The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-03 00:00:00

DETERMINED SUICIDE.

An inquest was held on Wednesday afternoon, at the
House of Correction, upon the body of Thomas Jack-
son, a prisoner, aged forty. Mr. Jackson, the Governor
of the House, gave evidence respecting the deceased,
who had been placed in his charge on the 6th of April
last, to be held to hard labour for eight calendar months,
having been found guilty of defrauding his employer,
Mr. John Flint, of the sum of 6/. ; it was his first
offence, and he bore the punishment very impatiently;
he was exceedingly irritable, and sometimes remarkably
quarrelsome.
Robert Davison, surgeon, saw the deceased on Mon-
day, as he was unwell, and ordered him a little aperient
medicine. He had a most voracious appetite. Saw no-
thing more of him till he was dead, when witness found
him lying on the bed, on his side, with two considerable
wounds on his neck ; one on the right side, rather super-
ficial in depth, about two inches and a half in length,
and one on the left side, about three inches long
and very deep, and had divided the blood-vessels ;
he had 1 lost an immense quantity of blood. Could
find no knife, but after the most diligent search,
a small thin piece of brass, part of the boss of a lace
bobbin, was found in the blood, and nothing else that it
could be imagined possible for the wounds to have been
inflicted with. The bit of brass had apparently been
rubbed to a sharp edge on one side, and it was about the
size of a sixpence. A person very determined on self-
destruction might inflict the wounds found on him. The
wound on the left side of the throat was exactly in the
direction of the vessels, which deceased well knew • having
been a butcher, and accustomed to bleed calves, he would
know where to find the vessel. Had seen him frequently,
but certainly never observed him to be insane.
There being no evidence to show that Jackson was of
unsound mind, the Jury returned a verdict—That the
said Thomas Jackson feloniously and maliciously de-
stroyed himself by cutting his throat, and so he died, and
not otherwise, as appears at this inquest.
The deceased was heard at daybreak, on the morning
of his death, and for several hours afterwards, at inter-
vals, reading aloud from " Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,"
and also was heard to pray.—Nottingham Review.

MIGRATION OF TURKEYS.—Some travellers
have alleged that flocks of these birds, to the extent of
400 or 500, are frequently fallen in with, in those sections
of the country where they most abound, at those periods
of the year when they are making their regular excur-
sions in quest of some favourite species of food : but if
any such instances have been met with, they must have
been something very extraordinary indeed ; for through-
out my own extensive experience, and from all the in-
formation that I have been able to collect among persons
whose opportunities of observing the habits and peculi-
arities of these birds have been even more extensive
than my own, I am induced to believe that a flock of
wild turkeys exceeding in numbers eighty or a hundred
is a very rare sight in any part of North America. It
is during the autumn that they. congregate in such flocks
as these, previous to their setting out upon one of their
excursions in search of some favourite food that the fo-
rests they have frequented during the summer do not
yield, or at least in no great abundance ; and their con-
gregating together in this way would seem to be done for
the purpose of greater safety, as it would be difficult to
assign any other reason for it. At the period these mi-
grations take place the young birds are scarcely two-
thirds grown, and consequently have not the strength to
make long flights ; hence the greater portion of the
journey is 'performed on foot. In the western country,
where many of the rivers are very broad, the weaker
part of these birds find it exceedingly difficult to effect a
passage ; and hence a halt for a day or two on the bank
of the river frequently takes place, during which the old
birds, as their notes and gestures indicate, appear busily
engaged in exciting the weaker portion of the flock to
make the attempt to cross over ; and when at length it
has to be undertaken, the taller trees are mounted in
order to give them all the advantage an elevated
.perch
possesses. Audubon asserts—and I have heard similar
statements made by persons residing in the Ohio Flats
—that where the river is of great breadth it is no un-
common thing to see several of the weaker birds drop
into the water by the time they are half-way across ; but
instead of quietly submitting to their fate, and thus
soon becoming drowned, they will erect their fan-like
tails, turning them adroitly to catch the wind ; and, with
the assistance of their powerful legs, paddle away at a
respectable speed towards the desired shore.—Old Sport-
ing Magazine for July.
The Pau journal relates that lately a person
named Borderolle, who, during the season, kept an hotel at
Saint Sauveur, in the Pyrenees, lost his life in the following
extraordinary manner, at Lusen Bareges. Having gained a
lawsuit, which put him in possession if a very large property,
he gave a grand dinner to a party of friends ' • but while he
was singing some couplets, made by himself for the occasion,
was struck with apoplexy, fell from his chair, and died in-
stantaneously.