Cumberland & Westmorland Newspaper Transcriptions

A sad and determined case of self-destruction occurred on Friday last at Keld Farm, situated upon the road leading from the village of Lazonby to Plumpton. The name of the unfortunate woman who deprived herself of life is Mrs. JACKSON, who occupied the Keld. After breakfast on Friday morning, Mr. JACKSON and his male servants proceeded to their work in the fields, leaving Miss. JACKSON and a female domestic at home with his wife. Some time afterwards the daughter proceeded to an outhouse some distance from the dwelling to attend to a cow, and presently the servant girl went upstairs to do some household duty, leaving Mrs. JACKSON alone in the kitchen. On the return of the  daughter, after a few minutes’ absence, she found that her mother had left the house, and a search was at once instituted in the adjoining premises, which resulted in the discovery of the body of her unfortunate parent suspended by a stout rope from a hayrack in one of the stables. Deceased was immediately cut down, but notwithstanding only a short time had intervened, all signs of life had departed. A few minutes before the sad occurrence one of the men connected with the farm saw deceased running from the byre to the stable with a rope in her hand. An inquest was held on Monday and a verdict of suicide in the state of temporary insanity was returned by the jury.
 

****

 
On Friday last a labouring man, named George VARAH, about 57 years of age, who resided alone in a cottage in Kirkoswald, was found dead in bed. He retired to rest on Thursday evening at his usual hour, and was not again seen alive. During the following day he did not make an appearance, and the house remaining closed the neighbours began to suspect that something was wrong, and in the evening the window was opened and the man observed lying apparently in a deep sleep from which he could not be aroused, or in a state of insensibility. After a consultation it was resolved to force the door of the cottage and on this being accomplished VARAH was found to be dead.
 
*****

 
On Monday a man named Michael Mc.MECHAN died from the effects of an accident which befel him on the previous Saturday. Deceased was a joiner in the employment of Messrs. BAIN, BLAIR and PATTERSON, of Harrington Ironworks. On Saturday he was working in the yard of the works, and as an empty waggon was running down a tramway he took a piece of wood about five feet long and put it into the wheel. The wood revolved, hitting him under the chin, and knocking him down backwards. In falling, the back of his head struck against a lump of wood, causing concussion of the brain. He lingered until Monday, when he died from the effects of the blow. On Tuesday an inquest was held upon the body, and a verdict of “Accidental death” was returned by the jury.
 
*****

On Tuesday morning, a man named John McKENZIE, a weaver and beamer, residing in Pattinson’s Court, Caldewgate, in this city, attempted to murder his wife and afterwards to take his own life. It appears that for some time past Mr. McKENZIE has been in the habit of drinking to excess, and his copious libations have affected his brain to such an extent that he has occasionally been the victim of an aberration of intellect, culminating sometimes in bursts of savage fury. It was in one of these moments of violence, the result of temporary insanity, that he attempted to destroy his wife’s life, and afterwards to commit suicide.
 
About ten o’clock on Tuesday morning, while two men were walking in Pattinson’s Court near McKENZIE’s house they were startled by a woman shrieking loudly. They immediately rushed to the McKENZIE house, where they saw a man and his wife struggling together in the middle of the room. The woman had a razor in her hand, and blood was streaming from her fingers. She stated that her husband had attacked her with it, and that in trying to wrest it from him she cut her hand. The new comers did their utmost to release the woman from her infuriated husband, who, after some exertion, they succeeded in pacifying. They then persuaded him to go out with them for a walk. He went with them quietly for some time until they had reached the end of Caldew Bridge, near the Irishgate Brow, when McKENZIE suddenly released himself from their grasp, and sprang over the railings of the bridge, falling a distance of about ten feet. When his companions lifted him up, they found that some of his ribs had been broken, and that he was otherwise injured. They thereupon conveyed him as speedily as possible to the Police Office, where he was laid upon a stretcher until a doctor could be sent for. A medical gentleman was soon found, and after an examination he concluded that the man was insane, and an order having been obtained from the Mayor, he was sent to the Garlands Asylum, where he now lies.
 
*****