The Sun. — 1846-01-06 (London, England)

POISONING  AT BROMLEY.  It may be within the recollection of the public, that about eightevin months ago a young woman, named Harriet Mont ton, was found poisoned by prussic acid at Bromley, under such circumstances as to leave little doubt that sb e had been murdered. As so long a period has elapsed since the occurrence, it may not be amiss to briefly bring to the recollection of the public the circumstances of tb is mysterious affair. It appeared, upon the different inquiries that took place upon the coroner's jury, that the deceased was a young woman of respectable connexions in the neighbourhood of Bromley, and at the period in question she had come down from London to see her friends for a short period, preparatory to going Lc) a situation as governess in a family in Arundel, io. Sussex. She left her mother's house in the evening in good health and spirits, and nothing more was heard e.f her until she was found dead in a privy at the rear of a Dissenting chapel at the back of the Highstreet, Broniley. At first not the slightest suspicion was entertained that there had been any foul play, but from circumstanc es that subsequently transpired, the coroner's jury deemed it requisite that an adjournment should take place, in order that the surgeons who were called in might b ave an opportunity of making a post mortem examinati.wa. This was accordingly done, when it was discovered that the deceased was very far advanced in pregnancy, and that her death was occasioned by the administriedon of a large dose of prussic acid. It appeared quite clear, from the medical and other testimony,. that it was almost impossible for the deceased to have herself administered the large quantity of deadly poison tha t was found on her stomach, and the inference was that it was given to her, and, from the evidence, probably in the chapel, where it was supposed she had gone to to eet her seducer, and that afterwards the body had been removed wh ,re it was found, with a view to lead to tit e idea that the unhappy young woman had destroyed herself, or had died in a fit. One circumstance of great tsuspicion, however, arose in the mind of the Coroner's jury, which was the absence of any weapon or instrument likely to produce death, or any vessel calculated to c ontain poison, and this chiefly occasioned the adjournin ent which led to the discovery above alluded to. After two or three adjournments of the inquiry, when no very ,rnaterial additional evidence was adduced, the Commias inners of Police employed Mr. Pearce, who wai at the head of the detective force, to prosecute the inquiry, and several meetings of the jury took place, but no fresh evidence calculated to throw any light upon the mysterie us transaction was brought forward, and at length ene matter seemed to have entirely dropped. The jury, or rather a considerable maj,irity of its memberrs, who felt a very strong impression that a most foul eci me had been committed, were determined, however, t.,iat the matter should be brought to some issue, and t 6 ey made repeated and pressing applications to the Coro!u it 'to continue the inquiry. The Coroner, however, refused to call the jury together to conclude the inqurry ; and after repeated applications a memorial has, with,n the last few days, been sent to the Secretary of t ferpolm wSiill be be taken Jaynes Graham toav have State,. requesting him to interfere to compel the Coroner to p erform what the jury consider to be his duty. An answert o the e ffweacst treceivedhat t e on necessary sa full! inquiry into the circumstances of the case, and that no feu they delay4shall take place ; and it is understood that a, communication has been sent to the Coroner of such a character as will compel him to commence the inquiry.  DE'