The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-15 00:00:00

ALLEGED POISONING.

GRAVESEND, SATURDAY.—An inquiry, which has
occupied Mr. Hinde, one of the Kent County Coro-
ners, and a jury, for several days, was brought to a
close late last evening, at the Falstaff Inn, Gad's-hill.
The deceased was a healthy woman, and on Tues-
day, the 19th of last month, she was delivered of a
child, which is still living. Mr. Wiblin, a surgeon,
residing at Stroud, attended her. He saw her on
Wednesday and Thursday, and he neither saw nor
heard of any, unfavourable symptoms. He considered
her to be going on so well, that he did not deem it
necessary to call and see her on the Friday. At this period
the nurse, Ann Caush, noticed a remarkable change
in her state. She retched violently, and threw off her
stomach a slimy substance of different colours. Dur-
ing the day her mother, Mrs. Fisher, who is blind,
and lives in Gravesend, visited her, and hearing the
alarming turn her condition had taken, begged the
husband to send for the doctor. She suffered conside-
rably during thenight in vomiting, and on Mr. Wiblin
seeing her he found her in a state of collapse. She
was apparently asleep • he touched her on the shoul-
der, and she woke. He inquired of her whether she
had any pain, and she immediately fell into a state of
slumber. He ordered her such medicines as he
deemed advisable, and saw her frequently during the
day, when she appeared in the same state. Gruel
seemed to have been her principal nourishment ; it
was made either by the nurse or Mrs. Fisher, and it
frequently happened that it was left on a hob in the
adjoining room, with no one present, so that any
person could mix anything in the gruel without the
attendants knowing it. The nurse generally gave the
unfortunate woman gruel when she required it, but
the husband in the course of the night helped her to
some, which she took. An hour or so afterwards,
her state became more alarming. She was in a state
of frenzy, and had jumped out of bed, and it required
all in the house to prevent her injuring herself. Mr.
Wiblin attended her. She was sensible to a cer-
tain extent. She complained of a burning sensa-
tion in the throat, thirst, sickness, and a pain in
the region of the stomach. What was thought proper
was given her, but she kept sinking very fast during
the following day, and on the next (Tuesday) morn-
ing she expired, at four o'clock. Previously to this,
Mrs. Fisher had written to a Mr. Holmes, an ap-
praiser and undertaker, in the London-road Borough,
London, who was uncle to the deceased, about her
mysterious change, and begging that he would go
down to advise her. On reaching Mrs. Fisher's re-
sidence at Gravesend, on Tuesday morning, Mr.
Holmes found the husband of the deceased there, and
heard that she was dead. Hearing the circumstance,
he immediately proposed accompanying him to see
the corpse. They accordingly went. As soon as
the husband heard of the parish constable summoning
a jury, he decamped, no one knows whither. The
result of the post mortem examination of the body
of the deceased Mr. Wiblin detailed at some
length. Externally he saw nothing to cause
death ; there was a large bruise on one hip, which
was the only external mark of violence on the body,
but it had nothing to do with death. Internally he
found the throat much inflamed, discoloured and
swollen • the stomach and intestines were considerably
inflamed; there were recent ulcerations in the stomach.
He took away the throat and stomach, and after ap•
plying the different tests, he discovered the presence
of oxalic acid. He was of opinion that deceased had
died from oxalic acid.

The CORONER then, at some length, summed up
the evidence, and alluded to the remarkable fact of the
husband of the deceased leaving his family, his home,
his business, his all, the moment an inquest was about
being held.

The jury consulted for a considerable time, and
then found a verdict of " Wilful murder against
William Brown, the husband."
The Coroner having made out the usual documents,
the inquiry closed.
By subsequent inquiries the husband was last seen
wending his way to London. The infant is still alive,
but it is believed it will not live.

Mr. BUCKINGHAM'S LECTURES AT DALKEITII.—
On Monday evening last Mr. Buckingham delivered, in
connextion with the Dalkeith Scientific Association, the
first of a course of six lectures on Palestine, in the As-
sembly-room, White Hart-street. The lecture, which
occupied nearly two hours, was listened to with deep
interest, and afforded very high gratification to one of
the largest audiences over assembled in connexion with
the Scientific Association. Nothing could exceed the
chasteness, felicity, and appropriateness of the language
employed by Mr. Buckingham, the discriminating
beauty of his pictures of scenery and manners, or the
mellow, yet congenial and fervid, spirit of his allusions
to the history of ancient Israel. Such is the interest ex-
cited by these lectures on 'Palestine, that it has been
found necessary to look out for a larger room ; and the
remainder of the course is, therefore, to be delivered in
one of the chapels in Dalkeith.
A subscription has been set on foot for the purpose
of defraying the cost of a colossal marble statue of
Nelson, which it is intended to erect in the city of Nor-
wich. We have been favoured with a sight of a statuette
modelled by Mr. Mines, sculptor, from which the co-
lossal statue is to be executed; and the skill with which
that gentleman has embodied the design gives us good
reason to expect from the same hand a beautiful work
of art worthy of England's first naval hero. The statue
of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, for the new bar-
racks at the Tower of Lonion, is now being modelled by
Mr. Milnes.—United Service Gazette.
Her Majesty's brig Contest, Commander M'Murdo,
has been fortunate in capturing a fine slave schooner,
the Esperanza, of 120 tons (Brazilian), with 217 slaves
on board. The prize has been sent to Sierra Leone.
The Contest was at Loango on the 9th Aug. Five
slavers had been captured in three weeks on the South
Division, and three in the Bights of Benin.—United Ser-
vice Gazette'.

The Duchess d'Aumale arrived at Toulon on the
Bth with a numerous suite. She was desirous of em-
barking the same day, but it was believed she would
pass the night on shore. The Albatros, which was to
convey her to Algiers, was ready to start at a moment's
notice.