The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-08 00:00:00

THE LATE TRAGICAL EVENT.

At eleven o'clock yesterday morning, a Coroner's Inquest
was held at the Mason's Arms, Titchborne-street, Edgware-
road, before Mr. STIRLING, and a respectable Jury, on -the
body of Henry Stanynought, aged nine years.
Mr. John Finch, of No. 6, Winchester-row, schoolmaster

—The deceased was one of his pupils, and was nine years
of age. The last time he saw the child alone was about
nine o'clock on the Thursday evening. He was then in
good health. This was in the shop of' the father, with
whom witness conversed for nearly an hour. About eleven
o'clock on Friday morning, a boy in the employ of Mr.
Stanynought came into the schoolroom and said his master
wanted to see me immediately. Witness went over directly,
and saw the shopman, who said he thought there was
something the matter up stairs. Witness ran up, and seeing
the door on the second floor partly open, he knocked, when
Mr. Stanynought, in a hurried tone, said, " Don't come in,
pray don't come in, for I shall shock you." These words he
repeated several times. Witness said " Pray let me come in ;
are you ill—what is the matter ? " Becoming alarmed, he
entered the room, and on going to the bedside he took him
by the arm, the deceased being apparently asleep, and
again requested to know what was the matter. He said—
" I cannot tell you—l dare not tell you ; I shall shock.
you." Witness again begged of him to state what had oc-
curred, when he said it was of no use, for he had killed his
poor boy,' had wounded himself, and that he was dying.
Witness then asked him who he should get, when he
pointed to a knife and three letters on a chair. He said
that was the knife with which he had done the deed.
He then requested witness to give one of the letters to
Mr. Barker; and the other two to his wife.

One of the letters was directed in the hand-writing of a
friend of Mrs. Stanynought. The other was read by the
clerk, and was as follows :

"My dearest Lucy—l pause in my last moments to beg of
you not to give way to despondency. This is the happiest
moment which I have ever known. My poor little boy is
doomed to suffer all the misery of his father, his grandfather,
his great-grandfather, and his great-great-grandfather, before
him. This has been the chief cause of my misery. I never
*knew what it was to be bappy, but have always suffered from
desponding misery. It is my own nervousness, beyond what
I ever saw, that has destroyed me beyond redemption ; and
you never knew the hundredth part of my sufferings.—Adieu,
adieu, my dear, dear wife.

( Signed) " H. STANYNOUGHT."
Having secured the knife, witness ran over to Mr. Barker,
and on our return, he was asked how could he commit such
an awful crime ? He replied " How could I do it ! How
could I do it have killed my poor child ; it is an awful
crime, and I know it. It would have been the happiest
thing which could have occurred if I had killed myself."
He spoke rationally, but in an agitated manner. Witness,
then begged of him to make his peace with God. He re-
plied, " He had, that the Almighty was not angry with
him, and why should the Almighty afflict him so ? He
had saved his child from misery, for he would have been
miserable for life, as all his family had been, for his grand-
father had died in a madhouse." There was no defect
about the,child, and the opinion entertained by the father
was a delusion. The witness then gave similar evidence to
that of the surgeon, as to the appearance of the deceased.
The bootjack with which the child had been struck was
here produced ; it had blood on one of the points. A razor
and a pair of Spanish knives were also produced ; one of
the latter was found under the bed, open.
The witness continued—That Mr. Stanynought was a
man of a most extraordinarily nervous temperament. The
unfortunate man sometimes justified, and then, the next
moment, would lament what he had done, and exclaim
" How could I do it—how could I kill my poor boy ?"
He said he had never recovered the death of his poor
girl. Witness had ' himself observed a groat change in

it Wednesday evening."
A Juror observed the date of the note was a con
vincing proof that the deed was premeditated.
The Coroner asked if the body was warm when Mr.
Barker was called in ? Mr Barker replied it was.
Mr. Finch stated that Mrs. Stanynought was far ad-
vanced in pregnancy, and was now with her family at
Richmond. She knew of the death of her son, but not
how it happened.
William Jerams, shopman to Mr. Stanynought, had lived
with Mr. Stanynought about seven years. He had observed
a decided change in him within the last two years. His
mind had been more subject to. the delusions ; and there
was greater dejection, particularly since the death of his
daughter, of whom he was excessively fond. Several things
had occurred in business which induced witness to think he
was of unsound mind. His manner and conversation in ge-
neral indicated delusion.
The Coroner then proceeded to sum up the evidence,
and expressed an opinion that the evidence warranted the
conclusion that the unfortunate man, in committing the act,
had been guilty of wilful murder.
The room was cleared, and the Jury deliberated for about
half an hour, when they agreed on pronouncing a verdict of
" Wilful Murder ;" but added that they entertained a
strong suspicion that at the time of committing the act,
Mr. Stanynought was labouring under mental delusion.

The death of the boy Stanynought has been followed by
the awfully sudden death of a Mr. Bales, an auctioneer,
who lived next door to Mr. Stanynought, and had been for
many years on very intimate terms with the family of this
unfortunate man. He had gone down to- Dartford to bring
up a brother of Mr. Stanynought's, and had been so
affected and excited by the murder of the child by his
friend, as well as his attempt on his own life, that death was
the consequence. He expired about ten o'clock yesterday
morning. An inquest will be held on his body this day.