The Sun. — 1825-09-03 (London, England)

CORONERS' INQUESTS.  MELANCHOLY INSTANCE OF SUICIDE. Yesterday morning an Inquest was held at the Greyhoud Tavern, near the New Church, Kennington-common, before R. CARTER; Esq., on view of the body of Mr. William Webb, a respectable wine-merchant, who destroyed himself on Wednesday night. The Jury, previous to the examination of witnesses, proceeded• to view the body of the deceased, which presented dreadful spectacle, the head being nearly blown to atoms, in consequence of having the contents of a pistol discharged through it. The first witness examined was Jane Knowlton, who lived in the deceased's service for the last five years, in Church-row, Lambeth. She deposed, that on Wednesday night, about 11 o'clock, when the family were about to retire to rest, the deceased called her, and inquired whether the candle was extinguished in the kitchen. On being answered in the affirmative, he said, " That's right," and walked back into the parlour. Witness did not hear any more of him that night. The following morning, about ten minutes before six o'clock, on her coming down stairs from her bed-room, she perceived her master's chamber door open, and being surprised at the circumstance, she walked into the room, and looking towards-the bed, discovered that it had not been slept in. She then called her young master (one of the deceased's sons), and informed him of the state in which she found the bed-room ; 1 the young gentleman immediately hurried on his clothes, and they both proceeded over the house in search of the deceased, t for who. safety they had the most alarming apprehensions. 1 ving ransacked the house, Mr. Webb was not to be fount, and they then proceeded to the stable where they both received a dreadful shock upon seeing him lying on his back in the middle stall, with the greater part of his head under the manger. The blood was flowing from his mouth, and the entire face was so disfigured that not a feature could scarcely be discerncd. There was a pistol lying close to his right side, which he had firmly grasped in his right hand. Witness immediately went for medical assistance, and a surgeon accompanied her back, who pronounced her master to be dead: The witness added, that on the 10th of March last two of her master's sons died, and lie had been in a low and desponding state of mind from that period until the time of his death, and more than usually •so during the last few day ; and from these circumstances it occurred to her, on finding his bed untouched, that he had destroyed himself, whilst labouring under a temporary fit of insanity. Mr. Bryant, the surgeon of Harleyford.:place, Kennington, deposed, that on Thursday morning, about six o'clock, he was sent for to attend: Mr. Webb, who he was informed had been found lying in the stable as described by the witness who preceded him. Upon examing the body of the deceased; witness found that life was completely extinct. There was a pistol lying by his side, which had the appearance of having been recently discharged. On examining the injuries which were the immediate cause of the deceased's dissolution, he (witness) discovered that his upper and under jaws were fractured in a dreadful manner, and the roof of . the mouth , completely destroyed by the contents of the pistol which appeared to have been discharged into the mouth, and which seemed to have been loaded with a bullet. Upon being interrogated by the Coroner, Mr. Bryant said that he had known the deceased, who was a man of great respectability, for several years—that within the last five or six months past, he had observed in him a deep.rooted melancholy, so much so, that the moment he (witness) was called to attend him, he was of opinion that the deceased had destroyed himself; and from the observations that witness had made respecting his appearance since the death of his sons, he had no doubt but that he had destroyed himself in a fit of temporary insanity, produced by the above causes.  At the conclusion of the surgeon's evidence, the Jury, which was composed of highly respectable men, observed that there was no necessity for _proceeding in the examination of the unfortunate gentleman's son, whose feelings they wished to spare from thj recital of so melancholy a catastrophe as that. which had befallen his parent. They (the Jury) were perfectly satisfied with the evidence already adduced, as to the state of mind in which the deceased was when he committed suicide. Some gentlemen who attended on the inquest addressed the Coroner, observing, that they had known the deceased in his lifetime, and that subsequent to the death of his two children they had observed a total change in his disposition, which, from being of an agreeable and lively turn,. had changed into that of gloomy anti melancholy forebodings. Mr. CARTER observed, that the evidence fully proved the state of mind in which the deceasedvas-when he committed sell-destruction. The Jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict to the following effect That the deceased had destroyed himself whilst labouring under a fit of temporary insanity."