The Telegram. — 1896-07-14 (Weymouth, Dorset, England)

EARL'S DAUGHTER DROWNED.  REMARKABLE SUICIDE.  A profound sensation was caused in the neigh-110111 hood of Ileiehester, Chatitain, and Gravesend on Monday by the receipt of intelligence that the Lady Mary Rose Fl'Asitlee Bligh, aged 23, fourth daughter of the Earl and Countess of Darnley, of Cobham Hall, had beeu foiled drowned in a pond M the extensive grounds en the previous evening. The facts appear to be these : Lady Mary left the Ito!! fur a walk at about four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, and did not return, as had been expected, in the course of an hour or So. After waiting come tuna her maid went out into the park in • search of her. Not nieetiug her she became anxious, and eventually went towards the Water. hone pond, which is close to Brewer's Lodge Gate, and about 500 yards front the ball. On reaching this ornamental water she was horrified to find some of her mistress's olothes on the bank, and what appeared to be a human body floating in tbo centre of the pond. She at once raised an alarm, and a number of the house and farm servants as , once responded to her summons. A boat was lieucured, the pond being very deep, and the body Mought s-hore. It proved to be that of the Lady I Mary Blight. The Earl of Darnley had been apprised of tile tnelnucholy conjectures as to the fate of his daughter, nuil reached the spot just as the body was taken out of the pond at ball-past nine. The unfortunate lady's features were composed and placid, showing that there had been no struggle for life. Lady Mary Bligh, who was born in 1868, was mush beloved at Cobham, and her untimely death is mourned by all classes in the district. Much sympathy is exprasaed for the Earl and Countevs of Darnley and the members of the family in their , great bereavement. The deceased WAS a grandI daughter of Fleury Thomas Pelham, third earl of Cilichestur.  Eirt of Darnley and the deceased were the only members of the family at Cobham Hall on Sunday and his lordship W 34 at Cobham Church in the evening and the tragic affair occurred in her Ataence. Lady Mary had been very melancholy of late, but appeared to be more cheerful on Sunday and attended Divine service in the morning. Au inquest was hold in the large dining-room at Ciihinin Hall on the same evening, before Mr. W. J. Harris, coroner.—The Earl of Darnley, William Hever, a valet in the service of the Earl of Darnley, Alice Stagg, the deceased's personal maid, and Mary Elizabeth Bartlett, and Elise Mangum)), labourer, residing at Brewer's Gate Lodge, gave evidence.—The coroner hi icily reviewed the facts of the tragic occurrence, and the jury returned a verdict to the effect that the unlortunate lady had committed m i suicide during a fit of te porary nsanity.  The Earl of Dareley has addressed the following lettcr ha the editor of the Globe newspaper : " May I ask for space in your columns (I shall not seek it elieweste) to correct certain stateuseuts respecting the death of try daughter, Lady Mary liligh, which, of course, by no fault of the respective editors have appeared in sundry journals, your own included I It is not the fact that my daughter had been in a very "depressed frame in mind," or "a despondent state of 'lliad," battling with ill-health. She was uniformly cheerful, and the brightest of companions. It is absolutely untrue that abs had " a love affair ;" that she was ever seen "weeping latterly" in her walks moat appear to those who knew her most unlikely. But here, of course, disproof cannot he made. There can be no doubt that she acted as she did under some uncontrollable iuflueoce, proLably pressure on the brain, rapidly developed, which at once deprived her of reason and overcame her will, which those who most lately conversed with her know was.to live, not to die."  Jeremiah Suliivan, 45, was killed by a locomotive near Penygraig on Tuesday. The rumour as to the Rothsehilds joining the Chartered Company is untrue. The Rev. D. Matioas pastor of Carmel Baptist Cloirc'n, Sirhowy, died on Muuday.  The sttike of the solderers of sardine boxes on tho Breton coast lass come Loan end. -  Mrs. Charlotte Galas, aged 85, was killed by a train at Fratton Station on Monday. Three hundred and fifty miners at Bert, France, have struck agaimit a reduction of wages. Mr. F. W. Maclean, Q.C., has been appointed chief justice of the High Court at Calcutta. Four bodies of infants wrapped in brown paper were on Monday found in various parts of London. A defensive triple alliance is about to be concluded between Berm., Bulgaria, and Montenegro. Albert T. Goodeve, confectioner, Mare Street, Hackney, committed suicide by swallowing spirit, of salts. Charles Hankins, a labourer, shot his two child. ren, and then committed suicide at Ledbury, on Tuesday. A grocer at Battersea attempted suicide. His shop had been oter•run with rats, and that made him despondent. -  • The Archluvhop of Canterbury arrived at Paddington on Monday morning, having pail a private visit to the Queen.