The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-05 00:00:00

On Thursday morning Mr. George Child, the super-
intendent of the Gravesend and Rochester Railway, put
a period to his existence by hanging himself, at his re-
sidence, near !he Rochester terminus. The melancholy
end of this universally-respected individual has spread a
deep gloom not only among a large circle of friends, but
among the public also to whom he was generally known.
Deceased has left a wife and seven children. An in-
quest was held the same afternoon, at the Watertnill
Tavern, Stroud, by Mr. James Lewis:, Coroner for Ro-
chester, when the following evidence was adduced :
Mr. Henry Child, son of the deceased, was first ex-
amined. He said his father was 48 years of age. He
was superintendent of the Gravesend and Rochester
Railway. Witness is ticket-clerk in the establishment.
His father went to bed as usual last night with his mo-
ther; she got up between three and four o'clock, and
called witness to remain with his father, as he was so
much excited. His father then walked up and down
the room in his night clothes, as he was accustomed to
do when his mind was much engaged. lle said he was
enxioue about business, and wished he was not so ex-
citable; this was about four o'clock. He said he did
not know what he should do; there was this and that to
do, and he did not know how he should do it. He had
been to London yesterday, to the office of the South-
Eastern Company, and returned excited. His father
told him the appointment was all right; but the inter-
view had been productive of great nervous excitement.
After having paced the room for about ten minut,s he
returned to his bed, and fell asleep. Witness left his
father's room about a quarter to seven, and he then ap-
peared to be asleep. Half an hour afterwards his little
sister called upon him at the office, and told him that
her father had hung himself. On going to the house
he found his father suspended by a silk handker-
chief from the curtain-rod of the bed; he was
then taken down, and a surgeon sent for. After wit-
ness had left his father, he understood that he came into
witness's bed-room, and inquired fur him of his brother
John, who was hardly awake at the time, and he imme-
diately left the room. Had witness remained at home
he had no doubt be might have been the cause of pre-
venting his destroying himself. He was constitutionally
excitable, and a little sleep was always productive of a
favourable change. He returned from London last
night at half-past nine, and wrote a letter, which was
posted as usual, and he then observed nothing particu-
larly the matter with him, except that he fancied the
next duties of his office would be heavier than hereto-
fore. He -has made a great anxiety of business for some
time past, but more so within the last three days, so
much so as to interfere with his proper rest.
The witness then handed the following letter to the
coroner, written to deceased by Mr. F. Collier, the secre-
tary to the company, which was read to the jury.—
Broad-street, London, Sept., 1846.
"My dear Sir,—l am quite sorry to see you in such
poor spirits. lam sure the new arrangements will
neither interfere with your interests or your comfort,
and anything I can do to promote these ends will give
me pleasure."
John Laing, a retired tnilitary officer, residing at the
Terrace, Gravesend, had known Mr. Child for two years,
and had, during that time, been on intimate terms with
him. lie was a man naturally of a very nervous tempe-
rament. Witness had observed for some time past that
business seemed very much to trouble him. Witness
considered his nervous system entirely shattered. Had
seen him on Tuesday; he was then unusually excited.
Mr. Broadbent, station-master on the line, was then
examined. His testimony completely bore out the pre-
ceding evidence. Witness had endeavoured to cheer
him up ; he was very much excited on Saturday, but
much worse yesterday on his way to London. Deceased
shook hands with him as he left that morning, a thing
he had never done before. Witness detained him for
about a minute, and advised him not to be so deponding,
as things would be all right ; and deceased replied he
would try and shake it off, observing that he knew it
was very foolish in him to be so. Witness's opinion
was that he destroyed himself through such excitement
as to derange his mental faculties.
Verdict—" That deceased destroyed himself in a fit of
temporary insanity."

DARING BURGLARY AT SOUTH

WEALD.

One of the most outrageous burglaries that has been
for years committed in Essex was effected on Monday,
about two by a gang who forcibly entered the
house of Mr. James Pain, sen., horse-dealer, of the Red
Lion Inn, Coxted Green, South Weald. Horse-dealers
attending fairs necessarily keep large sums of ready
money in their possession, as the parties who committed
this robbery were no doubt aware, if not of the fact that
a considerable sum was to be found in the house in
question. Mr. Pain, it appears, retired to rest at his
usual time, and about two o'clock in the morning was
alarmed by having the window of his room forced in,
and six or eight men wearing masks and otherwise dis-
guised, entering the apartment. They told Mr. P., who
is advanced in years, they did not want to hurt him, but
they would have his money, on which he got up and
went down stairs, followed by several of the men across
the taproom to another staircase, leading to the room of
Mr. George Smith, his grandson, in the front of the
other end of the house. Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Horsley,
Mr. P.'s daughters, who slept in the adjoining room,
entreated them not to hurt their father, promising, if
they did not, to show them where the money was. The
villains then rifled their pockets of the contents ; but
they did not take a gold watch and various articles of
jewellery belonging to Mrs. Smith. They next went to
Mr. Smith's (the grandson) room, and called him by
name, and, drawing the curtains round his bed, told him
if he did not lie quietly they would kill him. They
then returned to Mr. Pain's room, where, during his
absence, most of the gang had been ransacking his
drawers, as the contents were strewed about. From a
strong chest, which they broke open, they took a small
iron box away with them, containing 1741. in 101. and 51.
bank-notes and sovereigns, a canvas bag with eleven
sovereigns, thirty-three old guineas, a number of docu-
ments, &c. They all appeared well-dressed slightly-
made young men ; some of them wore Newmarket-cut
coats, and one of them had crape on his hat. They had
lights with them, several lucifer-matches, and a piece of
candle was picked up by Mr. Coulson, superintendent of
police at Brentwood, to whom, as soon as the alarm was
over, information was conveyed. Mr. Coulson immedi-
ately went to the railway station, and information was
forwarded per telegraph to the different stations down
the line, and to London, answer being returned in halt
a minute, acknowledging that the information was
understood. The thieves left behind a short ladder and
a black-glazed ealico pocket torn from a great coat, and
in which holes had been made to see through. It is
concluded that they cut their hands with the window
glass, some blood being found sprinkled ,about the room,
and one of the men cut his throat with the glass in break-
ing in, as Mrs. Horsley states that she saw a wound, and
the party took a shirt from her box, belonging to Mr.
H., which he bound round it, and took away with him.
Mrs. Smith went to the window to give an alarm, when
two stones were thrown, but fortunately both missed
her. Information of the robbery has been conveyed to
all the police-stations, and it would seem scarcely pos-
sible, where so many are concerned, that they should all
escape detection. There is no doubt the men who com-
mitted the robbery are regular " cracksmen." They
told Smith that they would not hurt him, and that was
"every-day work with them." Charles Saggers, a lad,
grandson of Mr. Pain, was sleeping with Smith, and on
hearing the noise crept under the bed, and drew his
clothes with him ; he had twenty shillings in his pocket,
which they did not discover, nor did they find him
either. When they were leaving the premises, Mr.
Pain, like an " old brick," said to them that, as they
had not hurt any one, they had better stop and take
something to eat and drink ; but this they politely de-
clined, remarking that they
.had got what they wanted
—that they came after money, and had obtained it. One
of them, who cut his hands in getting through the win-
dow, held Mrs. Smith against the wall whilst the others
were searching for the cash, and the wound bled upon
her night clothes. There were six fellows in the house,
and Mrs. S. saw two or three others outside. The im-
plements used were jemmies, quite new and bright, with
which they wrenched the doors andlocks open.—Chelms-
ford Chronicle.