The Express. — 1851-08-30 (London, England)

SUICIDE OF A LADY AT CIIELTENHAM.—On Weds which we crossed the laciers ; but this of our j cannot really be described: The tremendous masses oournef greeny nesday night an inquest was held before J. Barnett, Esq., ice—tke awful crevices—the sky, from no darker contrast upon the remains of Mrs. Colonel Crowther, a lady who than the snow, looking a deep blue—the long file of travel- moved in the first circle of society at Cheltenham, and who lore, all tied with a ro together—all made it a most im- committed suicide on the same day by throwing herself premise sight, which Imam glad to say I could perfectly enfrom one of the upper windows of her house, No. 6, St. ;Margaret's-terrace, Cheltenham. The inquest was held in joy, not feeling in any degree tired. Some of the crevices the drawing-room of the mansion, which has been the family we crossed by a ladder being thrown across them, and walking on the crossbars ; some we crossed on little bridges residence for a number of years past. From the of frozen snow, and one was a very peculiar one—the evidence of Dr. Arnett, the family physician, the ladder had to be placed nearly perpendicularly from the nurse, Mrs. Halberts, and the butler, Robert Wilson, lower part on which we stood, resting on a huge wall of it appeared that the deceased was the widow of the ice, separated front us by a tremendous crevice, so that, late Col. the 27th Fusiliers. The deceased, mounting on the ladder, you looked down into an endless Crowther, of who was a corpulent woman, was turned of sixty years of depth below you, and, as the ladder was not long enough age, and weighed upwards of 17 stone,. has for a length of to surmount the wall, steps were cut from its top into a time past been labouring under bronchitis, and has evinced ice with a hatchet. By walking in this kind of way till 4 evident symptoms of insanity, so much so, that Dr. Arnett o'clock, we reached the Grands Mulcts, where we had to gave strict orders that she should not be left by herself for stop the night, or rather a few hours between that time one moment, and that a watch should be placed on all her and 12 o'clock at night. All the time glasses had been motions. About a month or three weeks ago, Mrs. Colonel directed towards us from Chamouni, and on placing our Crowther, for the benefit of change of air, as well as to feet on the rock we were saluted by guns below, which divert her mind, proceeded to London to see the Exhibiwore fired to announce our arrival thus far. and plain ac-" I assure you that iu writing this shorttion, during which period she was in much better health and spirits, but, unfortunately, having caught cold on her went I feel so excited that I canhardly'expreas myself; but return house, she has been confined to the house ever since to return to our muttons, or rather chickens, our arrival was that period, and has been in a low desponding state. On the signal for unloading' grub' of all descriptions, and well Tuesday the deceased lady became exceedingly restless, and did we do justice to the fare—all in high spirits—and songs talked wildly about the anniversary of her dear husband's and stories passed round uncommonly quick, of course chiefly death, when she observed too one of the i sservans that " she started by Albert Smith, who, again 1 repeat, is in the ver- would have to lay her out t-morrow, as she ntedd to secular tongue ' a tremendous brick.' Our wants being celebrate the anniversary of her late husband'sdeatte" About satisfied, while the guides were bustling about to arrauge night quarters we were at liberty to look about us; but I three o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, Mrs. Crowther conneednot say lam utterly unable to convey to you the faint- trived to elude the vigilance of her nurse, Mrs. Rotten% and cot idea of tho imposing process of sunset up there. Fancy proceeded from the drawing-room to her bedroom on the third story, when she immediately double-locked the door, yourself on a rock descending nearly perpendicularly ; sit- and got out upon the window-sill, whin she precipitated ting on a ledge ; snow above and snow below ; the shades herself into the court yard below, a height of 60 feet from gathering, the light turning fromguld topurple, from purple the ground. Her head came into contact with the wall, to lilac, from blue to green, lilac, grey—lit fact, to all colours which fractured her skull in the most dreadful manner ; the sky can assume ; the solemn silence only interrupted by her right arm was also broken, but her face was uninjured; occasional avalanches booming behind us, the wide prospect and when the jury proceeded to her bed room, where tho ,ot country i—funcy all this, and you can have not even an remains were placed, there was not the slightest percepidea not the faintest conceptson, of the really awful tible alteration in the features—indeed she appeared as if grandeur of the scene, When all was ready to attempt to in a profound sleep. The sister-in-law of the deceased, Mrs. sleep, the guides lit a fire before us, and I mused myself to Wynford, who was residing with her, immediately missed sleep by talking, listening to the stories still KW, g on her relative from the drawing-room, and ran up stairs to her beclroom ; but finding the door locked she besame around me, watching the flickering flame that lighted up dreadfully alarmed, and called the butler. Just as the the splendid figures of our guides, who stood round it sing rasing myselfbutler entered the room he saw the legs of his mistress in ing choruses remarkably well ; occasionally on my elbow to catch a last glimpse of the remaining lights the air ; he then ran down stairs, and proceeded to the yard in the west ; and last not least, lookiug at the summit of with the nurse and one of the upper servants. The deceased that Mont Blanc which had jest caught the moon, changing then breathed twice, and instantly expired in their arms. all the mountains from a purple to a pure silver. I must The above were the leading facts of the case as elicited also mention that a couple of guides went on straight with in the evidence before the coroner, who briefly summed up, when the jury returned a verdict of " temporary ins lanterns to track out the snow and try it for our departure sanity." at twelve o'clock, and their lanterns glimmering in the snowy distance looked like spirits of the mountain disturbed