The Sun. — 1868-01-27 (London, England)

DESTITUTION" AND SUICIDE.  On Saturday afternoon an inquiry was held at the Crown Tavern, High-street, Shadwell, bg tr. John Humphreys, coroner, relative to the suicide of Mary Yems, aged 30. Charles Yems, 6, Plough-alley, Wapping, de. posed that he was a general dealer, and Sat the deceased was his wife. He last saw her on Monday afternoon. He had gone to market at eight in the morning, and he had stayed there till 12 o'clock ; but he had so little money---;. 4s. W.—and things were so dear, that he could not find anything cheap enough to buy. He came home, and when his wife saw he had nothing, she said, " You have bought nothing 1" He said, "My money would not allow me." She cried, "Oh what will become of us ?" and went away, and he never saw her again. They had gone through great distress ; they had four children, and for the last six months he could not make more than 6a. a week. Out of the Os. they had to pay ls. Bd. a week rent and ls. 3d. for the hire of the barrow. They could not have lived but for two ladies, who were very good to them. The coroner asked whether they had got anything from the parish. The witness said he had never applied. The deceased sometimes asked him to do so, but he said to her always, " Perhaps there will be better luck another day." A juror, who knew Yems, stated that all he said was quite true. The family were very hardworking and well conducted. Mary Yems, a girl, said that her mother returned to the house at half-past ten o'clock on Monday night, and made the bed and suckled the baby. She asked whether the rent and the barrowmen were paid. She then said she would go and get some fancy shirts, and would sit up all night to make them. She went away and never came back. She used to work at making slop shirts for a penny a shirt. For the better sort of shirts she used to get lad., 10., and even 2d. She had to find her own needles and thread. She could make three or four shirts a day. She used to work for Mrs. Pickering, of Red Lion-street, Wapping, They used to get no meat sometimes for weeks. They lived on bread and dripping when they could get it. They could not get anything when her father had no work. He was kind to them, and willing to work when he could get it to do. The youngest child was 18 months old. Witness was the eldest. Her mother used often to say to her, " Oh my, Polly, ain't it dreadful ? we have got nothing to eat again to-day!" Richard Mallen proved that he found the body of the deceased in the Thames, near the entrance to the London Docks. She was dressed in clothes that denoted great destitution. The coroner, in summing up, remarked that the story, as told by the witnesses, was one of the saddest of the many sad ones he had to hear from time to time. The life of the poor woman, as she tried to  eke out her husband's scanty earnings by making shirts at a penny a-piece, finding her own needles and thread, was such as well might upset her reason, and cause her in a moment of despair to throw herself into the river. He was informed that the testimony of the juror as to the good character and industry of the family was borne out by that of the district visitor. The jury returned a verdict of " Suicide while in a state of unsound mind through distress." The man Yems was recalled, and asked what he had had to eat that day. He replied, We have not had a bit to eat to-day (it was then half-past two o'clock). If you go to my plac3, you will find it is so." The little girl was recalled and asked the same question. She said that she had now been taken by a lady as a servant, and she had enough to eat, but her sisters had only a bit of dry bread, and her father had nothing. The coroner and the jury made up a small subscription for the family.  A