The Sun. — 1862-09-27 (London, England)

CRINOLINE AND ITS VICTIMS.  Yesterday Dr. Lankester held an inquest at the White Hart Hotel, Welbeck-street, Cavendishsquare, on the body of Elizabeth Anne Lindsay, widow, and landlady of that establishment, who had died on Tuesday last from the effects of burns, caused by her muslin dress catching fire from her candle while she was undressing. It appeared that the servants, alarmed by the smell of fire all over the house, and following the trace of it, had discovered Mrs. Lindsay lying on the floor of her bedroom in flames, vainly trying to roll the carpet round her. The fire was put out, and a surgeon sent for, but he did not find a spot in her body the size of a shilling that was not burnt, and Mrs. Lindsay died of mortification in a few hours. The learned coroner, in summing up the case, stated that he held two inquests a month on women burnt to death in consequence of the use of crinoline. This was amongst a population of a million, which would be equal, it might be supposed, to an average of six deaths from that cause per month in London. Such a ratio throughout the whole of England rendered the sacrifice of life from crinoline very alarming, and he hoped it would make some impression on society. But the sacrifice did not end there. That objection. able and dangerous style of dress was carried into the factories. It was only the other day that the wife of an engineer was drawn up into the machinery and frightfully mutilated. Many work-girls had also been destroyed or injured in factories. In Austria some distinguished ladies appeared to be determined not to receive any one that wore crinoline. Some influential persons in this country should now set their faces against it; still, if women would not abandon their present style of dress, it might be as well for him to state that crinoline could be made anti-combustible. He had been written to on the subject by philanthropic ladies. One in Brighton had sent him word the other day that for ls. in the pound dresses could be secured from inflammability. Then there was another preservative necessary, the invariable use of wire fire-guards. He thought it important for juries to take the subject into their serious consideration, though the pernicious results of the prevailing fashion might not always be so clearly shown as in this case. Steel crinoline he looked upon as the most dangerous of all, because it was least compressible. Verdict, " Accidental death from fire."  Cooke, who had much to answer for, his worship would never have been troubled with the case. The fact was, that the prisoner, who had slept with the deceased on the night before, had called at the house for a pair of stockings, and finding Cooke there at tea caused the annoyance which led to the fatal result. The act, however, had been unpremeditated, and it never would have occurred but for the presence of the constable, and under all the circumstances he hoped his worship would commit for the manslaughter only. When asked by the magistrate if he had anything to say, Prisoner replied that there was a great deal more passed than what Cooke, the constable, had mentioned ; and if he spoke like a man and stated the truth, the case would bear a different appearance. The prisoner was fully committed for the wilful murder.  7HE