The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-04-03 00:00:00

SINGULAR SUICIDE' BY POISON.

On Wednesday an inquisition was taken before Jas. Pownall,:
Esq., one of theibailiffs,- and coroner for the -borough, on view.
of.the body.ofiHenry Humphreys, a cart owner, who met with
his deatlifby taking a quantity of arsenic, underthe following
singular circurnstauces:—
lir. R. G. Sheldon, druggist, residing on the west side of
Vauxhall-read; stated thathe had known the deceased:for seve-
ral years. .He was a cart-owner and resided with-his father,
who keeps a provision shop in Chisenlialestreet,. Vauxhall-
road. About ten o'clock on Monday night last, .a young man,
then unknown to him, but whose name he had since learned to
be Richard Thornton came. to the shop and asked for a penny-
worth of arsenic to kill rats with. Witness refused to sell it
him unless in the presence of a third.person. Thornton then
said that it was for HerirysHumphreys, and witness told him
that 'Humphreys must come himself. Th-oratou then went
away, and in a few minutes returned with the deceased, who
said "It is all right, I want the arsenic to kill rats with in our
stable." Witness then served him with half an ounce of
arsenic, for which he paid a penny. Deceased and Thornton
then went away. Previous, however, to their going, deceased
asked how he was to mie the arsenic, and witness told him
either in meal ttt iii • fat. In about ten minutes after this, de-
ceased and another young man 'came into, the shop, and the
former observod that he was afraid the arsenic was not good,
and asked if there wits any stronger in the shop; -Witness said
that he had no other sort, and added that a less qusntity than
a pinch would take any person's life away. In an hour after-
wards Mrs. Humphreys, the mother of the deceased, came to
the shop; and asked if 'witness had sold deceased any arsenic,
and on hi 4 answering in the allirrnative, she replied, "My God,
then he has taken it?' Witness then accompanied Mrs. Hum-
phreys to her house, and, there saw the deceased. fie did not
seem to ail anything more than being in a passion. Witness
asked him if he had taken the arsenic; but he received no'
answer. The young man who last came to witness's shop with
deceased was -p-resent, and said that he believed deceased had
not taken it, but bad thrown it under the fire grate in a public;
house where he had been drinking. For fear deceased might
have taken it, witness mixed an antidote for hint, but he refused
to take it. Witness advised that a surgeon, should be sent for;
but. in consequence of the young man before alluded to, a sur-
geon was not sent for. Witness then went home, and the next
morning at eight o'clock his mother came and said that hirevai
very ill, and she desired witness to go and see him; he did so;
and found him cold, and apparently very ill. Deceased ac-
knowledged that he had taken a small quantity of arsenic, and ,
ho was prevailed upon to take some of the antidote. Witness,
then advised that Mr. Turner, the surgeon, should be sent for,
which was done, and at nine o'clock the Caine night Mr. Turner
called at witness's shop, and was informed of what had taken
place. Mr. Turner, after seeing deceased, thought that he
would not recover. Witneis administered the medicines that
Mr. Turner prescribed, but the deceased died the same night at
about eleven o'clock.
Richard Thornton,, a baker, said that he met the deceased
coming out of a public-house in Veuxhill4oid, about five o clock
on Monday evening. They went to another public-house togea
Cher, where they had four glasses of ale each, and then witness
accompanied:the deceased to Union-street to see the mite of
an American ship, and the mate went with them to Dale-street.
The steward on the road to Dale-street informed the deceased
that he could not have the situation of second steward to go to
New Nark. Deceased seemed much disappointed, and when
they arrived opposite Mr. Sheldon's door, on their way house,
he desired witness to go in and purchase some arsenic, to kill
the rats in the stable with. Deceased subsequently went in
himself for the poison, and having received it put it in his pocket.
Sarah Jones, the keeper of a public-house in Vauxhall-feed,
said that the deceased frequented her house, and came in about
half-past ten o'clock on Monday night last. He asked for a
glass of ale. lie appeared to have a white powder on his mouth,
something like flour. Witness asked bins what the flour was
doing about his mouth, when he .answered with a stern voice
Will it prove to ,be flour ?" D.iceased then went to. the
door, and witness heard him vomiting. Ilesoon came in again,
with apparently more flour .about his mouth, and he drank an-
other glass of ale. He theu asked what his account was, and
on being told said that he could not pay it, but his parents'
would. lle-laid-hold of witnoss's hand, and saidehat he rtat-a
dead man. He had a strange appearance, and witness serit'for
his mother, and told her What had occurred, and she took him
home.

Wtn. Humphreys, deceased's brother, said that the deceased
was addicted to excessive drinking, and during• the last three
weeks he hUd drank more than usual. He had 'for some time
talked of a trip to New York.
Mr. Wm. Turner, a surgeon, saidthattho deceased confessed
to him that he had taken arsenic.. He examined the'stontach
after death, and was of opinion that death was caused by in-
ilammation and ulceration of the stomach, in consequence of
taking arsenic.—Verdiet, insanity

THE TWO Fatcrios !—On Friday night, just before Lord
John 4uspell' s reply to Sir R. Peel's inquiry as. to the charac-
ter of,his motion for7.l!donday night, the. Marquis Wellesley was
accommodated with a seat belp'w,,the bar, on the right of the Ser-
geant-at-Arrns's chair., While.there Mr. O'.Connell entered the
house, and he and the marquis cordially,shnok hands, and after-
wards eanyers,ed for some time.

CHURCH OF BCOTLAND.-11' M. S. otewartpresented a pe-
tition in the House of , Commons on Tue4day froth
the minister and,a large and respectable number of th'e,,inha-
bitants of .the Town of Lochwinnoeh, in the countrof Ren-
frew, for the extension of the revered chuich of Scotland, to
which they avowed a devoted and grateftilattaChment. He also
presented another petition from the.mnited parishes of Houston
and Killallan to the same effect. This last, Otition was signed
by the venerable minister, and by a great p,roktiOn pf the niot
nitluential and respected individuals fn the iliseritt;
- - -

We nuderstand that Lord Chief Baron Abinger has been
served With two subPcenas to appear as a witness in two of the
prosecutions for bribery, which are to come on at our ensuing
city assizes.. Theie cases have reference to the noblebarou's
election as member for this city in 1832, when his lordship was';
Sir James 'Scarlett. It is perhaps Without precedent for a judge
to be stibpairiaecras a'witrrosS in piesecistions, not only.of such
a highlirtetial nature, but also upon cases' which involve a ques-
tion of .bribery"tii hiS own election as a member of parliament,
and which in the' oididary routing of the Circuit; he would have
presided Over as judge:-.Verwia/t Mercury
MYSTERIOUS MARRIAGE.—A correspondent says, "The lady
who left her instructor's house on the evening of the sth of March
was most grossly deCeiyed and imposed 'iron. False names
and fictitious signatures were made use of to draw her into the
snare, and she knew not till at the altar that he to whom she is
irretrievably united was other than a gentleman of good con-
nections. Then first she heard his real name, and lost her
presence of mind so as to be unable to stop the ceremuny. She
is now made miserable for life."—Bristol barna.

The first free trade tea sale, in Leith, took place on Friday,
in the Old Naval Yard Sale Boom. The black• teas were all
at fair prices; but of 100 lots of green entered, only tw u were
disposed of.