The North-Eastern Weekly Gazette. — 1883-10-06 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

SUICIDE OF AN ASSISTANT SCHOOLMASTER.  A Coroner's enqniry was held on Wednesday evening at the Victoria. Hotel, North Ormesby. 1 into the circumstances attending the death of 1 John James Shiel, an assistant master at the! Fleetham-street Board School, Middlesbrough. —The first witness called was the mother of the deceased. She stated that on Monday ! afternoon the deceased came home from the school at a quarter-past ive, but only remained in the house a few minutes. There was apparently nothing the matter with him. On the 1 previous day, however, he came downstairs somewhat earlier than usual, and was very I quiet and reserved all day. In the evening: be wanted her to go to church and leave him in the house alone, but she thought it better to remain at home, and! did so. The deceased had studied very hard of late. Witness had often told him that he was • doing too much.—The next witness was Police- ; constable Hutton. He said that about one I o'clock on Tuesday morning he met the father of the deceased near the Police Station at North Ormesby. Mr Shiel told him that the deceased went out of the house about a quarterpast five on Monday afternoon, taking the key of the stable with him, and had not returned. The father went on to say alas he had been to I the stable, and found the door looked on the • inside. Witness immediately proceeded to the I stable. He effected an entrance by the ashpit door, and on going into the loft discovered the deceased hanging, quite dead, from a ! beam across the roof. The body was promptly cut down. Two empty laudanum bottles a ere found upon the floor of the loft neat the spot , where the deceased was suspended.—Mr Joseph Wright, head-master oi the Fleetham-street ' Board School; was next examined. He stated that the deceased joined the school at the beginning of the present year. Previous to , that time witness had known him as a teacher I 1 of the Sunday School of which witness was the superintendent. Deceased did his work well, I and had not made any complaints about being • I overtaxed, but this year the work generally had been rather heavier than it was in the past, and the whole of the teaching 1 stall felt it. The deceased might 1 have made casual remarks about the I matter, but never any distinct complaint. 1 1 On Monday afternoon witness saw the deceased when he left school at half-past four. There I I was nothing peculiar in his manner then; but 1 on the Monday morning he seemed to be a little 1 iiepressed after s. private conversatiou with Mr 1 Calvert, the Superintendent of the Board Schools.—Mr Calvert, on being called as a witness, explained that on Fri ay morning he had occasion to speak to the deceased about a complaint that had been made to him about beating one of the scholars. Witness took the deceased into a private room and told him that, in order to avoid any complaints of the kind in future, it would be better for him not to chastise the pupils at all. The deceased admitted having chastised the child, but said that he was not aware that he had done it so severely.—Dr. W. Knott deposed to making a post ntuetcm examination of the body. He found distinct traces of laudanum in the stomach. The immediate cause of death, however, was strangulation by hanging.—The Deputy-Coroner, in summing up the evidence, pointed out that the ont2,' question remaining for the jury to decide was the state of mind of the deceased at the time he committed the fatal act.—The jury, without deliberation, returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst in a si.ate of temporary insanity.'  In connection with Mr Shiers death, after the opening school exercises on Thursday, Mr Wright. head master, addressed a few words to the teachers and scholars. In doing so he adverted in feeling terms to the quiet and orderly way in which the deceased had gone out and in among them since joining the staff, and expressed the deepest sympathy of all connected with the school for the bereated parents in the very mysterious dispepsation of providence that had overtaken them. As a farther mark of respect, and on the suggestion of /dr J. S. Calvert, superintendent to the School Board, the teachers attended the funeral of the deceased on Thursday afternon, and in order to their doing so the children were granted a half-holiday.  THE NEW FANCILY MATCH SAFE for Bryant and May's Patent Safety Matches supplies a want that has long been felt, and will be adopted at once by all careful housekeepers. It is very ornamental, and contains three dozen boxes of Bryant and May's Patent Safety Matches and three of the metal match cases, and can be obtained from any grocer or oilman, filled and fitted complete for 2s 6d. It is strong and damp proof, and should be found in every store room. THROAT LIMITATION AND Covinn.—Eloreness and dryness, tickling and irritation, inducing cough and affecting the voice. For these symptoms use Bpps's Glycerine Jujubes. In contact with the glands at the moment they are excited by the act of sucking, the Glycerine in these agreeable confections becomes actively healing. Sold only in boxes, Tid, tins is id, labelled—" JAMES EPPS and Co., Hommopathic Chemists, London." A letter received: "Gentlemen,—lt may, perhaps, interest you to know that, after an extended trial, I have found your Glycerine Jujubes of considerable benefit (with or without medical treatment) in almost all forms of throat disease. They soften and clear the voice.—Yours faithfully, GORDoN