The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-11-12 00:00:00

MORE CRUEL EFFECTS OF THE NEW
POOR-LAW.

In the Times of Saturday last, we find recorded two
painful cases of suicide, arising, in all human probability,
from the rigour of this new, and, we fear not to add, un-
constitutional and unchristian law,—the victims (both re-
spectable in their stations) being driven to desperation by
dread of the Union Workhouse ! The first case was that
of an aged farm labourer, William Haynes, of Ruislip,
who had, through life, borne an irreproachable character
by all who knew or had employed him. An inquest was
held on view of the body, at Eastcot, in the parish of
Ruislip, on Thursday last, before Mr. Wakley, M.P., and
a jury of respectable farmers and inhabitants. The de-
ceased was nearly seventy years of age, and had a wife
nearly as old, to whom he was affectionately attatched.
He was found on the previous sunday in a ditch, near the
cottage which he inhabited, dead, but not quite cold,—he
having cut his throat with a razor,—at first, it appears,
ineffectually, and afterwards enlarged the wound with a
penknife, so that he had bled to death. The razor was
found under his arm, covered with blood, and the pen-
knife was still sticking in the perforation. It was stated
that " he was a very good man, and had an aged wife; also
that he had latterly been rather feeble and poorly ; that he
had subscribed to a •benefit club for forty years, and had
for some weeks received 6s. weekly from it, but that this
would in twelve months be reduced to 3s. a week for life,
but that the funds had become so much reduced by mal-
practices of the officers in charge of them, that it was pro-
bable the society would be broken up, so that he would
receive nothing !" This disgraceful conduct of the par-
ties (upon which the coroner strongly remarked, expressing
his regret that the opulent inhabitants did not look after
those clubs) prayed upon his spirits, and nearly broke his
heart, as he had long often denied himselfa Sunday's dinner
to meet his payments, in order to secure himself and aged
partner some little provision in old age and decrepitude.
He had been attended latterly by a doctor, who directed
him to have half-a-pound of butcher's meat a-day ; and
he got, on that account, from the parish, an allowance,
not of the quantity prescribed, but only 31b. a-week, the
half-pound for Sunday (the poor man's holiday) being
omitted, " according to the custom there :" another ex-
ample of the considerate mercies of the new poor law !
About seven weeks ago, the deceased called on Mr.
Jenkins, a retired London tradesman, who resided at
Eastcot, and occasionally employed him, consider-
ing him "an excellent person." Mr. J., seeing him
dejected, said to him, "Why have not you called
upon me lately ?" He replied, " I was going sir, but
didn't like—didn't like to impose on his good nature."
Witness told him not to be afraid of that; there should
always be something for him when he called. He thanked
witness, and said tbat he had been to several places to get
work, without succeeding ' • and that he was afraid that he
and the old woman would be starved to death this winter;
and that he should have perished of want this winter if
he (witness) had not relieved him. Witness said, " Well,
at all events; should it come to the worst, you could go
into the house," meaning the union workhouse ; to which
deceased sharply said, " No, I would rather starve to
death." He repeated this, and very firmly, and then
added, that as for the farmers, they were as bad off as the
workmen; that there was plenty of work wanting to be
done, but no money to pay the men, and that the poor
farmers were eaten up by game, tithes, and taxes.
One of the jurymen here stated, that a farmer, not far
off, was obliged to pay a boy 3s. to keep the game off his
corn land. Several others of the jury remarked that the
game had become a dreadful evil against them.
The witness (in continuation) stated, that he again
I advised, if deceased could not procure work, and the club
failed, that he should go into the union. " No," deceased
replied, " I would rather suffer a dozen deaths than go
there, and be separated from my poor old woman in our
old age." Witness did not doubt that deceased would
have destroyed himself last winter if he had not assisted
him, and that, from knowing him well, his habits and
his character, he firmly, and in his conscience, believed,
that it was his dread of ultimately being compelled to go
to the union-house that had caused him to commit suicide.
He had not the slightest doubt of it.
The coroner stated that, with the exception of the short
allowance of meat, the parish officers had administered
the law as it stood. There was no proof of insanity, but
after having paid so long to the club, hearing that the
funds were nearly exhausted, and dreading t he workhouse,
he had adopted the dreadful alternative of putting a period
to his existence. The jury returned a verdict to the
effect, that be had destroyed himself, but that there was
no evidence to enable them to determine his state
of mind. Several of them stated that they had no
doubt but that finding the club about to break up, the
• fear of being obliged to go into the Union-house
was the cause of the act. _ _ _

The second case was disclosed at an inquest held
before the same coroner, on Friday last, on the body
of Mary Allaways, aged 63, a poor needlewoman,
whose body presented a dreadfully emaciated ap-
pearance. She was last seen alive by the landlady
of the house in which she lodged on Tuesday evening,
whe her manner appeared strange, and on going up
stairs she broke a piece of bread from a loaf she bad with
her, and said, " Only taste it ; it is so very sweet."
Next day she was found in the bed quite dead. A cup
with some liquid was found near the window, and on the
table a letter, which stated that she was much troubled
in mind from being unable to procure work, and owing
seven weeks' rent. It further stated, that the only thing
in the world she possessed was a watch, which she im-
agined to be worth £lO. She bequeathed the proceeds of
its sale to liquidate her debts, and the remainder to go to.
wards her funeral; but if it did not raise sufficient for the
latter purpose, her body was to be sent to the workhouse
for interment by the parish. It then added her earnest
wish that she should have one friend to follow her to the
grave, and a hope that her poverty would not be made
known ; concluding with the words, " God bless you all ; I
am very much excited, and my pen is very bad." Deceased
was an extremely well-behaved woman, and had been well
educated. They always imagined she had some trifling
income that helped to support her, but since her death
they had found such was, not the case, and that she sup-
ported herself by her needle. She had latterly appeared
very desponding, which she stated arose from her inabi-
lity to procure work and the poor wages she received for
it. She had once or twice adverted lately to the double
suicide at Kilmarnock, and said she would rather follow
that example than apply for relief. She had some friends,
who occasionally gave her food, but she seldom had any
other meals but breakfast and tea. The surgeod said,
the body was wretchedly emaciated, and the deceased had
all the appearance of having been completely starved.
The coroner remarked, that this was an exceedingly pain-
ful case, and he feared he should have a great many more
similar cases whilst poverty was treated as a crime. It
was evident from the letter that she was a well-educated
and highminded woman, but it was wholly impossible for
them to judge of the misery she felt when she contem-
plated the degraded manner in which she would be treated
if she made her distresses known. The jury returned a
verdict, "That the deceased destroyed herself by taking
oxalic acid, but in what state of mind she was at the time
there was no evidence to show."

MRS. CLARKE'S BENEFIT..—it will be seen that Mrs.
Clarke takes her benefit at the Theatre-Royal, on Mon-
day next.

AN AMERICAN EXPLANATION.—A shopkeeper in
New York, who pretended to sell his goods very low, made
a practice of telling the purchasers that he lost money by
every article he sold. " I wonder much," said one of his
customers, " that you continue in so bad a line of busi-
ness." " Oh," replied the shopkeeper, " I couldn't
stand it, only I do so much of i'.