The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1853-08-27
MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.

.snA i,..,rs
Iu the early part OF the week oar city was .
thrown INTO Great excitement bv the suicide ,
Of two Young ladies. operatives in the mills. !
The ciit uui-tancc> connected with the ease,
winch Is very r,markai'le, are as follows
We Obtain them from the members Of the fam :
lily III which they boarded Miss Clara {.
Cochran was a native Of New Bt~ton. but has ,
later ) resided with her brother at flopkinton. /
She ciEl, to this city about seven months ago
and commenced work in the mill. Contrary
to The desire OF her friends she lett school
which she was teaching, went TO Baskerville, !
ali! from that She came here.
Mis- Catherine b. Cotton was 90 years of
age, and belonged to Pownal. Me. She came
to this city, from B;!,!eturl, Me- and had for
>on- time boarded at the same place with
Mis-, Cochran, at NJ. u, Manchester Corpo-
ration. Ihcy had both at different timcS,ex-
p'c->cd the determination TO drown them
selves. The cau>cs which operated upon
their minds are family developed in the let
tiers which the unfortunate girls left behind
t..ciu. 1t appears that Miss Cochran had
made SOME time *inrc the acquaintance Of a
Young man now in Newly ork City, and Miss
Cotton. the Acquaintance Of a man III Bidde-
lord, Me; that tn. acquaintance had been
GrrPprd on TIE part Of the Young men, sud
dem! ami without reason. They had both
trcui-d over III" matter until a sort OF lnsan-
itv Vas The result. They had for some days
talked freely ii drowning themselves, ami on
SUNDAY prepared the letters, one Of which
we rahi>h below. They appeared during
the day very much a> usual. At tea. Miss
Cochran was particularly takative and cheer
tul After tea. ilcv both dressed themselves
in white. still expressing. tie same Ietermia-
at!uE. vi about half past seven o'clock they
left their boarding house as they said to
drown themselves. The lady who roomed
with them not tt"iin" quite easy. and obServ-
ing that they passed up towards the Amo>keag
canal, turned up another -trrctcarnc III sight
OF them ;t~t they were approaching the
canal, AMI saw them clasp each other 10y the
hand and rush of the bank. She ran to the
s,ot am! immediately rave the alarm. She
reachc,! the bank III season to hear the last
,,urnli,ir >:.u.-sic ere. they sink to rise no
,,,or, alive. The l",:v 81: Miss Cotton was
taken out in about tn minutes, and Miss
rorhran's >oms time after, but all efforts to
r...n>ritafr them were rnavailin.. The body
Of Miss Co hran vas taken To her friends in
,opkinton, AMI liza. Of Ms, Cotton was bur
irl ~ tir cemetery.
OF the two. Mss Cochran was much til"
superior. in talcn, an | education, hn: from all
we can lcara WIS nr-rI to the rash act by
Miss Cctton The letters left ty Miss Cotton
were badly written. spelled, and expressed.
Will, that of Mss Cochran must be regarded
IS the most striking Tim" of the Kind ever
nrnnrd. T. commences with the utmost cool
n,.>. with a,lu-icnS to common and private
affairs. vcr,c> easily to the one subject which
must At that time have occupied her mind.
wc;uhs the m,ttrr briefly. discusses and ar
rannc> all the details of her private affairs.
balances her arrnnnt. and closes not untrrl-
,n.lv LIT with the cold determination Of 4
~to;r. That >urn a letter could have been
penr"l hy vc"ns @irl I" wears OF ace. with
the full determination 20 hurry herself into
the Unseen V Grid, almost >urla>>cs belief.
Since wr'in, the above we have learned
the following l,arti.uI,r> Miss Cochran was
tal,..n to Grafton. Vermont. and buried. Her
iilnrra! was at IT,, hot.>, ii the father Of J. II.
Sh,ruin. whom she mentions IN her letter.
We learn also tha. be was ut the funeral
TIE property (~@en"N which was left her
hort time since She desired to 90 to him Mr.
t..rr>h. wher" they boarded informs Us that
he heard Miss Cochran on Suudlv.>lv when
Wi. nirht come? this is the longr>l day
ever knew. evidently coutcmnlatin" the sui
eide Size was also overheard to say that II
was IT,. ';arpr>t day she had ever spent. 1t
seems tltt She had not seen Sherwin for sew
cral wears but had corrc>ponlcl with him
until >on'e time stree. On Sunday they
walked mp near the place where they Jumped
into the canal. perhaps to select the place
Some verses were found. purportng to have
been written by Miss Cotton and also written
directions were found in the room where To
find their bodies They carefully packed their
trunks, and prepared labels for them. The
letters Of Miss Cotton contained fifteen dol
lars. We are tod that the time was once
set for her marriage with "CvruS," but that
he o! i"rted. Some surmi>cs have been a
bread aoninSt the GOOD character of these
young ladies, but entirely without foundation
The Lcr,r.
''ManchcStrr. August II. 1853.
l DEAR SISTER: received Your letter last
Wednesday. and contrary to your custom
answer it the first opportunity. Though
knew it was having time. and of course Won
would have a treat deal TO do still felt pro
t vokcd at Your silence You and aunt AchSal
are nv only regular correspondents. hut
= now and then answer one of the many letter,
7 T., T. -.
have heeun IN GOOD season So as TO write t.
{ Won and to Jesse to dav. Am clad to hpa1
e that Louisa is with YOU. tcr a little help i
h better than none. As for visiting Won, prob
ably never shall meet Won again in life er.
YOU receive tli>.I shall be in the silent realm
/ Of the DEAD, Start not. dear Annie, no
shudder, for what Use can there be in 'lragoin!
ont a wcariSome life. deprived Of all enjoy
ment | am only burden to myself am
o every one else who interest themselves in M
II welfare. Give my love to JoScph,to Martha
, and to all who care for me, or pretend to-
Bury me in Vermont, by the side of mother
= and have money enough to paw all funcra
V expenses. owe Mrs Maria Foss. nv room
n mate, three dollars, Mrs Jacobs 81 %, an,
three dollars for my board, and there is owe
'lrte uo!iarS cue me at me iAInoSkPaG cunt
inc room. If there is anything left of m
.c money. after paving nv funeral expense,
., (Which want to be as cheap as possibly an
=. paving my debts send it together with hi
Il letters. (Which Won will find in my porket
N to John II. Sherwin, 40 Fulton Street, New
York
Jesse and Joseph are probably well enouc
oil already. and Il | conld AID John by fc,
20 dollars, IT might do some good. \ copy Of
in Shakespeare which have lent John Jacobs,
! should like to have j. H. s. have: the RESI-