The Bee-Hive : — 1869-06-05 (London, England)

SEDUCTION AND SUICIDE.  On Thursday last Mr. Bedford, the coroner, proceeded with a very long and painful inquiry, in the Board-room of St. George's Workhouse, Mountstreet, Grosvenor-squate, respecting the death of Miss Clara Morton, aged 19, who was found drowned in the Serpentine, Hyde-park. Miss S. vlorton, of '3, Hornsey-road, Islington, said the deceased was her sister. She had lately been in low spirits. She left hope on the 14th of May, and witness never saw her alive again. Three days after she left home the fol--lowing letter addressed to witness was found in her bedroom My dear Sister,--I am sorry to leave you. By the time you get this note I shall be in another world. My heart is broken. Mr. Fenton has very mudh illflied me. This, no doubt, will be a death blow to you, but it can't be helped. I have been verynnhappy of i late, and have had no rest for months. He s the cause Of all this. I cannot say any more; so farewell for ever." The letter was signed "Clara Morton. n the envelope was a lock of her hair. The witness, in answer to the coroner, ,said she knew the deceased had been keeping company ton, with a young man named Fen, private in the Ist Life Guards,. George New°On said on Wednesday evening last he found i the deceased floating on the water of the Serpentine, n Ilyde-park. Mr. William Bloxam, surgeon, said that he examined the body of the deceased on Wednesday last. She had been pregnant within the last six !tenths. The cause of death was suffocation by drowndg. Benjamin Fenton, a private in the Ist Life itrds, deposed that he had been keeping company with the deceased for three years; saw her alive on the 12th ID' the present month; used to come to barracks of Lan evening and ask to see him; of late had heard she Lied a bad temper, and had often told her he did not Want to see her. When he told her he did not want t* see her she used to begin to cry. On the 14th of May be received a letter from her to the effect that she tended to destroy her life. In the letter she said, " 'When you hear of me I shall be dead. You have quite broken my heart. I hope you will be a most miserable man as long as you live, for you are the cause of my death." The witness said whenever he met her she would be outside the barracks. The sister of the deceased said she could show nearly a hundred letters which Fenton had written to her sister, making appointments to meet her. The coroner said there could not be the slightest doubt that this soldier had won the affections of this unfortunate young lady, and, having ruined her, left her to her fate. It was quite clear that the deceased had been seduced, but by whom there was not sufficient evidence to prove. The jury then returned a verdict of "Suicide while in a state Of unsound tund."  Tin copyright and right of continuation of Once a Week is to be sold by auction, by Mr. Hodgson, on the 15th of next month. Tsnatn is now a newspaper for the English communitY nestling in the healthy hills of Bengal. It is called the Detriee/ing Advertiser, and is published among the nimalayas, within sight of the Chinese posts in Thibet. GRATEFUL PATS ENT .—The late Mr. Frederick Attenborough has bequeathed to the Nottiagham RosPital the sum of £4,200 Consols. Mr. Attenborough had been an in-patient of the hospital some "Lg.-three years since, and considered that to the skill and kindness there shown him he owed his life; and, to show his gratitude, he wished to leave the hospital all the savings of his many years. Mr. Attenborough, Leaving the hospital. enlisted in the 3rd Dragoon rd,, and served in that regiment as a private for I.'llY-three years and six months. On his discharge be was , presented with a service of plate by the officers "toe regiment "as a mark of their approbation of his !Olio:tact and character." Since his discharge he has been living a retired life in Nottingham with a pension Of Is. 40. a day. The whole of his munificent legacy to the hospital has been accumulated by careful saving during a period of fifty-three years. Twe