The Sun. — 1853-01-14 (London, England)

AWFULLY SUDDENDEATH.-BROKEN HEART.  Mr. Bedford, the Coroner, held an inquest yesterday at the Royal Standard, Vauxhall-bridge-road, Pimlico, touching the death of Rebecca Baker, aged 51, residing at No. 7, Eaton-lane, Victoria-road, in the same locality which occurred in the following awful manner. On returning from viewing the body, both the coroner and the medical officer described the place as in a most awfully filthy condition, almost equal to anything in the worst part of Westminster. It appeared that the deceased was the widow of a late recruiting sergeant, and had lived for some tine on the best of terms with a milkman named Morrell, passing as his wife, who had been laid up for a considerable period, suffering from dangerous inflammatory disease, and was attended by Mr. Beckett, surgeon, of 12, Shaftesbury-terrace. On Saturday night last deceased was ironing, Morrell being in bed with his illness. The conversation was about his ultimate recovery, when he told her he did not think he should ever get over it; just at the moment, whilst these words were being pronounced, she was hanging the smoothing iron on a nail in the wall, her arm being at its full stretch above her head, and her face turned on Morrell, when she instantly quivered and dropped down lifeless on the floor. Medical assistance was immediately procured, but the vital spark had become extinct. On a post-mortem examination of the body being made by Mr. Beckett, a large transverse rupture was found in the heart—a most unusual circumstance—and between six and seven ounces of serous blood was found in the pericardium. There were also two large clots of blood, weighing seven ounces, found in one of the membranes of the aorta. The rupture of the heart was the cause of death, and that was produced by the position of the body at the time, the strong mental emotion suddenly acting on the deceased. Morrell has since been removed by Mr. Beckett to the hospital. A paper which had been found, carefully folded up in one of her dresses, bearing the mysterious words, " Liq. Potass. one pennyworth," has caused a great excitement in the neighbourhood of the lane, occupied as it is by a large number of the lower class of the population, who have been driven there by the late clearances for the Westminster improvements. It was consequently believed that thd deceased had committed suicide, but Mr. Beckett said that the words only meant two drachms for a prescription for Morrell.  The Coroner said that this was just one of those cases which he did not like to leave as a blind case, and which, for the satisfaction of the public, ought to be thoroughly sifted. He was no great advocate for troubling a jury unnecessarily at any time, but things of this kind gave rise so often to many strange and groundless conjectures, and this was just the case which ought to be strictly investigated, and he hoped the result of the inquiry would quiet the public mind of the neighbourhood, which was sometimes fanned into a flame for nothing at all ; besides it acted as a check on the evil disposed, by showing them that their wickedness would not escape detection. Under these circumstances he hoped the jury did not mind the trouble and loss of time, for without it no one would be safe.  A verdict of " Natural death from Juptum of aorta' was then returned.