The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-08-02 00:00:00

DETERMINED SUICIDE.

A melancholy case of suicide occurred last Thursday in the
house of Mr. William Lockett, Richmond' Hill, Broughton
Road. Mrs. Lockett, it appears, had occasion to go from
home that day, and left the servant, Maria Shepherd, in
charge of the house till her return. In the evening, some
children, relations of Mr. Lockett, happened to be playing
on the ground in front of the house ; and after a time, began
to suspect something was not right, from the blinds being all
down, and the doors, which they tried, both locked ; and
from the servant, whom they knew to be in the house, never
making her appearance as she was accustomed to do. At last
one of the children went to communicate their suspicions to
the neighbours ; several of whom came, and after vainly
knocking at the doors, and trying to look in at the windows,
they gained admission by putting a little boy in at the cellar
window. The back and front doors were both found locked,
and the keys on the inside, which showed some one was in
the house. The doors of all the rooms were locked, and the
keys removed. On looking through the keyhole of one bed-
room door, a rope was seen tied to the bed-post, up-on which
the door was broken open. The girl was lying upon her back
on the floor in a pool of blood, which had flowed from a large
gash in her throat. The keys of the several doors in the house
were laid in a row, with great precision, on the dressing table.
Opposite the looking-glass a chair was placed, from which
the girl seemed to have fallen ; and an open razor, with blood
upon it, was upon the table. She was still breathing, wi. h
great difficulty. Mr. Holt, surgeon, of Broughton Road,
was sent for, and found her cold, but breathing. He, in
some measure, restored warmth, and had her conveyed im-
mediately to the Infirmary ; but she died soon after her ar-
rival there. On looking into the room next the one in which
she was lying, two cups were found, with drugs in each, of
some draught which was supposed to be poisonous ; and, on
further examination, it appeared that she had been sick, and
had vomited considerably ; this, with the circumstance of the
rope, which was very tightly tied to tha bedpost, and appa-
retly strained, makes it apparent that the unhappy girl re-
sorted to three different moees of putting an end to her ex-
istence. Mr. Holt examined the dregs of one of the cups,
and detected the presence of oxymuriate of mercui y, a min-
eral poison (the corrosive sublimate of the shops), of which,
it is very probable, the deceased had taken a quantity ; but
the vomiting would seem to have prevented its deleterious
quality from operating promptly, and consequently the
wretched girl tried the other two modes of self-destruction.
An inquest was held on the body on Saturday, before Mr.
Chapman, the borough coroner, at the Infirmary, when
Maria Jones, servant maid to Mr. Agnew, of Richmond Hill,
stated that the deceased came to their house about half-past
nine o'clock on Thursday morning last, and stayed until half-
past twelve at noon. She was very merry, and appeared quite
sensible in her conversation. She mentioned a young man
who had been paying his addresses to her ; but, having asked
her to be married at Liverpool, she had refused, as she wished
to be married at Manchester. This was about nine weeks
ago, and she said she had only seen him once since, at her
father's house, in Salford. She also said he had been paying
his addresses to a fellow-servant, who had lived with her at
Mr. Leake's, and that she had gone to Liverpool, with the
intention of proceeding with him to Australia ; but that he
had gone alone, leaving her behind. Mr. William Lockett
stated, that the deceased had been in his service rather more
than seven weeks, and she had been before with him about
two years, having lived in the interval (18 mouths) with his
daughter, Mrs. Leake. She was periodically subject to fits
of dulness ; he had remonstrated with her, and had spoken
to her frequently about it when she lived with Mrs. Leake,
and she would burst into tears, after which would come round
again. She had been so particularly the last four days. On
these occasions of despondency, and while in the kitchen with
fellow-servants, she would frequently burst into immoderate
fits of laughter ; and, when left to herself, she would fre-
quently flag again into her usual fit of despondency. When
he and Mrs. Lockett went out on Thursday evening, she ap-
peared rather more cheerful. She had no cause whatever for
despondency that he knew of: having been a favourite ser-
vant, she had invariably been treated with the greatest kind-
ness. Other evidence was given as the other circumstances
detailed above. The jury jreturned a verdict, that the de-
ceased cut her throat while in a state of insanity.—Mauches-
ter Guardian.

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IkA 411t\

TRIAL OF BOLAM, FOR MURDER.

NEWCASTLE, TUESDAY, JULY 30, 6 o'clock.
As the period approached at which Archibald Bolam, an
individual who for 16 years has been the acttary and manager
at the savings' bank at this place, was to be put on his trial,
the feeling of excitement manifestly-increased, and, until the
recent violent proceedings of the mob, it was the all-engross-
ing subject of conversation, not merely in the town itself,
but throughout the county. In addition, too, probably as a
matter of policy and of precaution against more confusion
arising in and about the court on the day of trial than could
by possibility be avoided, the judges arranged that Mr. Jus-
tice Coltman should take one of the Chartist cases at the
town-court on the same morning as that on which Bolam
was to be tried. • The mob has been very much divided, in-
asmuch as there have this day been two objects instead cf
one calling for general attention. The result, therefore, is,
that there has been a diversity in the attraction. The court,
and every avenue leading to it have, however, been densely
crowded from a very early hour, but so excellent were the
arrangements, which had been under the direction of Mr.
Under-Sheriff Adamson, that the greatest order has pre-
vailed. To that gentleman, also, those who attended from
the London as well as the provincial journals, were greatly
indebted for the admirable accommodation afforded to them
by the erection of a temporary gallery.
The trial was fixed to come on at nine o'clock, and at that
hour Mr. Baron Maule took his seat on the bench.

Archibald Bolam was then placed at the bar, and indicted,
charged with the murder of Joseph Millie.
The prisoner pleaded " Not guilty."
The prisoner presented the appearance of a man who had
shrunk very considerably during the period of his confine-
ment in gaol, and looked as if he had undergone great mental
suffering. He was dressed in black, and his face, on first
taking his position in the dock, was much flushed. In a
minute or two it became pale as death, and, after having
pressed his chest with his right hand, he grasped the post
which was immediately before him as if to prevent him from
falling backwards. Afterwards he leaned against the front
of the dock, and so remained during the greater part of the
proceedings.

The counsel engaged were Sir Gregory Lewin, Mr. Grain-
ger, and the Hon. James Wortley for the prosecution; and
Mr. Dundas and Mr. Knowles for the prisoner.
As soon as the jury had been sworn, and prior to the pri-
soner having pleaded,
Mr. DUNDAS addressed the court, and took, as was under-
stood from the few words we could hear, a preliminary objec-
tion in reference to the prisoner being tried on a second
indictment, whilst another to which he had before pleaded,
remained on the tile of the court.

Mr. Baron MAULE, we assume, over-ruled the objection,
from the fact of the prisdner being tried on the new indict-
ment.

Sir G. LEWIN then proceeded to open the case, after
which a great number of witnesses were examined. The
evidence was little more thon a repetition of what has already
appeared in this paper. The trial was expected to last the
whole of Tuesday and.Weilnesday., •
[We have not been abler as yet, to ascertain the result of
the trial. If the news should ,reach us in the course of the
day, we shall give it in a second edition.]