The Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram. — 1881-06-17 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

SUICIDE OF A CLERGYMAN 8 WIFE.  A long enquiry was held on Tuesday at Stoke Newingten into the cause of the death of Mr. Ellen Elie I 'w n, agni 31, wife of the Boy. B-lliegham Swan, of 18, Statham-grove, Green-lanee. Mr. Swan eteted that he was a clerk in holy orders without a living, being independent. They bed been married five years and h d f-ir children. He last saw his wife alive on Wednesd my morning, when he seempd osim and collects-I. She hid be n attended for general debility, and two years a eri she attempted her life with chloroform. In the etar:y mereieg of Thursday, hi aring one of the ail Iran crying he went into his wif-i's bedroom (they occupied separate ape rttnents) and found her lying on the b4l fully tires,,ed, cold. and dead. He at o 'ea summoned a doctor. Her nurse had jmi,ti given notice, and she had great trouble in keeping her servants, and also was much tatu'iled at their not easily finding another residence, otherwise he knew of nothing to lead up to the rash act. Some disturbance lint a isen over the last nurse, and he had been summ lee I to the police.court by her, but he denied that the police had ever been called in tm inter fere betwet n him an I his wife, or that he had ever struck her or le t her withwit enough food, or hai betel harsh to her other than 'wine s mmetimes crcos to her because she coul I not mansiee the honse.--"arab A.nn Langlend, the nurse to Mrs. Swan, stated that she h td. only been th, re a slier% time, and gave notice at , the expiration of a week, because she felt she could not be happy in Mr. Swan's establishment. He usurped the functions belonging to the lady if the house, to which she had not been accustomed, and hence she gave notice.---Susan Rice, -a charwoman, deposed that se ha I worked for the family for five weeks. Mr. Swan's manner to his wife was unkind, hut there was no actual cruelty, and she did not want for anything. Mrs. Swan appeared to be in a very low and demo-sett state thr eightiut the whole of Wednesday, crying. an I generally miserable. She Was annoyed at Mr. Swan, who was in bed the worse fir liqu T. During the tlay he sent down a post-cat el for her to post, in which he stated his intention of deetroyin,g himself, awl her mi.tress forbade her to post it, and said that it was she who ought to talk about suicide rather than him, looking at all her troubles. She extracted a pledge from the witness that if anything happened to her she should c rn next day and look after the children, and shook han Is with her at parting, which she haul never dine lief tre. Mr. Alexander Morrison, M.D., The Terrace, Ole:enhance, proved }Fine. called in to &Teased, whom he found dead. She WAS folly dressed, lying obliqmiely across the bed. There was no bottle foond near her. but in a trunk under the hen i were tem retienlems, in which wi-re nine or ten betties, all c iaining poislons, including cyanide of pet aeium, hi :irocyanic acid, mori hia, chi ml, chloroform, Ste. On making a pus. mortein examination he found the fatale slightly cengested, luiigi ditto at the base heart small and fl meld, and the other organs eenerady small and anaemic or bloodless from insufficimt nourishment. This condition of things might arise either from insufficient fo id or want of power to assimilate it, and fr im his knowle Ige of the patient, whom he had frequen ly attended, he should say she haul a small appetite, and her digestive org ins were censiderably imp tired. The stomach contained two ounces of a brownish fluid, of the consis' ence of 4 irch, which, tested by silver, iron, and potash, reve iled the presence of hydrocymic acid (one of the firms if p-ussic acid) in sufficient quantity to destroy life. Hi aloe fiend a s irap of paia)r, addressed to Bell, meaning her husband, with the words "Search for papers when I an gone," signed " E. E. 5.," end the tiunk also co Alined a recent edition of "Taylor on P. is ins," all the parts containiu e the most deadly drags having been carefully annotated, and the sloe n an dovis of the peisons marked if. His the iry was that she had taken a portion of the hydr 'cyanic acid out of one of the bottles in the trunk, replace I it, closed the liii. nod pudied it under the bed, calcitlet mug the t lose and i effects to a nicety, -again getting b .ck to bed in time to die. Ho was on ible to elo that Mr. S wen idtreated his wife, bit he was at times not respondble for his actions in cens epunce of t xeees.ve indullence ia stimulants. Whea not under their influence he was a most kind husband anti father.—Mr. Swan, recalled, stated that his w fe's Eli was not insured. The expeotations he hal for ansti of intiney coming to her were not realised by her death. It was a icer tained that the deceasel had purchased sonn 3 of the poisons herself—Ultimately the jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while of unsound mind."  OYIHAMPTON, Prith-y,..-8 11 attqnd tnec,. And only a !la le in v..la(-at at late rates. For toeing stuff a 310. v sale, with the untal weekly consumptivo .1 •t• Cattle.—A short supply of stock. for the beet q .ality of wid..l a good trade was done. Beasts sold at 134. to 143, per score, and best wethers at 6i. 41. to 61, Bd. p r •-t ,• 0.