The Sun. — 1864-01-26 (London, England)

DOMESTIC TRAGEDY IN CUMBERLAND.—On Friday last an inquest was held by Mr. Carrick, coronet for the eastern division of the county of Cumberland, on the body of a young farmer named William Brown, who had shot himself dead on the preceding day. Deceased lived at  the village of Oughterby, seven or eight miles west of Car lisle. Some months ago he married a Miss Hodgson, daugh ter of a neighbouring farmer. They appear to have lived in great happiness, and to have been a very loving couple. About three weeks ago the young wifo was confined of a boy, which circumstance was destined to be the end of a happy married life. The mother died on Wednesday last, and the bereavement seems to have made her widowed partner frantic with grief. On Thursday he went to his mother's house and got a gun. Northing more was seen of him till five o'clock, when a neighbour found hisldead body on the road. It was lying face uppermost, and the clothes covering the chest were on fire. A gun was resting on his body, the muzzle pointing towards his face. One end of a string was tied to the trigger. and at the other was a loop a few inches in length, by means of which he had discharged the gun with his foot. In his pocket were found a powder-flask and shot, together with a copy-book, containing the following pathetic lines, written in a trembling hand :—" I hope the Lord will forgive me. Without my Maggie I cannot be. You need (not) mourn me, because I must go. You will all look after our darling boy. The little sum that would fall to my darling wife and me will make him comfortable some time after. My wish is that we may be laid in one grave. This is the end of eight or nine years' courtship I Now the shot must pierce my heart. Oh, happy shall we be I" On another leaf were the words—" The old dog Wattie met (me) at the Croftfoot, Kirkhampton. Put me with mylove Maggie on Saturday!" The jury returned a verdict of temporary insanity. The body was buried on Saturday, along with that of his wife, Leeds Mercury, A WILFUL WOMAN .—A determined attempt to commit suicide by starvation has just been made at Gainsborough, by a young woman of 22, named Mary Beech living as domestic servant with the toll-collector at the bridge which crosses the Trent, and connects Lincolnshire with Nottinghamshire. There is a covered passage on each side of the tollgate, with a door opening to the bridge and another to the street, through which foot-passengers have to pass. One of these passages is not used for traffic, and in it the girl voluntarily shut herself up. She lay down upon the cold flags, and for five days and four nightsresisted in refusing food. At length the police and thelieving officer for the district were called in. They found her very weak, so that it was apparent she would die if prompt measures were not speedily adopted to make her take food. The relieving officer, however, could only offer the woman an order for the workhouse, which she refused to avail herself of, and the police avowed themselves unable to interfere unless she were turned into the street by her master—a proceeding the toll-collector did not feel justified in adopting. The medical officer of the district was next applied to with the view of ascertaining the state of mind of the girl, for in the event of her being pronounced deranged, the relieving officer would have the power to remove her by force, but, on an examination taking place, no evidence of insanity could be detected. Persuasion, expostulation, and threats were all tried to induce her to take some support, or to allow herself to be taken to the workhouse, but to no purpose. At length she was told that unless she consented to one of the two courses pointed out she would bo turned into the street and conveyed to the police-station. This threat seemed to have some weight wife her, for she ul tireately said "they might do as they liked with her." Without giving her time to change her mind a fly was obtained, and she wits conveyed to the union. She was so mush exhausted, although naturally strong, that she had to be lifted in and out of the vehicle. On getting her to the workhouse she was put into a warm bath, and was ordered by the medical officer to have nothing stronger than gruel given her. It is said that she has a most ungovernable temper and a remarkably obstinate disposition. On a previous occasion, in one of her fits of anger, she tried to strangle herself, and she has more than once been in prison for wilful damage,