Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram and Dorset, Somerset, and Devon Advertiser. — 1881-06-17 (Bridport, Dorset, England)

MIMI-11)nel to the police-court by her, but he denied that the police had ever been called in to inter fore between him and his wife, or that he had evcr struck her or le t her withont enough food, or hail been harsh to her other than heirs?. sometimes cross to her because she coul I not manage the house.—ciarah Ann Langland, the nurse to Mrs. Swan, stated that she had only been there a short ;ime, and gave notice at the expiration of a w,ek, hocause she felt she could not be happy in Mr. Swan's establishment. He usurped the functions belonging to the I :fly of the house, to which she had not been accustomed, and hence she gave notice.—Susan Rico, A charwoman, deposed that etle had worked for the family for five weeks. Mr. Swan's manner te his wife was unkind, but there was no actual cruelty, and she did not want for anything. Mrs. Swan appeared to be in a very low and depressed state threughout the whole of Wednesday, crying, and generally miserable. She was annoyed M at r. Swan, who was in bed the werse ft liqn r. During the day he sent down a post-card for her to post, in which he stated his intention of destroying himself, and her mistress forbade her tn post it, and said that it was she who ought to talk abont suicide rather than him, looking at all her troubles. She extracted a pledge from the witness that if anything happened to her she should come next day anfi look after the children, and shook hands with her at parting, which she had never done hef see. Mr. Alexander Morrison, M.D., The Terrace, Greenlanes, proved being called in to deceeped, whom he found dead. She was fully dressed, lying obliquely across the bed. There was no bottle found near her. hut in a trete': under the bed were two reticeslee, in which were nine or ten bottles, ell centehaing misers., , including cyanide of petsesium, hydrocranic aeid, morphia, chloral, chloroform, &c. On matting a postmortem examination he found the brain slightly congested, lungs ditto at the base, heart mall and fleccid, and the other organs cenerelly small and anmeaic or bloodless from insufficient nourishment. This condition of things might arise either from insufficient food or want of power to assimilate it, and from his knowledge of the patient, whom he had frequenely attended, he should say she hail a small appetite, and her digestive organs were considerably impaired. The stomach contained two ounces of a brownish fluid, of the censis'ence of eterch, which, tested by silver, iron, and potash, revealed the presence of hYdrocyanic acid (one of the forms ef prussic acid) in sufficient quantity to destroy life. He also found a serap of paper. addressed to Bell, meaning her husband, with the words "Search for papers when I am n gone," signed " E. E. 5.," and the trunk able coetained a recent edition ot "Taylor on Peisene' " all the parts &retaining the most deadly drues having been carefully annotated, and the strongea and doses of the poisons marked off. His Iheory was that she had taken a portion of the hydr 'cyanic acid ont of one of the bottles in the trunk, replaced it, closed the lid, and pushed it under the bed, calculet'ng the dose and is effects to a nicety, again getting beck to hed in time te die, He was unable to say that !qr. Swan illtreated his wife, b it he was at tirnose not responsible for his actions in censequence of excesscve indulqence in etimuNnte. When not under their Infironee he was a most kind huebaufl and father.—Mr. Swan, recalled, stated that hi w fe's lifa was not insured. The expeetations he hal formed of money coming to her were not realised by her de,bth. It was secertained that the deceased had purchased some (If the poisons herself.—Ultimately the jury returned a ver lint of "Suicide while of unsound mind."