Middlesbrough & Stockton Gazette and General Advertiser. — 1876-03-02 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

MARCH 2 187 6.  BUICIDIA BY POISONING AT MI JEW 1V08311301:1811 MB. MIDDLESBROUGH. The Clerk said the Building Committee met on I The last, but the Chairman thought it advisable On Thursday afternoon, an adjourned inquiry that tne minutes should not be read in public, but was held at the Middlesbrough Police Court, the Guardians could see the minutes, which were before Mr J. T. Belk, coroner, into the death of in the office downstairs.—The Clerk then read some Mrs Jane Clough, 52 years of age, wife •of a communications with reference to the purchase of publican, of Seaton Carew, and formerly of the site for the Workhouse, and it was decided by Middlesbrough. The depositions of the witnesses the Board that the site already agreed upon be taken at the first inquest, and which have already purchased, and that a deposit of £475 be paid into been reported in our columns, were read over by the Court during the Chancery proceedings. coroner. It will be remembered that about a fortnight ago the deceased left Seaton Carew for Middlesbrough between one and two p.m., and during the afte:noon, while at a friend's house in this town, she turned sick and vomited, and died between three and four o'clock the same afternoon. —Mary Newby, of Saltburn, formerly domestic servant at Mrs dough's, now deposed at on the evening of the Bth Met, prior to the day on which Mrs Clough left home for Middlesbrough, she had some words with her husband. The same evening, and also the next morning, witness saw the bottle produced full of liquid on the snug chimney piece. Mrs Clough came downstairs about ten o'clock, and 3 couple of hours afterwards witness noticed that the bottle was empty, a young woman named Elizabeth Wade having told her she believed Mrs Clough had drunk the contents of the bottle, and witness told her it contained linement, and was poison.—Wm. Taylor, chemist, Sallburn, who prepared the mixture in the bottle produced, stated that it was for external application only, and if drank would be sufficient to cause death. It would not be possible, however, for a person to take the whole of the contents of the bottle at once, as the mixture would be so hot. A portion of the contents might be taken with brandy or other liquor, and would ultimately cause death.— Mr Bettel, borough analyst, stated, as the result of his analysis of the contents of deceased's stomach, that he found traces of opium, chloroform, and aconite. These ingredients were spoken to by Mr Taylor as beins present in the mixture.—Elizabeth Wade, a young woman, spoke to having seen Mrs Clough in the snug with a cup, which she put to her month. Witness did not know what the cup contained, nor whether dectaied drank its contents. Deceased bad complained that her head was bad. When she left along with witness for Middlesbrough, Mr Clough kissed her, and they parted good friends, though they had shortly before quarrelled.—Mr Clough, husband of deceased, said the bottle produced was on the commercial-room chimney piece, and not in the snug. He denied saying, while his wife was drinking something from a cap, "She might as well take the hottle as well," as had been declared by a previous witness.—Mr Bettel, the borough analyst, stated that he was of opinion deceased died from drinking the mixture contained in the bottle produced, tLe poisonous alkalies being aconite, opium, and chloroform. Aconite was one of the most poisonous substances known except prussic acid. Re thought the reason the deceased did not die from the effects of the poison before half-past four—several hours after it appeared the mixture was taken—was because a small quantity had apparently been taken, and the presence of the opium and the chloroform counteracted the effects of the poison and delayed death.—The jury returned a verdict that deceased died from tAking the contents of the bottle referred to, and were of opinion that she intended to commit suicide. They also wished the Coroner to express to the witness Elizabeth Wade their dissatisfaction with the way in which she had given evidence. When examined at the last enquiry she swore that on the morning Mrs Clough lett Seaton Carew for Middlesbrough she had nothing to drink; but on the present occasion she swore she herself supplied the deceased with some brandy, and said that the witness Mary Newby also did the same. The Coroner delivered the jury's recommendation to the witness, and told her she had evidently been guilty of perjury, and it was a question in his mind whether he ought not to threat proceedings to be taken against her.