Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1887-07-23 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

SAD STRANGE STORY OF SUICIDE.  The following letter was found last week in a lady's hand-hag on the river bank at Goring : Whoever finds this bag let this be sent to my friend:—  C. C. Jewell. Esq., Si. George's Club, Hanover-square, Loudon, W. July Bth. . .  Have been in the woods all day, with nothing to eat. Am tir,xl and weary to-night. It will soon be over, and, after all, what have I to make me stay here. Nothing mach.  Had I been able I should nave done the deed last night, but meeting a young Oxford man, how can I forget his sweet manner, and I am now glad I met him, for he unknowingly prolonged my stay on earth. !only wish I had met him before. Pernans this would never have befallen me. To the so young as I am.  The Berke and Oran Advertiser thus explains this mysterious epistle :—Some three weeks or is month ago a handsomely dressed lady, about thirty years of age, came clewu to Goring and took apartments in the village, giving her name. as Mrs Jewell, and saying she expected her hus• band in a few days. The supposed husband came and went, and still she rematued. But on Tuesday week she returned to town with him, and her luggage was addressed to Paddingtou. The Thursday following she returned, but did not go to her former apartments. She seems to have taken up her abode in Hartslock Wood, where she passed her time, on one or two occasions going to is cottager at Gatehatnpton Farm and asking for a piece of bread and for the company of the children. She kept in the wood the whole of Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday, and no one seems to have noticed the oddity of her course of procedure. It rained heavily on more than one occasion, but still she retnamed there. She was a singularly doe, hand- j some woman, and the derangement to her i dress seems to have caused her at length to i avoid being seen at all, as the entries in a kind of diary she kept show. She was evidently quite pennileas, and was in the greatest straits, though her relations, it seems; were well able to help her had she but made known her position. But this, it seems, she was ashamed to do. She was last seen by a cottager at Gatelnimpton on Saturday night, and the next that was heard of her was on Monday, when Mrs Allen, a visitor, who passed the wood in a boat, called th.: ferryman's attention to the fact that is hand-bag and a lady's hat ' were on the bank a short distance off. He immediately proceeded to the spot, and found the hat and hand-bag as described, aud also saw au umbrella sticking in the mud, and the body ; of a female in the water. There was a small-1 pocket-book in the hand-bag, which contained a letter and a diary, beside a • cabinetsized photograph of herself, but not a farthing in money, or auy kind of food. The police-constable at once telegraphed to Mr C. C. Jewell, at St. George's Club. Her real name was Alicia S. Douglass. She was very nicely dressed, and had a quantity of jewellery, and from this it is inferred that she had had a. misunderstanding with her paramour; but no explauation was elicited at the evidence taken at Cite inquest, although Mr Jewell was present, and this has given rise to considerable comment iu the village, whore the sad event has caused the greatest excitement. Mr Jewell stated that deceased was not his wile, but that he had lived with her as such. He last saw her, he said, on the 2nd of July, and found her in a very depressed state of mind. She had been under the protection of an oiliest who died in the last Egyptian campaign. He was not surprised when he heard of her death, bat was much grieved. This is a summary of the evidence taken, which was very brief, and the jury returned a verdict of "Found drowned." The villagers seem to think that Mr Jewell ought to have given a much fuller account of his transactions with the deceased, and of the circumstances under which he parted with her in London, and the matter is the theme of general conversation among the villagers. A lady's pocket-book, which contained a few of her own address cards (name only) and one or two addresses of gentlemen, nothing else, had the following pathetic notes written during her stay in Hartslock Sunday morning. In the Hartslock Wood two nights. Wet through. No food since I left town last Thursday. For one so carefully brought up this is fearfully hard to bear. The fearful pain of my heart, the dark and lonely woods, add to my wretchedness. Yet, alas! I would sooner be thus miserable than return to town, where deep and unknown sorrow would be my fate. It is so hard to die young, so I try to struggle against this unhappy death; and I think if some kind friend were only here now I would listen to advice. But too late. I must die. A. D. _  Sunday afternoon. Still here. Cannot bring myself to die in the river. I am not mad, end an, therefore, being quite sane. I am backward to destroy my life. Wood and river full—boats and people. Must remain close. Am so untidy, and so ashamed to be