The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-14 00:00:00

THE SUICIDE A 7 THE STEPNEY

R eLIL IVA Y S TAT lON.

On Saturday a great many persons waited upon
Mr. Pemble, the beadle of Rateliff, for the purpose
of identifying the body of a fbreigner, who commit-
ted suicide on Friday evening, by flinging himself
in front of the:Tilbury and Southend express train,
which left the Fenchurch-street station at half-past
4 o'clock. The deceased had been on the platform
for 5 or 6 minutes before the train approached, and
directly it reached the station he raised his arms,
put himself in the attitude of a man about to dive
into the water, and threw himself on to the railway,
to the horror and astonishment of the bystande,rs.
His body was terribly mangled, which rendered
identification very difficult. No one recognised the
deceased. Pemble found in the deceased's pockets
a small pocketbook, worked in coloured beads,
which had been crushed while the train was pass-
ing- over him, and a small purse. There was no
money in the purse. From inquires made by Pem-
ble, the deceased, it appears, was quite destitute.
His name is Legon, a native of Germany, and he
arrived in England about three weeks since. The
deceased was a mechanical draughtsman, and had
sought employment at several engineering Erms in
London, and was unsuccessful. The want of em-
ployment, and the prospect of starvation before him,
caused him to commit suicide. The deceased had
been in a low and desponding state for several days.

TILE LATE LORD FOR7'H-A SAD STORY

Some additional particulars with regard to the
late Lord Forth and the lady with whom he was
living and died, to those which appeared at the in-
quest, have been elicited. The deceased was born
at Naples in 1834, and in 1853 he was appointed to
an ensigncy in the 42d Regiment, which, however,
it appears he left in the following year. Report
asserts that he went to the Crimea, and, not relish-
ing " the pomp and circumstances of glorious war,"
or rather the peril, he speedily abandoned the mili-
tary life for other pursuits. In 1853 he married the
eldest daughter of the Hon. Adolphus Capel, piece
of the Earl of Essex. The sad eventful_ history of
their marriage life was told, the viscountess herself
being the narrator, to Sir Cresswell Creswell, early
in the present year. Lady Forth petitioned for a
dissolution of her marriage on account of Lord
Forth's adultery, and for a judicial separation on
account of his cruelty ; but the application was re-
sisted by the Queen's Proctor, on the ground of col-
lusion and the adultery of the lady herself. it ap-
peared from Lady Forth's evidence, and that of her
mother, that during three years they lived together
their daily life, from the day after the marriage,
was one of drunkenness and brutality on the part
of the husband towards his wife, her sisters, brothers,
and even his own child, an infant. During the
whole of that time he seems to have contributed not
a farthing towards his own maintenance, but was
supported by his wife's father and mother; and at
last he became so outrageOus that they parted:com-
pany, we believe, in 1858, and Lady Forth never
saw him afterwards. Some time after his departure
Lady Forth seems to have formed an acquaintance
with a Mr. Dering, and to have visited the United.
States with him ; and on the ground of this inti-
macy her divorce was upset.
Nor is the history of Mrs. Drummond, or rather
Mrs. Lloyd, the lady who has been living with
Lord Forth, as his wife, and who died with him, a
whit less sad, if the statements respecting her which
have gained currency are true. She was the only
daughter and heiress of a gentleman of property
and a magistrate for the county of Hereford, resid-
ing near Leominster. When about twenty she fell
to the seductive will of a scion of a noble house, and
had two children, who are now living with her
father. Subsequently she appeared to become peni-
tent, and after a time she was married to a man
named Lloyd, by whom it is said she had two more
children, who are now also living with her father.
Lloyd was in debt, and having married a lady of
property was sued by his creditors, and found his
way to the Queen's Bench, where Lord Forth had
also found a local habitatiin and a name. Mrs.
Lloyd visited her husband in the bench, an inti-
macy sprang up between her and Lord Forth, and
on his liberation they joined company, and have
lived together ever since.
The remains of Mrs. Lloyd are to be taken to the
family vault for interment. At the inquest the
surgeon said her death was attributable to natural
causes, apart from her recent confinement. Those
" natural causes" are said to have been intemper-
ance. She was at the time of her death only 28
years of age.
The Earl of Perth, it is said, has directed that
Lord Forth shall be " decently interred" et Glou-
cester.—Bristol Mercury.

The admirers of Elizabeth Barrett Browning will
be glad to hear that she has left behind her a number of
unpublished poems. They are being prepared for the press,
and a volume of them will probably bo published Abotit
cluistnam.

RUMOURED REDUCTION OF TEE
ARIJI.F.

We are glad that the rumour to which we alluded
a fortnight since, respecting the project of using
the strength and efficiency of the volunteers as an
argument for the reduction of the regular army,
has been so well met by the volunteers themselves.
From the many private communications we have
received, of which we insert one merely as a sample
of the general feeling, and the public declarations
of the officers, we feel certain that if any such step
were taken by the authorities the falling off in the
volunteer ranks would be so great as effectually to
destroy the force of the argument. In his speech to
the Liverpool Volunteers Col. M'Murdo repudiates
the idea. If he had done so a little less boldly he
would have given us more comfort. From the way
in which he ridicules it, we are afraid our excellent
Inspector of Volunteers does not know how much
the idea had approached the formidable dimensions
of a distinct proposal, although we think he must
have known that several months ago a proposition
made by one of his own country corps to relieve the
local regular garrison of their duty was seriously
entertained and deliberated upon. When we speak
of the last idea in the pluperfect tense we by no
means seek to imply that it is allover, although we
hope that the general expression of public opinion
which has taken place will not be without its effect.
But as yet we are not altogether easy. If practical
men like Col. M'Murdo were allowed to influence
such questions we should be more confident ; but in
the present day economy and its representatives
rule over generals of all kinds. Recruiting is en-
tirely stopped. At first we hear that it is only done
to allow the army—whose numbers were unduly
swollen by the return home of several regiments,
and by the new Indian depot arrangements—to be
brought down to the dimensions contemplated in
the estimates of 1861-62. Then we are told that
the extra expense of maintaining so many thou-
sand men above the establishment in the early
part of the year will oblige us to lower our
military strength to a similar extent below oar
Establishment in the latter portion, so that the
estimate for the whole 12 months may not be ex-
ceeded. If this be so, the reduction in a financial
sense will be more than neutralised by the expense
of bringing the army up to the old strength next
year, while in a military sense the effect will be
much worse. We earnestly trust that a permanent
reduction is not contemplated in the present aspect
of affairs over the world. We should be glad to be
able to speak a word of positive assurance to the
contrary, but at present we cannot with perfect
truth do so.—Army and Navy Gazette.