The Northern Daily Times. — 1857-03-13 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

DETERMINED SUICIDE.—VERDICT OF " FELO DE Sr."— An inquest was held at the Town Hall, Preston, on Tuesday evening, on the body of Joseph Grice, steam loom weaver, aged 19 years. Thomas Grice' brother to the deceased, said that on Sunday evening, in consequence of his brother having been told by his master that he ought to be a good lad and work for some more clothes, the deceased left the house, without coat or scarf. The witness followed him as far as the first bridge over the Lancaster and Preston canal at Maudland, and on coming up to his brother, he asked him if he would come home. The deceased said " No," and immediately afterwards he added " Farewell, Tom," and then he jumped right into the canal. Witness called out for assistance, but it was half an hour before the body was taken out. His brml-was then Avail 1/;. 1,..,,fier was rond of drink, but he had not had any drink for a week previously. The mother of the deceased deposed that she had had no quarrel with the deceased, but had told him he ought to keep himself steady, as he was rather fresh in liquor on Saturday. The jury returned a verdict of" Felo de se ;" and on the same evening the churchwardens and police seized the body under a warrant from the coroner, and it was interred by torch light, between eleven and twelve o'clock at night, in the Preston New Cemetery. The weekly arrivals of a batch of Irish paupers by the London boat, extruded frotu the shores of free and hospitable England, has become matter of as much regularity as the receipt of the merchandise usually shipped by the same conveyance. This week's consignment consisted altogether of six persons, but one of the cases was of a description so characteristic of the reckless cruelty with which the law of removal is carried out, that we think it right to give the facts in detail as taken from the sufferer. John Keefe, a native of Millstreet in this county, after residing ten years in London, fell put of employment, and his child being ill of the measles, he and his wife were obliged to seek the shelter of the workhouse. He was two days subsisting on the bounty of the parish, when he was hurried before a magistrate, an order obtained, the little family clapped on board the steamer with the rest of the cargo, getting just as much provisions as did them for the rest of the voyage, and landed on the quays of Cork, forty miles from Millstreet, without a penny or a loaf, But John Keefe is a British soldier—he is a member of that distinguished corps, the 4th Middlesex Militia, and he is bound to obey the call to glory by appearine. in London under arms, in company with his gallant comrades' on the 17th of next month. If he do not, he is liable to be arrested and punished as a deserter. Mr. Donegan, the presiding magistrate, to whom Keefe's statement was made ordered his depositions to be taken and forwarded to the Poor law Commissioners and the Secretary at war. The other cases are less peculiar ; they were only the ordinary ruri—working people who had spent years in London, while they could get work, and when the toil of their hands and the sweat of their brow was no longer required, they were sent to Cork, with permission to beg their way, two tar Macroom, and one to Fermoy. Cork Exarnmer.