JAMES COOPER
SUICIDE AT NEWBURY.
On Monday morning, at eight o’clock, an inquest was held in the Council Chamber, before Mr, Hawkins, the borough coroner, touching the death of old inmate of Kimber’s Almshouses; the deceased, James Cooper, tailor, who was found dead on the previous morning, having hung himself by a cord from the closet door in his own house.
The jury having been sworn, proceeded to view the body. On their return the following eridence was taken:-
William Robeson said: I live next door to the deceased in Kimber’s Almshouses. I saw the deceasedSaturday night, about twenty minutes past eight, standing his own door. He told me he was waiting for some medicine. I said him that he had no fire, and he said “No." I asked him into my house as he had no fire. I noticed nothing particular about him that night, but he had been very queer. Sometimes he would speak to the neighbours and at others times he would not for a day or two. He has said to me that be would be found dead some time or other, as he believed his heart was affected. He stayed with me half an hour, and then left my house and went into his own.
Robert Robeson said: I live in Bartholomew-street. Yesterday morning, about ten minutes to nine, I was asked if I had seen deceased by several old ladies living In the yard, and I was asked to knock. I did three times and received no answer. It was an unusual thing for deceased not to be up at that time of the morning. Mr. Cooke went and fetched a ladder, and I went up and looked through the window and saw deceased hanging to the closet door. His feet were on the floor and the body was resting on the second step. His face was leaning towards the door. We then went for the police and the doctor. Mr. Dodd came and cut the deceased down. I have for some time observed that the deceased was very peculiar.
Mr. Montague H. C. Palmer, surgeon, said that when he arrived at the house the deceased was cut down. He was quite cold and had been dead several hours. He had attended the deceased off and on for two years, and his mind had been failing for six or seven months. He was not surprised considering the deceased’s state to hear that he committed suicide; still the deceased was not so bad as to warrant his being confined in an asylum. He had mentioned deceased's state of mind to several and spoken of the desirability of his being watched.
The Coroner having read over and summed up the evidence, the jury returned their verdict that the deceased commilted suicide whilst in a state of unsound mind.
Berkshire Chronicle - Saturday 19th June, 1875 |
