The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-06-18 00:00:00

INQUEST ON A LIVING MAN.

On Wednesday last a highly respectable jury met at the
Ship Inn, Bank Quay, Warrington, to inquire touching the
death of John Cole, the son of the builder of the wooden
bridge at Warrington, which formerly united the counties of
Cheshire and Lancashire, but which, has latterly been re-
placed by a more substantial erection.
John Foden deposed that he resided at Latchford. On
Monday morning, at a few minutes past 10 o'clock, he was
going down the river Mersey. When opposite the Six Acre
Field (rather below the Grand Junction Railway bridge,) he
saw the body of a man in the river, about a dozen yards from
the edge of the bank. Witness got assistance ; and, after
fastening a rope to the body, towed it to Bank Quay, where
it was taken out, and deposited in Mr. Crosfield's soapery.
The deceased had a carpet bag tied to his neck, by his necker-
hief and a piece of cord. Witness had to cut both the string
and the neckerchief to get it away. The neckcloth was white.
Deceased had on a white shirt, drab trousers, flannel shirt,
cotton drawers, and stockings, but no shoes, and he was
without coat or waistcoat. Witness afterwards saw the carpet
bag opened. In the bottom of it were three stones, a towel,
and a bit of linen rag. Deceased had a penknife in his left-
hand trousers pocket. [The knife was produced ; it had
double blades, with buck-horn handle, and was made by
Rodgers, of Sheffield.] The deceased was a tall, broad-
shouldered man ; he seemed to have black hair, and was a
little bald on the top of the head. . Witness thought he had
been some time in the water ; his features were disfigured.
He believed he saw the same man, alive, that day fortnight,
at the Packet House, Warrington. He would have soon
" sanded" in the spot where witness found him. The stones
were not a great weight, but enough to sink a man when the
bag got full of water.
Mary Bevan, the wife of George Bevan, stone-mason, of
Latchford, deposed that she had seen the body of the de-
ceased, on Monday evening, at the soapery. She knew it to
be the body of John Cole, of Chester, and had no doubt
about it. Witness saw him alive on uesday week, the 4th
instant. He called at her house. He did not appear to have
any money. Witness asked him if he would have any thing
to eat ; he said he could not eat ; and she took him to the
Bridge Inn, and treated him to some porter. She tasted it,
and then, putting three halfpence into his hand, left him
there. He had on a surtout, drab trousers, white shirt, and
a dark stock. Witness knew him when he was at the Ches-
ter House of Industry, of which his brother was the governor.
She asked him how be managed to get out, when he said he
had a key of the outer door as well as his brother, and that
he had got away unknown to the inmates. [The key was
produced : it had been found at some lodgings, in which John
Cole had slept, in Warrington.] Deceased was much given
to " sprees" and drunken habits, and sometimes left his
family for several weeks at a stretch. Deceased had no carpet
bag with him. She again repeated that she had no doubt the
deceased was the man who called upon her ; she had not seen
him
-alive since that day.

Mr. Jones, the active deputy-constable of _Warrington,
here intimated that he was quite positive the deceased was
John Cole, as, in addition to other circumstances, he had
learnt that he (Cole) had pledged his coat and waistcoat at
Mr. Jones's the pawnbroker, and the deceased had no coat
or waistcoat on when found. Cole, also, had not been seen
at his lodgings in Warrington since about the time the de-
ceased might be supposed to have drowned himself. He also
knew that Cole had previously been in the habit of using the
Packet House.

The Coroner said that, although there was little doubt of
the deceased being John Cole, it would be as well for the
coat and waistcoat pledged to be produced to the jury, and
also for -the pawnbroker and the lodging-house-keeper to
attend, as they might be able to give some account of the
state of the deceased's mind. _

Douglas, a police-constable, was accordingly despatched
to summon the two witnesses ; and, in the meantime, the
coroner proceeded to the examination of those already in
attendance. _ _ _

John Samuel Hall, an excise officer, spoke to the fact of
his having seen the deceased with a carpet-bag so late as half-
past six o'clock on the evening of Wednesday. Witness was
in a boat on the Mersey, and saw the deceased walking on
the banks of the Cheshire shore, near where the body was
found. He had on a black hat, drab trowsers, and appeared
about 5 feet 6 inches, or 6 feet high. Witness turned the
boat about, and left the deceased walking there.
Mr. Cole, the governor of the House of Industry at Ches-
ter, stated, that his brother John left him on the Saturday
after Chester races, and had let himself out of the house by
means of a key which had been taken from a desk in his
office. The key produced was the same his brother had so
taken. Witness had seen the body ; but decomposition had
taken place so much as to prevent his clearly identifying the
features. The stock found in the carpet-bag he was quite
positive belonged to his brother, and was what he was wear-
ing at the time he left Chester.
The next witness entered the jury-room rather unexpect-
edly—it was no other than John Cole, the man on whom the
coroner and jury had been led to believe they were holding
the inquest upon. Douglas, the policeman, who had been
sent to the pawnbroker's for the coat and waistcoat, had
found him sitting very quietly upon the stone in the Fish
Market, and had rather surprised him by the announcement
of a coroner's inquest then holding on view of his body.
The coroner (addressing the supposed dead man) : Is your
name John Cole, and is this (pointing to Mr. Cole, the wit-
ness) your brother ?

John Cole : Yes.
The Coroner : Well, do you know we are holding an in-
quest upon you ?
John Cole : So I am given to understand, sir ; and accor-
dingly I have thought it requisite to come here, just to show
you that I am still alive.
The meeting of the two brothers ; the dismay of the wit-
nesses ; the surprise of Mr. Jones, the deputy constable, and
the amazement of the coroner and jury, may be imagined—
such a thing has never before happened in the course of a
very long experience, by Mr. Heyes, of the duties of coroner.
Mr. Litton, the foreman of the jury, on whom John Cole
called on Thursday last, had some doubts (when be viewed
the body) on his mind as to whether the man found in the
river was really John Cole •, but, recollecting that Cole had
a bad leg, he caused the stocking of the deceased to be ripped
up, and found a wound in the precise place the wound in
Coles's leg (as was afterwards demonstrated to the jury) was !
The proceedings were again commenced, the jury being
sworn to inquire touching the death of a man unknown,
when a verdict of " Found drowned" was returned.

John Cole's brothers, who are highly respectable men,
were so satisfied of the deceased belonging to their family,
that th.,- I-. ---•"^",...."*. for his interment at St.
Paul' Church—an order which they, ut
manded, and the deceased was buried at the expense of
parish. John Cole accounted for his absence from Warring-
ton, by stating that his money was all gone, and that, being
ashamed to go home, he had been wandering in the fields in
search of work.