Widnes Examiner. — 1891-09-19 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE ATTEMPTED SUICIDE 'OF A TUDDLEIL  DRIVEN TO DESPERATION BY A DRUNKEN WIFE.  At the.magistratee,eourt, Warrington, on Thursitiay,'Thomas Worsley, a puddler at Bewsey Forge, and living at 67 Ha dock-st., was charged, he hayickg,j ust.recovered from his injuties,with attempting to,commit suicide by cutting his' throat. The Chief Constable said the prisoner had a wife and nine children, four of theca married, and had one of the best.of characters for ,sobriety and industry. About 25 minutes-to six on the morning of the 18th P.S. Zones and P.C. Robinson received information that he had out his throat at his house. Thy went there, and in a bedroom upstairs found the defendart lying °lathe bed with his throat cut, his clothesl being saturated, and the bedclothes and the floor bei'm besmeared, withblood, and a razorlyine on the ta hie by his side. He was still alive, though bleeding proCusely. Dr. Adamt was sent for and attended to him,and he then became very wild and violent, it being all theoflicers could do to hold him. Mr. Hunt expressed the opi.aion ' that the drunken habits of the defendant's wife .had 'brought on the depression of spirits which caused him ro attempt suielde.—Dr. Adams said the wound extended right across the throat severing the windpipe •completel y through.—Alderman Sutton :It seems almost a miracle he should get better at all.—Dr. Adams said he had never seen such a gash before, and never seen anyone with a like wound get better. In renly to the Bench, the doctor expressed the opinion that the defendant had merely suffered from a momentary suicidal impulse which was not likely to recur. He did not think there was now anything wrong in the defendant's mental condition.—Mr. Hunt said he believed the wife had been , kept sway from the house of late,and it would be better if she kept away altogether.—Dr. Adams said he had declined to accede to a request that she might have access to him.—Thomas Worsley, aged 19, the defendant's son, said he had no idea as to the cause of his father's attempting suicide, except that it was his wife's drinking. —John Worsley, a married man, the defendant's eldest son, said for the last two or three months his father had been very low-spirited through his wife drinking. She had been doing so for eleven or twelve years, and had hardly ever been sober during that time. She would come to the house again if not stopped.—Mr. Hunt said the Workhouse authorities had declined to take the defendant in to be treated, as his was not an Infirmary case. Hence he had had to be watched by a policema n in his bedroom ever since the 18th ult. It was hard for a constable to be penned up in a little bedroom all the time. He had acted as a deterrent to the wife, who had come creating disturbances, but would have to be withdrawn now.—Alderman Sutton asked the defendant whether he felt strong enough to resist the temptation to take his life, and he replied " I will never do it any more, sir."—Alderman Sutton: Supposing your wife annoys you again, would that affect you ?—The defendant; No, I should not be bothered with her any more. —He was bound over in his own recognizances of £5, and his two sons were bound over as sureties for him in I the sum of £lO each for his re-appearance if necessary, I and he was ordered to pay 6s. 6d. costs.