The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1884-10-25 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

THE AT.T.TIGED STARVATION OF A  WIFE AT GRIMSBY. Charles Frederick Joseph Beaumont Ihiggs and Elizabeth Briggs, his mother, who are charged with wilful murder by starvation of the male prisoner's wife, were again brought before the Grimsby county magistrates on Monday. Mr. Tweed, of Lincoln, prosecuted on behalf of the Treasury; and Mr. Mason, of Grimsby, defended. Mrs. Sheer, who had resided next door to the Briggs' family for six weeks, deposed to having frequently given food to Mrs. Briggs because she complained of not getting enough to eat at home. She had noticed 'deceased getting weaker lately, and she visited her. When Mrs. Briggs became confined to her bed, a few days before she died, witness advised Briggs to send for a doctor, but he said there was no need. She afterwards offered to sit up at night with the invalid, but Br;ggs said he had walked hospitals, had seen worse cases than that, and could wait upon her himself.—Jane Drape; servant to the last witness, stated she was called into Briggs house on Sunday morning, the 28th September, by the deceased's little daughter, and on each occasion she found Mrs. Briggs lying on the floor, where she had apparently fallen down exhausted. In the evening witness went in again, and found Mrs. Briggs lying on the sofa, quite helpless in her limbs, but she could speak. Briggs gave his wife some white fluid, which she took after having at first refused it.— Fanny Willoughby, a schoolmistress, produced a letter from Mrs. Briggs, in which she said her husband and her mother-in-law wanted to make a Harriet Staunton of her. Charlotte Donmall, Whinfield House, Chislehurst, said she lived next door to Briggs when he resided at Chislehurst. She frequently heard the female prisoner use bad language to the deceased and call her the foulest names. Once after hearing the crash of glass in Briggs's house she was told that old Mrs. Briggs had knocked her son's wife through a window; and another time the deceased was knocked down by her mother-in-law with a cradle. Witness frequently gave deceased food under the impression that she dil not get proper nourishment. William John Cooper, draper, Chislehurst, said he was at the prisoner's house one day when the wife said, "Here, old lady, pleme go away." Afterwards he heard a Beetling upstairs, and saw the elder Mrs. Briggs apparently trying to shove the other downstairs. The deceased was frequently supplied with food by him. Other witnesses corroborated these statements. Dr. Jenkinson gave medical evidence showing that death was induced by starvation. The prisoners were remanded.  On Tuesday the magisterial investigation was resumed and concluded. Dr. Jenkinson, continuing his evidence, said the red and spongy state of the deceased's gums observed in the post mortem examination was due to starvation, and not to the effects of mercury contained in the pills which had been administered by the male prisoner. Dr. Anningson, who was called in to consult with Dr. Jenkinson the day before the deceased died, and who assisted at the post mortem examination, stated that though the prisoners said the invalid had had similar attacks both there and at Chislehurst, he was unable to get any satisfactory description of them. It appeared, however, they were neither epileptic nor hysterical. He found the deceased in a state of complete debility. The whole body was very thin and emaciated, and the ribs were very prominent. In the post mortem examination nearly all the organs of the body appeared healthy, but the stomach and bowels showed an entire absence of food. The immediate cause of death was apoplexy, induced by poorness of the blood. There was no trace in the body of any wasting di-ease, and there was certainly nothing to account for the deceased's emaciated condition but lack of food. In fact, all the symptoms observed in life and the appearance after death were those of chronic staivation. Alfred Pywell, managing clerk for Messrs. Latham and New, solicitors, Melton Mowbray, proved that the late kfrs. Briggs received £lO7O on the death of her father, Mr. Rowland, and about eight months before her marriage she received £6OO under the will of her maternal grandfather, Thomas Henton. She had also a house at Melton, worth £