Denton Examiner, Audenshaw, Hooley Hill and Dukinfield Advertiser. — 1877-10-13 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

DETERMINED SUICIDE AT TAUNTON.  An inquest wae held on Tuesday morning at the Doe and Partridge Inn, Waterloo, before Mr. F. Price, coroner for the district, on the body of Jonathan Garside, a weaver, aged 53, who committed suicide under circumstances as detailed beiow _  Martha Garside, the widow of the deceased. said : My husband was a handloom silk weaver. He has been in good health, but his eyesight has been failing him for souse time past, and was becoming worse. He was uneasy abouthis work, and was low-spirited respecting his ability to continue working at the loom. Last Monday he mentioned the matter, and I advised him to have spectacles. lie neviz mentioned the matter agatn. He was at work on Monday, but did not do any after that day. He had work in the loom. On Sunday moriv ing he got up between eight and nine o'clock, and went for a walk. He returned at noon and had some r inner. When he had had his dinner he went out for a short time, and upon his return he went to bed. About half-past three o'clock I went out to go to Ashton, leaving him in bed: It would be about twenty minutes past nine when I returned. The door was not locked. The house was in darkness, and I got a light and had my supper. I thought he was in bed, and locked the door to go there myself. When I got upstairs I found that he was not in bed, and, thinking it strange that he was not there, I went into a neighbour's house and told them Samuel Travis went in. I did not go with him, but learned in a few minutes that he was dead. I have no doubt that he hung himself. There was no cause beyond his failing eyesight. He had had plenty of work lately, but had been short dtuing the earlier part of the year.—By the Jury : He had been drinking during the week. He commenced on Tuesday morning, and was more or less drunk during the whole of the week. William Wood. roller turner, living in Taunton, deposed: The deceased was my uncle. I was out walking with him on Sunday morning between ten add one o'clock. He was talking nearly the whole time about his work, and his not being able to see it. He seemed to dwell upon this very much, and I told him not to put himself about respecting  it. Samuel Travis said : I am a coal-miner, and live at Taunton Mrs. Garside came to my house at about a quartet to ten o'clock on Sunday night. She asked me if I had been out, and if I had seen her husband. I had not, and I told her so. Mrs. Garsids and my wife went out, while I remained in the house. Directly afterwards I heard a scream, and ran into deceased's house. Mrs. Hill, a neighbour, was there, and she said "Jonathan has hanged himself." I took a knife and a light off the table, and went into the loomhouse. I then saw him hanging by a rope from a "spur" Net from the loom to the wall to keep the loom steady. After getting assistance I cut the rope, and found that he was quite dead and cold. He appeared to have been dead some hours. His feet touched the ground, and if he had stood upright he would not have been hanged. He had his arm round the foot . .  of the loom. The Ccroner said the jury had to consider whether deceased had committed the act himself, and also what state of mind he was in at the time, if he did so. The jury found that deceased committed suicide whilst in a state of temporary insanity.