The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-17 00:00:00

SUICIDES.

SUICIDE OF AN ARTIST.-011 Saturday Mr. Wak-
ley, M.P., held an inquest at the sign of the Queen's
Ilead, Keppel-terrace, Chelsea, on the body of Mr.
Joseph William Brett, aged 34 years, who committed
suicide under the following distressing circumstances :
—lt appeared from the evidence gone into, that the
deceased was the son of the Rev. Joseph Brett, a
clergyman of the Established Church, and resided with
his parents both aged persons, living in a cottage,
No. 4, Keppel-street South, King's-road, Chelsea.
The deceased was an artist, and one of the irery nume-
rous unsuccessful competitors, for the prizes offered
for subjects for the cartoons to embellish the new
Houses of Parliament. The subject the deceased
chose was that of "King Richard pardoning
the Soldier who shot him." The blight of
disappointment, there is no doubt, operated most
severely on the deceased's mind, although he never
complained of it, and appeared in general cheerful.
His health had, however, for a long time before his
death been failing, and he had become so weak as
to be unable to use his right arm and hand. On the
evening of Tuesday last deceased was seen alive by
his parents about hall- past ten, at which time he was
in bed. About nine o'clock on Wednesday morning
his father, who is very near sighted, went into the
deceased's bed-room (the front parlour) and saw him
lying in bed, as he at first thought with a red hand-
kerchief round his neck, but on closer examination he
found that it was blood, and that the deceased was
dead. NO alarm was, however, made until half-past
one o'clock in the day, when by the advice of a
neighbour the police was called in, and Mr. Smith, a
surgeon, pronounced life to have been extinct for
some hours. It was then found that deceased had
cut his throat with his left hand with a razor, which
was found in bed, the handle and blade having been
tied round with a handkerchief. The wretched ap-
pearance of the deceased's room, also of the interior
of the house, bespoke the poverty of the unfortunate
family, who, however, still prize the picture of the
deceased, who, it is stated, had refused 3004 for it.
The coroner and jury commiserated greatly with the
feelings of the family, and returned a verdict, " That
the deceased was found dead with his throat cut,
supposed by his own act, but as to the !tato of his
mind at the time there was not sufficient evidence to
show."

SINGULAR SUICIDE.--On Saturday Mr. Payne held
an inquest at the establishment of Messrs. Westrop,
Dignam, and Co, wholesale warehousemen, No. 8,
Watling-street, on the body of Charles Treacy, aged
seventeen years, a young man in the employ of that
firm, who had blown out his brains with A pistol. It
appeared that the deceased, who had been in the ser-
vice of the firm about five years, was one of th• best
conducted persons in their employ. On the previous
evening he had leave to go out until ten o'clock, but
he ought not to Lave stopped out all night, which he
did. About 11:1f-past eight o'clock that morning de-
ceased came into the warehouse, and it being evident
from his appearance that he had been out all night,
William Ellis, a fellow-servant, joked him on the cir-
cumstance, and said he might have told him he was
going to do so, and not let him leave the lamp burn-
ing all night. Shortly afterwards Ellis heard a noise
like the bursting of an inflated flour bag, and ran up
stairs, and on entering the store department he found
the deceased bleeding from the head. A surgeon was
instantly sent for, who found that deceased's head was
.shattered by a pistol shot, and that life was quite ex-
tinct. Mr. J. Dignam said he could not at all account
for the commission of the act, unless the following
papers, found since his death, would throw any light
upon it. The Coroner, finding they were in the do-
ceased's handwriting, read as follows :

"Let the suicide rest,
Place no mark on his head,
For he sought but rest
With the numberless dead.
" Let the slumberer sleep,
On him shed not a tear,
For though maddened with sorrow
Ho died without fear.
" As he lived so he died,
But let him sleep on!"