The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1874-11-21 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE FROM CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDGE.  Another suicide, making the tenth, from the Clifton Suspension Bridge was committed on Monday. The one previous to this IVILS as late as August last. In that instance a man rather advanced in years destroyed his life. In the present case the suicide was a young woman of prepossessing appearance, about 19 years of age, and she seems to have been resolutely bent on committing the rash act. She took a ticket at the bridge at about half past eleven in the morning, and about two hours afterwards the toll-keeper on the Leigh-side saw her walking to and fro on the right-hand pathway in the middle of the bridge. He watched her for about half an hour, and observed that she now and then sat down on the girder between the bridge and the footway. As her demeanour continued t attract his attention he left the toll-house and walked past her. She asked him what time it was and he told her it was five minutes to two. He then asked her if she was waiting for anybody, and she replied that ehe was waiting for a person from Leigh, who was to meet her on the Leigh side of the bridge at halfpast two. Her answers appeared to be so straightforward that the keeper went back to the toll-house. He continued, however, to watch deceased, her movements again exciting his suspicion. The toll-keeper went a second time to her, and told her that, as he thought she contemplated committing suicide, if she did not come off the bridge with him he should give her in charge of a policeman. He succeeded in getting her to leave the bridge, and then asked her if she had anything on her mind. She replied that she had, but no more than other people might have. The keeper became somewhat less alarmed, as she appeared to be in good spirits, and laughed as she chatted with him. He observed, however, that she twitched a ring she wore on one of her fingers in a nervous manner, and asked her if she bad a sweetheart. She answered that she bad, and soon after she left the bridge, and proceeded towards Leigh. She hal not gone far when she met a man, of whom she inquired the way to Cliffton, and he directed her to the Suspension Bridge. She told him she did not want to go that way, as the toll-keeger would not let her pass over without going with bdr. The man told her that she must then go down Rownham-hill and cross the ferry, and she did so and went up the zigzag on the Clifton side, entering into conversation with a policeman on the way. She a ed at the bridge again about three o'clock, and took a single ticket. Having passed through the gate, she sat down on a seat near the toll-house. There were two tollkeepers on duty on the Clifton side of the bridge, one for the carriage and one for the passenger traffic, and to them the Leigh toll-keeper had communicated what had previously occurred. One of these keepers remarked that he felt sure the young woman was the same person of whom they had heard, and it was agreed that one of them should watch her while the other discharged the duties of both. Seeing the toll-keeper approaching the young woman began to run, and putting her hands to the railing of the bridge jumped off almost at the spot where another woman had previously committed suicide. The toll-keeper arrived just in time to touch the head of the decease before she quitted her grasp of the railing. The body turned twice in its descent and fell on the mud bank of the river, on the Clifton side. Directly after the occurrence a man came up on horseback at a gallop and inquired whether a person similarly dressed to the deceased had paseed over the bridge. He was told what had just happened, and asked if he knew anything of the deceased. He said she lived in Elgin-park, and had committed suicide through jealousy. The body was conveyed to the " Genera Draper Hotwelle, to await the inquest. About half-past six in the evening the deceased was identified as Lucy Emma Durant, a domestic servant, in the employ of a gentleman residing In Elgin-park, Redland. The deceased left a note at her master's house, announcing her determination to commit suicide. The body was not disfigured by the fall from a height of about 2SOft.