The Sun. — 1844-11-23 (London, England)

SUICIDE BY A GENTLEMAN ON EPPING-FOREST. On Wednesday last a gentleman, named Scott, committed a most deliberate act of suicide by hanging himself from a tree in that part of Epping-forest which is known by the name of Phillipson's Warren, High-beach, and this circumstance, together with the discovery of the skeleton of an old man, named John Harris, who was supposed to have been murdered, near the same spot, has created an unusual degree of excitement for some miles round the country. It appeared that on the same morning (Wednesday) Mr. Soott had arrived from his residence in the neighbourhood of Steine, at the asylum of Dr. Allen, on a visit to a female patient. For some reason or other, Dr. Allen, on his making his appearance at his house, wrote to deceased's brother to apprise him of his being there. About one o'clock in the day the deceased was observed walking about the forest near High .beach, but there was nothing in his manner to attract particular notice. About three o'clock, a man named John Clarke, in the employment of Mr. Phillipsen, of the King's Oak Tavern, Highbeach, having occasion to go into a small thicket adjoining the rabbit-warren, found the deceased gentleman suspended from the forked branch of an oak by a white silk handkerchief. He with much promptness cut him down, and with the assistance of Paine, a police-constable belonging to the N division, conveyed him to the King's Oak Tavern. The body was warm at the time, and Mr. Searl, a veterinarysurgeon, who happened to be at the inn at the time, opened several veins and arteries, but no blood flowed, and it was evident the vital spark had fled. In the course of the afternoon, Dr. Allen and the brother of the deceased arrived at the King's Oak, when the latter seemed dreadfully affected, and desired that every respect should be paid to the remains of the deceased until the Coroner's inquest was held. The body, or rather the skeleton, of the man Harris, remains at the same house, and an inquest is appointed to be holden on both this evening. The disappearance of the deceased was attended with much mystery, and the general impression at the time was that he had been murdered. It seems that he was in the employment of Captain Southey, son to the late poet laureat, who is lord of a manor in Loughton, and the last time he was seen alive was on th night of the 28th of June last, between ten and eleven o'clock, by a lad named Cannon. On that day, it appears, he changed half a sovereign at the King's Oak Inn, where he was in the constant habit of calling, and in the evening was at a beer-shop, in the company of some notorious 1 poachers. He left shortly after ten o'clock, in company with the youth Cannon, and after that had not been seen alive. The fact of his absence under such suspicious circumstances, had for some time engaged the attention of the police, and from what transpired it was found that out of the change he had received he had not spent more than a shilling, yet strange to say when his skeleton was discovered there was not a farthing about him. The spot where his remains were discovered was a very secluded one, and had it not been for the annual custom of cropping each tree this might have remained there for years without being found. It was evident that the cord with which he had been suspended had, after some considerable time, given way, and the body was on the left side, 'and the ancles rather contracted when found. Not the slightest cause has been assigned for the suicide.