The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-12 00:00:00

SUICIDE IN BULL.

On Monday morning, considerable excitement
was caused in liingsvon-street, Hull, in consequence
of the report that Mi,s. Ann .Bullock, wife of a sea-
man, and for a long time resident in Kingston-
street, had committed -4-oicide by poisoning herself
with laudanum. Being- well known by the neigh-
bours, the event caused various conjectures as to
the reason which induced the poor woman to
commit the rash act to be made ; and the chief
opinion amongst Lhe parties was, that it was pecu-
iniary difficulties which hanl operated upon the wo-
man's mind, and had rosult ed in the melancholy
circumstance which we have to record. From the
evidence deposed to at the in q test, which was held
on Tuesday afternoon, at the
kilt:nor House Tavern,
it appears that Capt. Mortier;
of the steamer
S wanland, had lodged with her co
r the last 17 or
18 years, and that she had frequoi fitly borrowed
money of him whilst her husband wit s at sea, hut
he having been away a few weeks fo.r the benefit
of his health to Harrowgate and Krim •gobro' Mrs.
Bullock had during his absence abstraett'd from his
cash-box three sovereigns, and it would s.stsm that
Mr. Mortier had returned home earlier tilk-I.n she
had expected him, and before she had replac,g,'l the
money ; and the fear of the discovery of this' cir-
cumstance appears to have been the cause of ,ber
determining to commit suicide. On Sunday nig,11.4,
she went to the shop of Mr. Fullham, chemist anti,
druggist, Myton-place, purchased some drops of'
sweet nitre, and afterwards asked Mr. Fullham if
laudanum was a good thing to rub the cheek with
for the " tic," to which the latter replied that it
was used for the " tic" by some persons,
Wien Mrs.
Bullock then said she would take six penny worth.
Mr. Fullham said she would not require six peenn9-
worth to rub her cheek with, when she said it was
for her mother, who harl taken laudanum for a g r eat
number of years ; and the iludanum was ultimat,q
served to her, the bottle being labelled " poison,'
and Mr. Fullham cautioning her to be careful with
it. Mr. Fullham knew the woman, and noticed no-
thing suspicious in her demeanour. Her husband
is second mate of the St. Petersburg steamer, aid
went with that vessel to sea this day (Thursday)
fortnight, and the other inmate of the house, besides
Mrs. Bullock and Capt. Mortier, was a son of the
former, aged 11 years, and this son slept with his
mother whilst his father was at sea. The nitre
which she had procured was, to put into some gruel
for the son, and he and his mother went to bed at the
usual hour, shortly after 10 o'clock. Capt. Mortier
arrived on Saturday, but Mrs. Bullock did not
appear to be any way different than usual intil
Sunday after tea, when Captain Mortier, who had
been asleep on the sofa, on waking found Mrs. Bul-
lock crying, but she would not state what was the
matter. Mr. Mortier afterwards went to bed, and
was awoke about 11 o'clock by hearing tho boy
crying. He went to Mrs. Bullock's bed room, and
the boy told him that his mother had drunk some-
thing out of a cup. He (Mr. 111.) asked her what
she had taken, and pointing to a bottle upon the
table she said it would tell. On looking it was found
to be labelled "poison," and the lad was at once
sent for Dr. Bell, returning shortly afterwards
with that gentleman's partner, Mr. Soulsby. In the
interim between sending for the doctor and his arri-
val, Mrs. Bullock stated as the cause for taking the
poison that she had been to his (Mr. M.'s) cash box,
and could not make it up ; and on examining it after-
wards it was found that £3 had been taken out of
the box. On Dr. Soulsby arriving two emetics
were administered. The stomach pump was after-
wards applied. The laudanum, however, appears to
have done its deadly work before the arrival of me-
dical aid, and death ensued about half-past eight
o'clock on Monday morning.
The jury after having been locked up for upwards
of an hour could not agree—nine of them were for
a verdict of temporary insanity and the other three
for a verdict amounting to felo de se. Ultimately
they returned an open verdict—namely, that " She
died from the effects of poison administered by her-
self, but whether she was then in a sane state there
was no evidence to show."—Eastern Countiu
_Herald.

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