The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-10-22 00:00:00

FURTIIF.R PARTICULARS.
. - -

It was at length found however, that the name of the de-
ceased was Richard Donaldson Hawes, and that he is the son
of a widow, who is a laundress, residing near Chelsea. At
the time of his committing the melancholy deed, there were
two females on the monument with him, and a Bible was
found with the leaves turned down at various passages refer-
ring to the rash and foolish act of self-destruction. It has
also been discovered, that the father of the unfortunate youth
destroyed himself by casting himself from an elevation.
The body of the deceased was identified by a schoolfellow,
and the Secretary of the St. Anne's School, at Brixton, to
which school the deceased belonged.
Mr. Croft, surgeon, of Monument yard, has inspected
the body, and has discovered, that in addition to the in-
juries before stated the spine of the back was broken in two
places.

The policeman, who arrived first on the spot, states, that
there was not the least sign of life, not even a muscle moving.
The stones seemed to have indented the skull without causing
any effusion of blood ; but upon lifting him the blood flowed
copiously from his head.
Information of the circumstance having been conveyed to
Mr: Payne, the city coroner, he has issued a warrant, and will
hold an inquest on the body at 4 o'clock this day (Saturday.)
Up to a late hour last night the crowd of persons round the
Monument was very great, and the greatest excitement pre-
vailed in the neighbourhood.

THE INQUEST.
(From the Morning Herald of Yesterday)
It being known that the inquest would be held on Saturday
afternoon on the body of the deceased, long before the hour
appointed the room at the Swan Tavern, in Fish-street-hill,
in which the inquiry took place, was most densely and incon-
veniently crowded. At four o'clock Mr. Payne, the city co-
roner, entered the room, when 19 of the principal inhabitants
of the ward having been empanelled and sworn, the coroner
and jury proceeded to the dead house to take a view of the
remains of the unfortunate deceased, and on their return the
following evidence was adduced.—
Thomas Jenkins was the first witness examined. lie de-
posed as follows :—I am keeper of the Monument. On the
afternoon of Friday last, about ten minutes after five o'clock,
the deceased came in at the Monument at the same time as
a respectably-dressed man and woman, whom he accompanied
up to the top. A few minutes afterwards two young females,
apparently from the country, came in and went up, and almost
directly after them two other females, who also went up. The
two latter soon came down, and when the man and woman
did so I asked them how many persons were still up stairs,
wishing to ascertain, it being near locking up time. They
answered there were only two females and a young lad. About
ten minutes afterwards I heard a noise as of something fall-
ing, and on going out I saw it was the deceased, who had
fallen from the top. At that moment the two females came
down, and without my asking said, " We have left only a lad
up stairs ;" to which I replied, " Poor fellow, he is already
down." The body was subsequently removed in a shell to
the dead house, where the jury have this day viewed it.
The Coroner—Has any steps been taken by the authori-
ties relative to the better security of the railings, with a
view to the prevention of such cases, since the last melan-
choly occasion ?

Witness—No, there has not been anything done as yet.
Is that iron bar at the base of the monument on which
Miss Moyes fell, and which was bent by the force of her
fall, still in the same state as when the last inquest was
held ?—Yes, it is.
. . .

And it has not yet been straightened ?—No, it has not.
And itis not now shown as the iron on which that unfortu-
nate female fell, for the purpose of exciting curiosity ?—No,
sir, decidedly not by me.
The Coroner—l think something ought to have been done
before this by the proper authorities, to prevent the recur-
rence of such cases as the present. Had the iron bar being
immediately straightened, it would in
.my opinion, have
tended considerably to have allayed the curiosity which pre-
vails on the subject.
Other evidence was then entered into. which went to prove
that the deceased was of a very melancholy turn of mind—
that he was very fond of reading accounts olk murders and
suicides—and that he had on a previous occasion attempted
to destroy himself by throwing himself through a window.
It further appeared that his father had committed suicide in
a fit of insanity.
The Coroner, in addressing the jury strongly urged the
necessity of taking effectual precautions against the recur-
rence of such accidents.
The Jury eventually returned a verdict of "Temporary
Insanity."
It is to be hoped that the Corporate authorities of London
will instantly act upon the recommendation of the Coroner,
and guard the monument in such a manner as to preclude the
possibility of such catastrophes in future.
G' I

-MEAT IMPORTANCE OE ANSWERING LETTERS EARLY.
—The value of an early answer to any letter, where distress
of mind or person is involved, cannot be too strongly insisted
ern. A case has lately occurred within
my own observation.
A person, in a dreadful pecuniary distress and strait, wrote
to another of high rank, on whose kindness he had some
claim. The latter had no hesitation as to answering it
favourably, but he delayed doing so for a week. When
it arrived the intended recipient was dead. In utter depair
at, as he supposed, his last earthly chance having failed, not
having the strength of mind to endure conscientiously and
relirriously, or the prudence to take for his motto " nil
deeperandum," he had committed suicide! It cannot be
doubted that the other must have felt much pain and self
condemnation.