Coroner's Inquest.
The Times, 1824-08-27T00:00:00

On Wednesday night an inquest was held before THiO icA H tuGA S 1sq., deputy-coroner for Westminster, at the Barlev.Jlitow, Mlount. streer, Grosvenor-square, on view of the bo3y of Richard Riches, a young nman aged 20 yeats. Joseph Binett, of No. fi, Warwick-streei, Charirng-tross, de. posed, that about seveu o'clock on Tuesday morv)ing, %when he was walking in Hyde-park, on tihe Knightsbridge sidle of thc Serpentine river, hc saw the deceased batihing in that pRart of tile river wherE persons usuallv batle; in a short time witness saw hin striggle in the water, anJ then be sank ; he did not rise again, and no person was thien near him. An alarn beinggiver, the boat fromt the HI. :,,ane Society's receiving-.ouse on the bank of the river was speedily procured; the drags were used, and the bodv was in a short tinc brought up; it was conveyed to the receiving-housr, and puit into a werm bath; thc body was rabbed, and othier methiods for restoring suspended atinmatiotn were use(t for upwards of a quarter of an h4u; it was then laid on a bed hcated withi lhot water, but all to no pur. pose; a vein was then opened in ihe right arm, bat scartelyv an' blood issued there were three men9 belonging to the establishnieit besides the Isurgeoln present, the whole or whom were indefatigable in their exertions for tvwo hours. withouit pro(lucing any good eflect. Edward Sintons, of No, 76, Chariton-street, Soaters-town, a lad aged 12 years, stated, thiat he aud the dece"sed went to tire Ser. pentine together to bathie the latter could not swiml this was the first timc of his bathing in the Serpcnitine. He went in, but had not got far when he suddenly dlisappeared, and did pot rise again. The deceatsed had becn walking abouit three milcs, arnd nmust have been very warins when he went into the water. Williamn Grenville, gardener to the superintendenit of llvde.park, stated, that he assisted in getting the deceased ottt of tfme water. Where lie liad sunk was about seven feet deep, when close by it was only three feet, from which spot it saddenly beranme deeper and more dangerous. Tieri. were a great numnber of cold springs in this river. After the jary lhad viewed t!;e bolv, one of them addressed the Coroner, and said he lamented that ai'er so many lives had been e cIt in the Sorpentine, measures were not. adopted to prevent bathing there at all; axs, besides the danger attending it, tbere was consider. able hidecency in persons exprsing thiemselves in such apublic place: the shore ran out level fbr a few yards, and then on a sudden it was seven feet deep; and although uianyexcellent siwimmers had bathed there, yet some of those persons bad been so affected by tire alter- nate hot and cold springs in the river, that miany of them had been drowned . He concluded by hoping that the Park Ranger w-ould take efecttal measures to pievent bathing there for the fitture. The Jury returned a verdict of AccideutetrI4 drow,ned. The dleceased was the son of a widow nt Kensington, and was her only support. I HE LATE ItnR. INOLLEKENSV-'l'je executors anr. lega- tees of this artist received their bequests at tke Bank on lontda last. The iosmer, three in number, received 40,0091. each, and the sualler legatees were p aid at the same time. WVill it be belieted chat notwithStaUding tne enormous legacies left to tle former, the suftbret the pOrlrait of their departed friertd to be disposed of by ublic sale! It was bought bythe artist vwhopainted it, Sir II Ieechey, who had a very traiping legacy.Evemgpaper. COROArER'S INQUEST.