Widnes Examiner. — 1888-05-12 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

DRIVEN TO SUICIDE BY A HUSBAND.  An inquiry was held into the , death of Mary Wilson, wife of Thomas Wilson, painter and decorator, 43. Heathroad.—Thomas Wilson said the deceased was his wife and was 33 years of age. On Sunday morning, about ten o'clock, he went out for a walk, and returned home about a quarter past one. He found her in a sitting posture between two chairs, quite dead, and above suspended to a hook in the ceiling was a roller towel. He knew no reason why she should commit suicide except that he had seen her at dinner times and frequently on other occasions kneeling down and praying, with a Bible before her. She would say to him "I have had a good time." They had been happy together for more than seven years, and he could bring preachers and witnesses to prove it. He had no quarrel with her on Sunday morning.—Alice Palmer, wife of Thomas Palmer, butcher, 45, Heath-road, said she had :known deceased eight years. For anything that she knew the deceased and her husband lived comfortably together. She was very religious, and went to Halton-road Chapel. She (witness) did not think her religion affected her mind. On Sunday morning the deceased appeared just as usual. —Jas. Bowyer, shipwright, of 41, Heath-road, said he had known the deceased and her husband for six years. He could not say that they had • lived comfortably together. Her husband was addicted to having drinking bouts, and his conduct caused his wife great grief, and disagreements arose. He -was drinking last week, and on Friday the deceased fetched him home. He was not violent towards her; and she tried to screen him as much as she could. Inspector Millington deposed that he went to the house about two o'clock on Sunday. The woman's neck was dislocated, and was also discoloured. The towel was very much twisted, and there were evidences that she had hung herself with it. The end of the towel was four feet four inches from the ground.—The coroner said the deceased had been a very good, religious wife—her house, he was told, was a model of cleanliness—and she was a Woman of strong religious feeling. She had the misfortune to have a bad husband, and his frequent fits of intemperance had a strong effect upon her. If the jury I thought they were sufficient to unhinge her mind and to render her at the time she committed this rash act insane, they would return a verdict accordingljL—The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the ddbeased committed suicide whilst temporarily insane, and requested the coroner to censure the husband for his intemperate habits.—Wilson was thereupon summoned into the room and the coroner told him that the knowledge of the fact that his repeated acts of intemperance had driven Ids poor wife to do the rash act which had caused that inquest,ought, if he had feeling left, to have greater weight than any words that a coroner or a judge, or anybody could address to him.—Wilson, who appeared to be under the influence of drink at the time, received the coroner's remarks with apparent indifference.  Fon A FORTUNE —ln these times, when fortunes are made and lost in a day—when many a man is rick to-dity and poor to-morrow; in these times of limited liability companies and joint stock speculations, one should be very careful of his investments. Old and tried remedies, like old and reputable firms, should always be sought'after in preference to new and untried experiments by the investor. If this advice was always followed the result would be far more satisfactory than those sometimes obtained, as in the case of Mrs. William Press, of Sayers' Common, Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, who states that a friend of hers who used St. Jacobs Oil for rheumatism, said: "She would notlbe without this marvellous remedy' for a fortune." Mrs. Press thought if that was the case, she would give it a trial herself, having been seriously afflicted for many years with rheumatic and neuralgic pains in her head, shoulders, and arms, for which she had tried many; of the new experiments said to cure rheumatism and neuralgia, but which cost her a great deal of money and from the use of which she received no benefit. Acting on the advice of her friend, she immediately procured St. Jacobs Oil, and by frequent applications, the pain ,from which she had suffered so long, was quite removed, and she now enjoys good health; is free from pain, and happy; so she, too, naturally thinks she would not be without St. Jacobs Oil for a fortune. For gisle everywhere, pike 2s 6d.