Coroner's Inquest.
The Times, 1824-04-23T00:00:00

(From the -Taunlton Courier.) 'We hav1ea6d of aYorkshire Jury who, in the d aetf a man standing indiekd for stealing a pair of leathern breechet, and being unwilling, from thc peculiar circumustances of the case, to subject him to thn penalty of the laf, returned the incongruous verdict of Met eht7-.ti cr t But we did not expect ever to have cogllizanCe of an absurditq almost as extreme vithin the precincts of our circtla- tion. Such, however, is tlse fact, untl tlse foUlowing are the parti- culars: An inquest was held last week at Clatworthy, near Wiveliscotnbe, on the body of William Ridler, aged 22. The deceased was a la. bourer in Taunton, and lodged in the house of Sa muel Dummett, a miUer at Wilton, near this town. Thedeceased proving a troublesome inmate, and being considerably in arrearfor his lodgings, was requested toquit,andafewdaysbefore his departure it was disc&-vered that he had the srnpli-pox. Duntmett, his landlord, never h'aving had that disorder,andhavingachild i*t the house, and his wifein dailyexpec- tation of being pul tO bed (an event which has since happened), be- came naturallyvapprehensive for his own safety, and milday but anxiously urged his guest to leave him. The deceased consented accordingly,and withoutsaying anythingtoDummett's family,rose on Friday mnorning the 9th instant, went to his employers, from whois he received 6s-, and adjourned to several public housex in Taunton, where he drank brandy and water, beer, and other equally impyoper beverage for a man in bisstate of incipient disease. Ile then pro- ceeded to his father's house at Clatworthy, a distance of 15 miles, and arrived there at ten o'clock the same night, having walked the whole distance, and expended nearly aU his money in drink oR the road. He remained in a lodging whicl bis father procured for himn, from that time until Thursday, being the sevcnth day after his ar- rival, and then died of a confflent small-pox. The Coroner's jury imagining, as we presume, that the death of the deceased was oc- casioied by his having been inhumanly turned out of his lodging. returned a-verdict-" That there did not appear to them anyrualice had been proved against Dummett, but that hewas guilty of 'M.1fanl,f i-ter,"' and ho was commlitted accordingly under the Co- roner's wanant to Nt7ilton-gaol, to take his trier at the nex; Assizes! James Stacey, a 1ellow-lodger in Dummett's house, testifies that there never wa. the slightest insultor unkindness exhibited bv Dum- mett or his wife towards the deceased, and the chatacter of Dunm- mett being that of an industrious inoffensive man, his case h,,s ex- cited a verv general commiseration. Several respectable persons of this town have volunteered their services in his behalf, and have offered bail to any amount but as the offence charged is rot bailable, the poor fellow must remain in gaol until the summer assizes, un- Iess the Homne Secretary of State should think fit, from the peculiar hardship of his case, to sanction his libcratioal under proper sureties for his forthcoraing at thte appointed time for trial. It is almost superBluous to add, that there was nothing in the Co- roner's summing up to the jury which could have influencetl them in their extraordinary decision. CORONER'S INQU.PST. .