The Sun. — 1840-06-04 (London, England)

THE MURDER ANT) SUICIDE IN  CLEIZKENWELL.  INQUEST ON THE BODIES.  Yesterday afternoon, at three o'clock, Mr. Payne, the City Coroner, and a highly respectable Jury, assembled in the Committee Room of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, to inquire touching the death of George Gingell, aged forty-two, and Mary Ann Gingell, aged twenty-one. For some time prior to the arrival of the Coroner and the Jury, the room was crowded to suffocation, and the interest was so exceedingly intense, that every place where a seat could be procured was occupied, and it was with some difficulty that the Jury were accommodated. Several females, respectably attired, were in attendance to hear the proceedings. The Jury having been sworn, they proceeded to view the bodies of the deceased, which were deposited in two separate shells in the dead-house at the back of the hospital. The spectacle was most appalling, the heads being nearly severed from the bodies. On the return of the Coroner and the Jury to the inquest room, their names having been called over, the following evidence was adduced : Martha Blackmon) sworn—l live at No. 12, Compton-street, Clerkenwell, opposite where the murder was committed. I was not acquainted with the deceased woman, but I knew her by sight. I saw her walking with the deceased man on the opposite side of the street about a quarter past twelve o'clock on Tuesday forenoon. I was looking out of the window when I saw the man put his larm round her waist, and I heard her say "Oh don't." I immediately afterwards saw her turn round, and blood was streaming from her face, which I thought oozed from her mouth. I did not see the man do anything with his right hand. The woman put her bands up to her neck as if she was begging for mercy, and she staggered back a few paces and fell. The man then drew a razor across his own throat, and went on his knees by way of embracing her, and fell upon her. I became so terrified at the sight of the blood that I cannot state what afterwards occurred. My screams brought the people to the assistance of the deceased.  James Spriggs examined—l live at No. 12, Compton-street, and occupy the first floor. My windows were open, and I was looking mkt about ten minutes past twelve on Tuesday morning, when I observed the male and female, now lying dead. He seemed to be importuning her, and she turned her face away from him towards the house. I heard no words pass, and upon their coming opposite the wiremaker's, in that street, he appeared to get closer to her, and she endeavoured the snore to avoid him. When she reached to No. 57, she attempted to ring the bell, but whether she did so I don't know. The man pulled her by the shoulder, and I saw him lift up his left hand and, as I thought, strike her in the mouth. I then saw him operating upon his own throat, and the woman fell, and the man knelt over her as it seemed for the purpose of showing her the wound in his throat, which he pulled open. The female was in a reclining position against the wall. Having proceeded to her assistance, I endeavoured to lift the man up, but the blood flowed so copiously from both, and the sight was so appalling, that I was neariy paralysed, and 1 nearly lost ail my strength. I picked up the man's hat, which was nearly new ; a person in a few minutes came up to my assistance, and we pulled the man from off the woman. A policeman subsequently came up, and the bodies were conveyed away upon stretchers. They lay there nearly twenty minutes, and I implored the persons who had collected to assist me in conveying them to a doctor's, but none of them would do so. The street was very clear of persons at the time, a shower of rain having taken place a few minutes before. There was a great deal of screaming for assistance, but the people were so horrified that they would not interfere. By the