Star.
London, England, 1830-09-03 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS.

MISERABLE DEATH OF A LADY.— An inquisition was held on
Tuesday evening, by Joseph Carttar, Esq. Coroner for Kent and a
Jury composed of the most respectable inhabitants of the neighbour.
hood, at the Fountain Tavern, Broadway, Deptford, to inquire into
the circumstances attending the death of a lady named Elizabeth
Guinan, daughter of a well known wealthy East India merchant, and
who would, at the demise of a relative, have come into possession of
property amounting to nearly half a million.
The inquiry excited an extraordinary degree of interest, and many of
the gentry of Blackheath and neighbourhood were present, the unfunu.
nate lady being known to them in het lifetime.
The Jury laving been sworn, proceeded to a miserable Louse
in Mill-lane, occupied by a man and his wife, Darned Hethering.
ton, who obtained their livelihood by letting out beds to pour
weary travellers at threepence and fourpence per night. Upun
entering a back attic, the Jury were horror-struck at the spectacle that
met their view. In this small room there were 4 beds t in one of them
there was a poor famishing woman, with her two children, in the last
stage of existence from the smallpox ; in another was a wretched look.
ing old man, and in a third was stretched the body of the decea,edlady
she was dressed in a silk gown, and wore a leghorn bonnet. The jury,
upon beholding the miserable scene, shudder with horror, and having
performed this disagreeable part of their duty, they hurried from the
infectious apartment as fast as possible back to the jury room, when th
following facts were detailed in evidence

The unfortunate deceased resided with her parents on Blackbeath-hill,
and being rather flighty in her mind, every care and attention was paid
her. On Friday morning last she left home for the purpose of taking
an airing on the heath, and never returned. Her absence created the
greatest alarm, and search was made for her day after day, ineffectually
It subsequently was discovered that on leaving home she proceeded to
Deptford, and remained at the Fountain from Friday till Monday.—
On that day, having paid her bill, she went to the miserable lodging.
house kept by Hetherington and his wife, and engaged a bed (the filthy
bed on which she was found) for the night; when she made the engage.
ment, as is the usual practice, she paid down the charge, fourpence, for
her bed. After having thus arranged her lodging, she went away, say.
ing she would return at nine o'clock. Between seven and eight the de-
ceased called at the shop of Mr. Elkington, chemist and druggist, in the
Deptford Broadway. to whom she was known, and requested an ounce
and a half of laudanum. Mr. Elkington had sold her that quantity se-
veral times before, but he had not seen her for some months. and he
therefore supplied her with the required quantity. Mr. Elkington dill
not know her name, but her person was well known to him, and be
knew her to be an habitual laudanum taker and opium eater.
When he gave her the laudanum, he said, " You take a great deal of
laudanum, Miss." She said, " Yes ;" and in his presence she swallowed
nearly half an ounce with the greatest unconcern, and then put the
phial with the remainder in her pocket, and went away. The un-
fortunate lady then returned to her wretched abode, and was shown
to her pallet. She merely laid on the outside f the bed ; and
shortly after she requested the landlady to procure her half a pint of
porter. The porter was fetched, and the deceased emptied the remaining
ounce of landanum into it, and drank it nearly off. In a few minutes
after, such was the powerful effects of the draught that she was seized
with stupor ; her wretched companion (the woman with the two dying
children) alarmed the house, and Dr. Green was sent for, who, the mo-
ment he entered the house, discovered her to be labouring under the
powerful effects of laudanum. He resorted to the stomach-pump, and
every other means, but the unfortunate lady expired in a few minutes
after, in the arms of the medical gentleman ! Upon searching her pockets
the phial which had contained the deadly draught was found, with
"Poison" labelled upon it, and 12s. 6d. in money. It was proved
by a lady, a friend of the family, that the deceased was in the habit of
taking laudanum in large quantities, and a short time since, whilst at a
watering-place, she expended 101. in the purchase of laudanum, winch
she consumed in a short period ! The witness also proved that the de.
ceased was of unsound mind at in•ervals. The Coroner regretted that a
lady of high connections should die such a miserable death, and he
thought the people of the lodging-house wreve blameable for sibl-
ing a lady of the appearance of the deceased to have a bed in their
house.

The Jury acquiesced with the Coroner, and Hetherington and
wife were called in and received a severe rebuke from the Jury for having
harboured a lady in such an infectious hovel ; they might have very
easily perceived, from the appearance of the unhappy lady, that she was
above the common rank, and not a tit tenant for such a wretched abode.
It was a great pity the parish should allow such an unwholesome place
to exist.—Hetherington said he was not aware of the lady's rank in life,
or he certainly would not have allowed her to enter his house. She asked
if she could have a bed, and he said " yes." He was very sorry that
she should have died in hla house.

After some further conversation the Jury returned a verdict—" That
the deceased poisoned herself, being at the time in a state of mental de.
rangement."
The unhappy lady was about 30 years of age.

Wednesday an Inquisition was taken at the Turf Tap, Tattersall's-
yard. Grosvenor-place, before Mr. Higgs, on view of the body of Ire.
derick Thompson, aged 25, who broke his neck under the following cir-
cumstances:—Mary Buckthorpe, residing at Pye-street, Westminster,
stated that she knew the deceased, who was a costermonger. Friday last
she accompanied him to Hammersmith, with a donkey and hampers, full
of vegetables, which having disposed of, they were returning home, when
near Kensington the deceased complained of being tired, and got upon
the donkey. Witness on their way called at a house where some money
was owing her, while the deceased and the donkey proceeded home.
Having obtained her demand, she hastened forward to join her eampa..
nion, and had not proceeded above two hundred yards, when, to her
great surprise she saw the deceased lying in the road, with a police con-
stable and several other persons round him ; and she was told that a
stage-coach had run against the donkey and knocked him off. The
deceased, on being tallied from the ground, exclaimed. "Oh
dear, 1 shall never come out again. He was conveyed to
the nearest public-house, where he was attended by a medical
, man, who ordered him to be taken to Saint George's Hospital,
and thither he was taken in a cart. The deceased and herself were quite
sober at the time. The Coroner inquired if there was any one present
who witnessed the accident ? when the beadle replied in the negative.—
' Sarah Thompson, the widow of the deceased, said that she went to see
her unfortunate husband in the hospital on Saturday morning, and he
then told her that Le had fallen off the donkey by accident. She added
that the woman Buckthorpe was addicted so drinking—Mr. W. Carey,
house-surgeon, stated that he examined the deceased when brought there
on Friday evening. He perceived that his neck was dislocated, and that
the case was hopeless. He lingered till the Monday following, whe.t
he expired. He did not tell witness how he got the injury.—The por•
ter of the Hospital stated, that the first witness (Buckthorpe) was quize
drunk when she accompanied the deceased to the Hospital, and the un-
fortunate man also appeared as if he had been drinking. None of the
persons who brought the deceased to the Hospital saw the accident.--
The Jury, under these circumstances, returned the following verdict—
•' That the deceased died from a broken neck, but how he reeetriil the
injury, there was no satisfactory evidence before them to peeve."