The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1884-03-08 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF A VESTRYMAN.  In London on Tuesday, Dr. Danford Thomas, Coroner for Central Middlesex, held an inquiry at the Buffalo's Head, Marylebone-road, upon the body of Mr. James Wellstead, aged 51, of No. 90, Camdenroad, bootmaker. The deceased, who had been a vestryman of St. Pancras for some fourteen or fifteen years, was not only himself a total abstainer, but a prominent member of the teetotal party of the district, and was remarkable as the most silent member of the St. Pancras Vestry, never having been known to make an observation upon any subject during the many years he had held a seat in that assembly. Mr. Thomas Wellstead, of Ryde, Isle of Wight, identified the body as that of his brother. On Thursday last be received a letter from him in which he complained of being in a low and nervous condition on account of being unable to obtain any sleep at night. On Sunday he received information of what had occurred. Mrs. Mary Welstead, widow of ileceased, said he had been much depressed in spirits for some time past. On Saturday about ten minutes to one he left home, saying he was only going into High-street, and asked her to get a chop cooked for him by the time be returned. She did so, expecting him back in about half an hour, but had not seen him again alive. Walter Loveridge, bargeman, deposed that on Saturday afternoon, at a quarter-past two, whilst on the towing-path of the Regent's Canal, his boatman called to him and pointed to deceased in the water, and they succeeded in getting him out. A constable and docter were procured, but the latter on arrival pronounced him to be dead. His hat and coat were against the fence as if his getting into the water was intentional. The Jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst in an iensound state of mind."  The schooner Christine; of Brake, for Drontheim, with a cargo of wood for nigh, Germany, arrived at Longhope, Orkney, on Tuesday, and reported that the master was washed overboard and drowned at ten o'clock on Monday morning, when off Portland Skerries. Two of tlx) crew were injured, having been dashed to the deck by the sea which swept over the ship. The Marquis of Bute has offered to award a special prize of £lOO for the best translation of one of the Greeks plays into the Welsh language, the competition to take place at the forthcoming-National Eisteddfod at Liverpool. It is estimated that the number of vessels at present lying idle in the Tyne is sixty-three; in the Wear, twenty-five; at Hartlepool, thirty-four; and in the Tees, two—in all, 124, representing a groge tonnage of 130,136, or a capital of £910,052 and 1,500 men out of employment.  4 -At-- Tamnaniore, near Dungannon, on Monday night, when some little boys were going through the plantation of Mr. Averell Lloyd they found the dead body of a plan in an advanced state of decomposition. The clothes were worn off the remains. There has been no one missing in the _locality,  A New York bulletin estimates the fire losses in the United States and Canada in February at seven millions, making nineteen millions for two months, against seventeen millions last year. A despatch from Hong-Kong states that some Chinese soldiers at Shanghai have assaulted several Europeans, two of whom were slightly wounded by bayonet thrusts