The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — 1826-05-29 (London, England)

SUICIDE OF CAPTAIN LAYMAN. R.V.  CHEL TILLMAN, MAY 21 The melancholy death of the above officer has crearedagreaf at;„ satioo amongst the visitors and inhabitants of this fluthinnable sort; and although the Coroner's inquest was last night held hetc;; John Cootie, Esq. at the Swan Inn, the cause which led to the at; of self-deetruetron la involved in considerable mystery. The deceased was, it appears, an author of several works even naval architecture, and a brave officer ; his town residence was se No. 34, Hans-place. Sloane-street, and he had taken up his ahnee here at Woodland Cottage. He was about sixty years of age, a tnarrieil man, without a family. A respectable Jury assembled At the Swan Inn, last night, at six o'clock. and having appointed George Russel, Esq. their Foreman, the Coroner proceeded i 4 the investigation, Mr. Sadler, the high constable, who had been indefatigable -collecting evidence, &c., produced a slip of paper whit l hod been found near the bath, in which the deceased had teen divenveve,i with lines, h in ais thstrong.sroat cut, teady, and legible han on which was written, d in pencil, the follewing " Captain Edgeeumbe will explain ; but should he not arrive before the inquest takes place, the accompanying may be 01,,,ed by the Coroner." John Coward, one of the guides at the bath, proved that the dr. ceased called at the baths on Monday, and ordered a bath to be got ready for him the following day, at tour o'clock. at heat. He came punctually on the following day (Tuesday), went into the bath-room, and ordered witness to let him remain therefor ma hoer, deceased was particularly attentive to the bolt of the door; won"; was greatly astonished, when he went to the bath at five o'clock, atia found the deceased in the bath, quite dead, with his thmat cut There was a razor lying on the side of the bath, which was give„ to Mr. Sadler. The deceased had undressed himself, and hung up his clothes in the greatest order. Jacob Jeremiah Iloldehip. a Quaker, affirmed that he was ma. eager of the baths, and had known the deceased for three yes,, he hal been changeable and wavering within the last three weeks. ‘Vitnem saw him come to the bath, and he gave witness a neves!. letter to take to Mrs. Layman. Witness saw him in the bit a, the situation described, quite dead ; he found the slip of paper gi,et to Mr. Sadler (quoted above.) ness_ s par(S%'ieness p "areel, directed to Curtly:ow Ea.--rhaiVhatcaecic.om pied it ?noticed Captain Edgecumbe). IVitness a mtinued—The deceased was a married leak and lived happily wi:h his wife, excepting on matters cookery. • [ Here the Coroner opened the parcel alluded to above; it con. teinod two books, one written by the deceased, and the other the .work of A ccum, the chymist. It a'so contained several lettersCORONER—Here is a letter, or copy of a letter, but I d Ir.'t know whether I ought to read it or not ; it is sired Millen Layman. 111 r. Jones--I should say that is in the deceased's hand-writing. Coen,/ER—llene is another, but they are in different hands. Mr. Jones--This does not appear to be in his hand-writing. Mr. Holdehip thought it night be his daughter's writing, Lu: decided in the negative on looking at it. The CORON ER read the copy aloud ; it purported to be a corn of a letter, dated March, 1822, and addresser' to Admiral sir Cockburn, upon the subject of preserving the lives of seamen; he also read (to himself) the letter which was proved to be in the hand-writing of the deceased. Mr. M. Jones said he had known the deceased about six months; he rented a house of him from October, but had since told witness lie could no linger live there, as the cook behaved so badly to hint. Mi'itneos questioned tile cook upon the subject, and she could aia,n no reason for having provoked his displeasure, as he (the deceased) had presented her with a sovereign for her good behaviour. The deceased, however, still complained of the cook, god winless took her into his own service. Demised called at witness's house, and paid him what lie owed hint ; witness asked him if he intended leaving, and he replied that he d.d not know what to do; they wanted him to be sent to London, but he could not live there, sag wee all dirt and poison. It he went there he should be poisoned, as he could not eat any thing in London ; 111 r. Accum was the only man who knew any thing upon that subject. Cheltenham (the deceased acid) was the d—st place in all the world; the met was most filthy. Now (said Mr. Jones) it is very well lam that the water in Cheltenham is excellent. When it rained, the deceased used to send the cook to hold a dish under the slates to catch the water. Witness was ennvinced he was not of sound tiled at the time he committed the act.  The Coronerand Jury now proceeded to Woodland Cottage, to view the body, whither it had been removed, under the (brims of Sir William Hicks, Ban., the Chief Magistrate. Ihe le:, side of the threat pre,ented a cut of several inches in length aoil depth, which must have occasioned almost instant dea:h. On the return of the Jury to the Inn, the Coroner stated that there was a letter.  Before he read it, he desired the Court to be cleared. The Jury, after a short consultation, returned a verdict of •' sanity."