The Sun. — 1838-06-11 (London, England)

JUNE 7.  Among the most extraordinary occurrences which have transpired lit this town fur many yea"rs, the number of suicides and attempts at suicide that have been made wi,thin the last fortnight exceed any thing on record, in the annals of English history, in such a population; during to short a period. Scarcely mo,-e than a fortnight ago, a youth named Cook, about eighteen years of age,. destroyed himself by taking a certain poison called strychnine. The jyry adjourned twice on the Inquest, and it was not till after six hours deliber•ation that they came to their ver. diet " That the deceased destroyed himself by taking strychnine, but at the time was in a state of derangeme.lt. On Saturday last, a second Inquest was held at the White Horse Inn, before William Smith Ferrier, Esq., coroner of the Borough, on the body of James Edmund Gotilti; who had siestrved himself an the :revious Thursday afternoon. Thomas French being sworn, said that being at work, near I%:rs. Goftin's house, and hearing her shriek, he ran into her house, when he ‘,."as shown into a cork house adjoining, and on opening Me door saw the deceased hanging by a small piece of rope fastened to a rafter, and round the neck of de:teased, who was quite dead. This wag at half_past three r',N. James Goflin, ti:e father of deceased, deposed that deceased dined with him, and left the house about .5 quarter before two that afternoon ; that he took his djnner as usual, Vit had some appearance of being displeased, but not so much so as to excite .any remarks at the time. He was fourteen years of age last: January ; has no female acquaintance; had been regular in his habits, and circunispec.t in ;.,is cosidnct. James Burman, the elder, cork-cutter, deposed, that deceased was his apprentice, spoke of his conduct as being extremely good, and he had observed no alteration in him of late. Nothing furthe.' was adduced to throw any light on the cause of deceased destroying lihn.self.  Verdict—Temporary Insanity. On Monday a third inquest was held before the same coroner, on the body of Mary Panchen, who was found hanging by the neck from a beam in her father's washhouse on Sunday morning la it, between the hours of e:sht and nine o'clock. A. M. Having stun. atoned a highly.respectable Jury, the Coroner addressed them previolus to the examination of the witnesses, as follows :—" Gentlemen of the Jury, it is really quite with pain that in the discharge of my duty, I am called upon to summon a Jury foe the third tune within ten days, to bold an inquisition on a case of self murder. I think it is hardly ten days ago that the first case occurred ; the second' on Thursday last, and the third yesterday. Permit me, Gentlemen of the Jury, to request you to consider this case most seriously, for unless it be proved that the sui. dial act, if such it be proved to be, was committed in .'n unsound state of mind, I hold it to be your duty to carry out the law In 101, for the purpose of deterring others from the commission of so dreadful., crime." George Utting Panchen, brother of the deceased, deposed that the deceased was as usual when he went to bed on the Saturday evening about 11 o'Clock and that on the Sunday morning he was alarmed by his father calling to him and saOtg, " My lad, here's unpleasant news for you, I'm afraid poor Mary ha., bung herself," He itionediatelr, without dressing ran down Plaits into' the washhouse and cut down the deceased, but he was so excited that 1..9 could not say whether she was cold or not. Deceased was in her 29th War, and lived at home with her father who was in ill health, and had done' so since the death of her mother which occurred about 16 or 18 Inenti:ss ago. He did not know whether she had any property, the loss of which' might lead to the fatal act. She had no acquaintance to whom she expec,'ed to be married; she had been in a low way since the death of her soother ; .had observed her to be more depressed than usual of late.  The investigation occupied about three hours, when the Jury were unanimous in their verdict, " That the deceased destroyed hCrsell in a state of Temporary Insanity." . _  During the last few days, a boy named Blake, also attemptek' to destroy himself by hanging, but was fortunately cut down before lift ' was extinct. And a female in low circumstances made an attempt by taking a quantity of laudanum, which being discovered was removed by means-of the stomach-pump, and she has since been placed under the care of the Matron of the workhouse. The town is tilled with reports' of other al.,' tempts, but we believe them to be altogether unfounded.  Long accounts appear weekly in the country papers of the public proceedings of the Teetotallers; from these reports we should suppose that out of London no fermented beverage ever :bids its way to the mouth of man. _  On Thursday evening, between nine and tc.l o'clock, as a young lad, about sixteen years of age, named James Coleby; residing In Great Pulteney-street, Golden-square, was crossing Coventry'-street, Haymarket, he was knocked down by a man on horseback, and tra. iipled on in a shocking manner. On being lifted from the ground he ',resented a most deplorable spectacle, and was removed in an apparenNY hopeless state to the hospital. The horse was ridden by a groom indark livery, and in the confusion, we are sorry to say, he made his escape.