Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1882-03-25 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE INQUEST.  On Thursday evening an inquest was held on the body at the Woodland Hotel, before Mr. W, Barstow, district coroner, and a jury composed of the following gentlemen : Messrs. John Craven, (foreman), Allen Morton, Abel Brook, James Dyson, John Exley Dyson, John Tweed, Thomas Smith, John Helm, Thomas Womersley, George Sibley, Henry Moore, Alfred Helliwell, and John Morton. . . .  The jury having been sworn proceeded to view the body : the first witness examined was Alice Oldfield, who stated : the deceased was my husband, and he was 42 years of age. We resided in Rastrick Common, and he was the engine tenter at Messrs. Goodaire's, the chemical works. About twenty minutes past two yesterday morning he got out of bed telling me he was going to the closet, and he went out of doors and never returned. He has only been about three days off work this year. For the last three weeks he has appeared rather low in spirits, and has not been as cheerful as usual. He has not complained of any pain, but he said he felt rather queer in his inside that morning. He never said anything to me about being tired of living, and he has been in the habit of going to the closet at that time, especially when he had to work late. I cannot give any reason why he should have done anything to himself.—ln cross-examination by Inspector Hey : He never mentioned doing such a thing to me, but he did say he could not see his way in the world. He has been working lately five days a week. I have only two children. We had not any difference the day before the occurrence. He did not say the day before that he would go away and never come back. There were so many men out of employment, that he, fearing through lack of work he would have to leave his situation, was afraid he would not be able to get another. I tried to cheer him up as well as I could. So far as I know his masters have never said anything to him about leaving, and he never said that his masters had found fault with him. He has been very restless at nights, always studying about his work. lam his second wife. He has always been very steady. He was not one of the strongest of men, but he has not been under a doctor since we were married, and that is nine years ago. He has always had a cough, and used to spit very much. He has worked at Messrs. Goodaire's for twelve years. John Ramsaen said : I am an iron mould4r, and reside at Clifton. It was about thirty-five minutes past five on Wednesday morning when I first saw the body in the water. When I got to the corner of the dyeworks, nearly at the bottom c,f Foundrystreet. I saw an object in the water but I could not tell what it was; it appeared to me to be something like a football. I went a bit further on, and having my eyes fixed on the water I did not notice anything on the bank until I kicked something, and on looking found a black coat and hat laid on the ground. I then looked more closely at the objeet in the water, and found it to be a human head, so I turned back to get someone to help me to get the body out. I met John Lumb, and he went and fetched something by which we drew the body to the side and then pulled it out; it would then be about a quarter to six. The body was about four yards in the water from the edge, but I could only see the top of the head; I could not see the forehead. There is a post on the bank near the place, and the deceased seemed to have sat on it and had a bit of tobacco, as I noticed footmarks were visible in the snow all round it, and also on a small piece of grass near the edge of the water; I looked at his shoes when we got him out and found the marks to correspond. The eoat was wrapt up and laid on the bank, and the hat was placed on the top of it. I have known the deceased all his life, and I also knew his father, but I could not recognise the body. Mary Tillotson said: I am the wife of Allen Tillotson, and reside at Birds Royd. I helped to lay out the body of the deceased, and with the exof a small graze on the left arm I found no marks of violence upon him. This was all the evidence tendered, and the Coroner in reviewing it said it was pretty evident from what they had heard that the man had drowned himself Taking all things into account it looked liked a deliberate case of suicide. After a short conversation among the jury, a verdict that "The deceased committed suicide by drowning whilst in a state of temporary insanity," was returned.