, and was .the son of Dr.
Carey, editor of the last edition of " Ainsworth's Dic-
tionary," the " Gradus ad Parnassuin," &c. He was of re-
served and studious habits, and not, like other boys, fond of
the sports of youth. -
The CORONER briefly summed up,' when the Jury re-
turned a verdict of " Temporary Insanity."
An inquest was held last night, at the Rising Sun,
Charles-street, Grosvenor-square, before Mr. Moos, on
the body of Charles Bowers, aged 17, who was drowned
while bathing, on Monday evening, in the Serpentine river.
Henry Dunn, of No. 1, Wigmore-street, aged fifteen,
stated that on Monday evening, about half-past eight
o'clock, he went to bathe in the Serpentine, at the part on
the Knights-bridge side, near the railings at the Hyde Park-
corner end. Witness met the deceased there. . They
were total strangers, but as both had come for the same
purpose, they got into talk, and he learnt deceased could
not swim—witness could. Witness swam into deep water ;
and; on diving, while under water, struck his head against
something 'which he at first supposed to be a post, but
found it was deceased, who was then struggling under
water. The boys on the bank called to him what was the
matter, and shouted for the boats. The place where he
struck against the deceased is ten feet deep. The boats
came immediately. In less than a quarter of an hour the
deceased was got to the receiving-house, where two sur-
geons were in attendance. •
Mr. Woolley, surgeon, stated that it was impossible -to
restore animation. Application had been made to the Go-
vernment to have the river drained and levelled for the
protection of bathers and skaiters.
. Verdict " Accidental death."