The Sun. — 1839-09-12 (London, England)

SUICIDE BY PRECIPITATION PROM THE MONUMENT.  Wednesday merning a repert became prevalent in the neighbourhood of Fish-street-hill that a female had committed suicide by throwing herself from the galle.ry at the summit of the Monument, which on inquiry proved true. Shortly after the rumour hod gone abroad Monument-yard was thronged by persons anxious to obte]:, a sight of the spot where so remarkable a cf.,strophe occurred, but a force of the city police 1 end preserved order. Various :e the versions circulated of the melancholyufekly arrived °-eurrence ; but from inquiries made it would an Pee.r that the following is the real outline of the facts,. questiorl About a quarter before 10 the female in the ;" presented herself at the door of the entrance at -stenutnent and paid the admission fee, being seemingly unembarrassed, and was directed the way up by the attendant. She had not been up more than 20 minutes when the porter was alarmed by a cry from settle persons passing through the yard, and immediately he heard a crash, as if of a heavy substance falling. On gaining the doer he was amazed to fled a body huddled up, blood flowing profusely from the back part of the head, and from the left arm, but life was extinct. On raising the body he immediately recognised it as that of the female he had but shortly before admitted ; a shell was speedily procured, and the remains removed to the watchhouse of St. Magnus-the-Martyr, Upper Thames street. Crowds followed with the removal of the body, but very few gained admittance into the watchhouse. The appearance of the body is that of a fine young woman, of about 25 years of age, height about 5 feet 2 inches, fair complexion, with auburn hair ; the hands have not apparently been ever engaged in rough labour, and the dress denoted that the unfortunate wearer ',lad moved in a circle above the middle class of life. It consists of a good black silk dress, under garments of fine linen, silk stockings, and worked habitshirt ; on the fore finger of the left hand there was a gold signet ring. It was said there was a bonnet, shawl and shoes, but a description of them was not attainable. Upon examination of the body, it was found that the spine was fractured, as also the back of the cranium, but the features are in no way disfigured, save by the appearance of coagulated blood forced from the nostrils; eyes, and mouth, by the sudden concussion ; the left arm is severed just above the elbow, and is only retained in its place by the integuments and the sleeve of the dress. On viewing the spot where the unfortunate woman fen, it seems she must have narrowly escaped the coping and abutment on which the ornamental griffins have their base, if she did not strike them as she fell is ithin the iron palisades on the left hand of the entrance to the Monument as coming up Fish-street-hill. An idea may be formed of the violence of the concussion, as it appears her weight bent one of the rails, which at first intercepted her reaching the ground. A rope, it is said, has been found, but in what way it is connected with this transaction is not at present known ; one rumour is, that the unfortunate creature elevated herself above the iron palisades which encircle the gallery at the summit by means of this rope, and thence threw herself. over ; a second is, that, fastening the rope outside, she formed a noose, and after fixing her feet in it as a support for the moment, threw herself backwards ; and the third is, that she attempted to hang herself, but failing in the execution of it, precipitated herself from that height in despair. Information has been forwarded to the Coroner on the subject, and the inquest is fixed for this day. The deceased's connections have been discovered, and a communication made on the subject to the Lord Mayor. About 6 o'clock in the afternoon, a gentleman informed his Lordship, who was then at the Monument, that he knew the deceased, and requested that the body might not be any longer publicly shown. His Lordship immediately gave directions to that effect. The gentleman stated that the deceased was Miss Margaret Moyes, of No. 3, Hemmings-row, Charing-cross, one of four sisters ; that she bad breakfasted at home that morning, and had gone out soon afterwards. That she bad been in an excited state for above a week, frequently crying, and that she was observed to cry before leaving home in the morning. The gentleman added, that about an.hour before her friends heard the report that a lady had thrown herself off the Monument, they found a piece of paper, on which the deceased had written, that they need not expect to see her again, as she had left home for the purpose of destroying herself: Her father is an old man, confined to his bed. This is the secondinstance of suicide by leaping from the Monument on record. The former occurred as far back as the year 1810, on the 18th of January, and is thus described in the Times of the 19th January of that year:— " Remarkable Suicide.—Yesterday Mr. Lyon Levi, a diamond merchant, of about 50 years of age, precipitated himself from the top of the Monument, and was literally dashed to pieces. Mr. Levi attended to several appointments in the city about eleven o'clock, and trailacted his usual business, and at twelve obtained admission to view the Monument. He walked several times round the outside of the iron railing before he sprang off, and in falling the body turned over and over before it reached the ground. When near the bottom it came in contact with one of the griffins which ornament the lower part of the building. A porter with his load on his back narrowly escaped the body of the deceased, which fell a few paces from him in Monument-yard. It is said that two days ago Mr. Levi visited the Monument and continued at the top for some time. Nothing has transpired from which the friends of the deceased can judge of the cause which led to the sad catastrophe. Mr. Levi has left a wife and eight grown-up children."  MONEY MARKET and