Penistone, Stocksbridge and Hoyland Express, etc. — 1920-09-11 (Penistone, South Yorkshire, England)

SAD DEATH.  A Victim of Depression.  lfr. Kenyon Parker held an inquiry k-)rt Friday in the Primitive Methodist Schoolroom, Chapeltown, touching the death of Arthur Ernest Copley, aged. 42, butcher, of Market Place. who WaS found in his slaughter-house the pretious Morning hanging by a rope.  John Godfrey CopleY, the first witness, said he was a brother of deceased. Oh Thursday morning he (Witness) went round to the slaughter-house about twenty minutes to nine o'clock, and found the ,door locked And the key inside. Ite therefore forced'the doori as ho thought there was something wrong. Continuing, witness said he found his htother hanging by a. rope from a bean:4 and at dheo called 31r. E. Rattenbury. In, reply to the Coroner, witness, said he thought his brother was just living, as the body was warm. 1 The Coroner : Who last saw .him alive?  Witness: Mr. Rattonbury, the night before. Protetding, witness said his brother and himself lived at the same house • but Occupied different bedrooms. No one saw deceased oh the morning iwior to the discovery. After cutting his brother down, witness said he rAn straight for bi-. narraclough, and saw Police-constable Sellars alit-lost at once. .The Coroner: Did the constable use artificial respiration? Witness: Yes. Dr. Barraclough came a little alter nine o'clock and said his brother was dead. Continuing, witnesS said his brother had been out of sorts foi along time, ankl had recently been awfully depressed. He sat for hours and hours and complained of awful headaelies. The mot before fie died he came home• at 9-30 o'clock. Witness said he did not see him.  The Coroner: Has he ever expressed it wish he J*as dead? Witness: Na The Cormier: What made him hang himself?  Witness: Re had been so very poorly and could not do anything. Re Was awfully depressed and would hold his head and walk out of the shop. The Coroner: too you think he Was iq Unsound mind?  Witness: ite had not been really sonnet for the h-od two months.  The (.I,rottet•: You saw the doctor. Did he gin e you any opinion or infotmation itbont him?  Witness: No, sir. The Coroner: Did he tell. you he had been attending your btutfief for norrbus break.; down?  Witness: Yes, sir. that was. before. In further reply to the Coroner, witness said there was no financial or family trouble: During the war he (witness) was in the Army, and his brother kept the business. Edward Rattenbury, landlord of th# "Coach and Horses' Inn, Was the iieit witIIeSS  The Coroner: When did you last see deeased alive?  Witness: At 9-25 the night previous. The Coroner: Where fras he? Witne4s: In my house. The Coroner: How was he?—He ,seemed very depressed. I asked him how he was, and he said he felt right ill. He then bade me good-night.  The Coroner: Did he have anything to dritik?—One drink of whiskey. The , Coroner: He was not trying to cure his depressiou by drinking?—Oh no, Sir. Pfeceeditig, witness stated he was called by the brother next morning and went at once. He helped to cut -deceased down. The .C6rOner: Has he done it himself ?---Yea. I think he did. The Coroner: Have you any doubt?—None whatever.  The Corom4r:- What has been the matter with hitu?—lle had a' groper nervous breakclown.  The'=Coteiten ;Was he trtt his tight rninit when he (lid it?—l should certainly say not. The .Coroner: Have you ever hecitd him threaten to do anything of that sort?-Never. Police-constable D. P. Sellars (722) was the next witness, and in reply td the Coroner said ho had no doubt hat it was a case of suicide.  The Coroner: Dift you It/lettV Mills—Yes, sir. The Coroner: What eansed him to commit suicidelHThrough illness. lie had been very depressed all the year. The Coroner: Do you know anything abont his illness?-only what was told by relatives. The Coroner: What have you been. told?— That he was attended nine months ago by Dr. T3arraclough for a nerrous breakdown, and had never been right since. Proceeding, witness stated that he tried artificial respiration for 25 minutes Without any effect. The body was *arm, and had net, in the Opinion of witness, been hanging long. _  The Coroner, who sat without jury, said the verdict was that deceased committed suicide by hanging himself, and that there was no evidence of the state of his mind, but as he had been suffering from ill-health and depression, he was probably of unsound mind at the time.  The interment took place on Sunday at file Durneross Cemetery, Ghapeltown, and was largely attended. The tragic occurrence has caused a great sensation in the town, where deceased was a familiar figure. Though somewhat quiet and reticent, tho late Mr. Copley was a man of generous impulses, and any deserving cause always found in him a ,ready and willing subscriber. Moreover, he did good by stealth, and several poor families in the town have lost in him a sympathetic and generous friend.