The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-16 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUEST.

On Tuesday night an inquest was held before Mr. BAKER,
Coroner, at the White Horse public-house, Ratcliffe, on the
body of Mr. George Otter, jun., aged 31 years, who was sup-
posed to have committed suicide.
George Shilcock, clerk to the deceased, said his late master
was an auctioneer, broker, and rent collector, and resided in
Broad-street. He had been in his employ 13 months. On
the evening of Monday, the sth instant, he was sent by his
master with a receipt for 6/., which he wrote in his presence,
to receive that amount of rent. He observed nothing remark-
able in Mr. Otter's conduct at the time. He returned in
about two hours to the house, and rung the bell several times,
but obtaining no answer, he became alarmed and got in at
the window, by means of a ladder. On proceeding up stairs
into his master's bed-room he found him lying dressed on his
bed, and his face covered with blood. He asked the deceased
what was the matter with him, and he said he had been
wounded with a pistol; there was a candle and candlestick on
the floor—the light appeared to have been extinguished. He
instantly left the house to procure assistance and returned with
Mr. Hunter, an auctioneer of Limehouse, who was staying
at a neighbouring house. There was a great quantity of
blood on the floor when he entered the apartment. He saw
no pistol at that time, but one was soon afterwards found on the
bed which appeared to have been recently discharged. The
deceased, who conversed in the most rational manlier, said he
was about to fire the pistol into the yard, when he heard the
bell ring, and was about to lay the pistol down, when his foot
slipped and it went off accidentally. The wound was on the
right temple, which appeared to have been perforated with a
pistol shot.
The witness underwent a long examination by the Coroner
and Jury as to the state of the deceased's mind. He said he
never observed any thing extraordinary in Mr. Otter's con-
duct, or any indication of a disordered mind. He had met
with no losses in business whatever. .

The CORONER— Can you form an opinion from what you
saw and heard, that your master's statement was correct ?
Witness—l think he spoke the truth. believe the pistol did
go off accidentally as he described.
Mr. Hunter, auctioneer, was called into the house on Mon-
day night, about ten o'clock, and found Mr. Otter in the situa-
tion described by the last witness. He was in Mr. Otter's
company on the day previous. He was then lively and cheer-
fiil, in his appearance which could lead him
to ,
andsuppose
nothinglabouring under derangement.
h e sawhe
was
The CORONER remarked on the extraordinary nature of the
case. It certainly did appear singular that the pistol should
have gone off in the way stated, and the ball accidentally
lodge in such a vital part. They had however, the statement
of the duceased made to three witnesses, that the pistol went
off while he was falling, and he had made the same declaration
when he was in articulo mortis. He could see no other con-
clusion the Jury could come to, than a verdict that the deceased
accidentally shot himself.
After some discussion among the Jury, they agreed to the
following verdict :—" That the deceased, George Otter, died
from the effects of a pistol-shot wound, stated by himself to
have been accidentally inflicted while falling."
The CORONER said that was the best verdict the Jury could
have returned under the circumstances ; and the Court then
broke up.

There is at present in Greenwich College a cat that
is 23 years of age.—Mirror.
ENGLISH IN FRANCE.—From an official return
that has been made to the Prefet de Police at Paris, up to
the 25th ult., by the Prefets and Sous-Prefets in the depart-
ments and leading towns, of the number of foreigners at pre-
sent in France, the following is about the number of English
over here, viz. :—Paris, Versailles, St. Cloud, St. Germain's,
and environs, 20,000 to 25,000 ; Boulogne-sur-Mer and envi-
rons, 10,000 to 12,000; Calais, the Bass Ville, and environs,
5,000 to 7,000 ; St. Omer, Cassel, and environs, 1,000 to
1,500 ; Dunkirk, Bergues, and environs, 1,500 to 2,000 ;
Dieppe, Havre, Rouen, Caen, Tours, Marseilles, Bordeaux,
&c., 6,000 to 7,000. Total, about 54,500. This does not
include the number of continental tourists who pass annually
through France to Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Rhino,
Belgium, and other parts, of which no official return is pub-
lished by the Minister of the Interior or police authorities.

The William Darley arrived here from Hamburg
on Tuesday, after a very boisterous passage. She left Ham-
burg on Sunday, and had on board upwards of twenty respecta-
ble passengers, amongst whom were Mons. Horace Vernet, a
courier from St. Petersburg, with despatches to Paris, who
had lost his passage by the Havre boat from Hamburg, and the
Marquis de Pina, one of the most distinguished French artists
of the day. Both expressed their entire approbation of the
speed and convenience of the vessel. —Hull Observer.
The Act passed in the last Session to assimilate the
law of Scotland to that of England, " by fixing the standard
qualities of standard gold and silver plate, and to provide for
the assaying and working thereof, will come into operation on
the Ist of next month. The marks to be used at the Edin-
burgh Assay-office are the King's head, the thistle, a castle,
and a letter, to be varied annually, but for the present to be
D, in old English.
On Tuesday information was received at the different
London police offices that, about nine o'clock on Saturday
evening, a man, named Daniel Sheldrake, servant to J. N.
Wheelwright, Esq., of Little Hyde, Little Bradfield, Essex,
while passing through a gateway in his master's grounds, lead
ing from the high road, and a short distance from a farmhouse,
he was tripped up by a rope which had been placed across the
footpath, by which he was thrown on his face, with his gun
under him, when four men immediately rushed from a nool, in
the road, where they had been hiding, who, after beating him
severely, held him down and robbed him of a valuable silver
watch, gold seals and key, five shillings in silver, and a double-
barrelled gun, with percussion lock, maker's name " M. Bar-
nett," with which, before he could recover himself, they suc-
ceeded in effee,ing their Fruc, the tlarkhes of the
night he is unable to give any description of the villains. A
reward of 201. has been offered by Mr. Wheelwright for their
apprehension.