Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 07 March 1890

Sad Death from Poisoning at Swinton.

A Mysterious Letter.

On Tuesday morning, at the Canal Tavern, Swinton, an inquest was conducted by Mr. D. Wightman, coroner, touching the death of Fanny Smith, aged 37, wife of Alfred Smith, greengrocer, Swinton Bridge, who died on Friday evening last, from the effects of an overdose of laudanum.

Sergeant Lyttle was present on behalf of the police. Mr. Henry Myers was elected foreman, and the other members of the jury were Messrs. Luke Charlesworth, John Fieldhouse, Thos. Hawcroft, Wm. Townrow, John T. Glasby, Hy. Dodsworth, John Booker, John H. Cater, H. Oxby, Jas. Baxter, and John Crossley.

The first witness call was Alfred Smith, the husband, who said that deceased had been a weakly person. She fell down stairs about two years ago when they lived at the other shop, and did not seem to be right after.

The Coroner: What has been the matter with her? There are hundreds and thousands of ailments, and I cannot go through them all.—Witness: Before I came here I failed and went into the Bankruptcy Court. It unnerved her after that; she was never right any more.

How long ago was that?—Four years.

Has she been in low spirits since ? — Yes.

Has she been seen by the doctor at all?—Yes, sir; Dr. Burton, Dr. Blythman’s assistant.

When was the last time he saw her before this occasion? —Twelve months ago.

Has Dr. Blythman or Dr. Burton said what was the matter with her? – They said she was in low spirits, and in a low state of mind.

On the night of Thursday the 27th did you sleep with her? – I Slept in an adjoining room. I left her in the morning in bed to catch the 24 minutes past eight train to Sheffield. I came back by the 10 minutes to twelve noon, and found her still in bed. I roused the fire up that I had made in the morning, and asked her if she wanted anything. She said she would have a cup of tea. I took her up a cup of tea, and she said she would have nothing else. Soon after she came downstairs to see if I was having any dinner, and I told her that she ought to have stopped in bed, as she might catch cold, and she then went back to bed.

I then went out with the goods that I had brought from Sheffield. I returned about half-past seven, and one going indoors found a note (produced) on the table, downstairs in the kitchen. I read the note and went upstairs at once. When I got there she said “I got into this room so that you would not disturb me. I have taken that stuff that the doctor gave me,” but what it was I did not know. I fetched her a cup of tea after that. She had been to Sheffield for medicine on several occasions, but not recently. The bottle produced was found empty, and the cup produced, containing a dark mixture in which laudanum predominated, was found underneath the bed some time after death, and after the departure of the doctor. The last time the deceased had been to Sheffield to see a doctor was about a week before.

After I gave her the cup of tea, she said I was not to disturb her, but I went two or three times after and she seemed to be nicely asleep. I slept in the adjoining room, and about four or half-past I heard a noise, and going to her room I found her partly in bed and partly out. She was not sensible. I sent for the doctor at once, and when Dr. Burton arrived he found her alive. When he saw her he said, ” I think she has done for herself, this time.” He did not look at the stuff in the cup, because the cup had not been found then. He looked, however, at the bottle, which was empty, and said she had taken something else beside that.

The Coroner: The stuff contained in the bottle could not have been dangerous because the directions on the bottle say “two or three tablespoonfuls, two or three times a day,” and there could not have been much in that.

Witness: The doctor afterwards saw what was in the cup, and said that that was what the deceased had taken, and that it contained opium.

The Coroner: Where did she get the laudanum from? Is there any evidence at all of her buying any laudanum?

Sergeant Lyttle: I have made enquiries at Swinton, and it has not been bought at Swinton.

The Coroner: You can smell it, gentlemen; there is a good deal of laudanum. Has she been in the habit of taking laudanum?

Witness: I have fetched it for her from Mrs Rich’s. I have no knowledge of her having fetched it for herself. There was no servant or anyone living in the house who may have fetched it for her. He did not know that she had been out of the house for any.

The Foreman: Has she ever been in the habit of taking poison before?

Witness: She took something about twelve months ago, and Dr. Burton attended her, but what it was I did not know.

The Coroner: It may have been laudanum for what you know? Has she ever threatened to commit suicide?

Witness: She has wished herself dead many a time, and asked that the Lord would take her, as she was nothing but trouble to everyone, she said. She has been in the habit of taking laudanum, when she was unwell, mixed with some brandy.

The Coroner: Then she may have taken this mixture in the cup medicinally, with the intention of doing herself good.

The coroner then read the note which deceased left for her husband: —

Dear Alfred.—l have taken my draught. Doctor said it would be best to take it when I was like this. You know that I shall be no good until I have had a few days’ good sleep. I gone into the little room so as you won’t disturb me. We will send for Hannah (a sister) on Monday. Let me be quit until I wake, when I know I shall feel alright.” On the other side were the words, “get some steak for yourself and fry it.”

The Coroner: That is no evidence at all of any intention to commit suicide.

Mrs. Eliza Moore said that on the morning of the 28th the last witness called her up. She went and found deceased sitting up in bed, but she did not speak. She died at half-past ten at night, without ever becoming conscious. Witness had never heard any quarrelling.

Jane Bannister, mother of deceased, said she had lived with her daughter and husband for nearly two years. She had always been a weak, delicate person for many years. She had never heard her threaten to commit suicide, but she had heard her say many a time that she wished that she could lay herself down and die. Some days she was not accountable for anything she did, and some days she was better. She had known her take laudanum, 10 drops, when she had pain in her inside. She would only take it now and again, and she had never known her have more than a pennyworth in the house. Witness had been away since the seven of December, up to Saturday, when she was summoned to go to her house.

The Coroner’s: Have you any doubt that your daughter died from an overdose of laudanum?—I cannot think of anything else but that she died from taking laudanum. She once took something before, but what it was we never knew. It was when we were in Station Street. Dr. Burton thought it was something with strychnine in.

Sergeant Lyttle, in answer to the coroner, said deceased must either have bought the laudanum in Sheffield or Rotherham, and she had also been at Greasborough sometime.

Witness said she was there a week ago.

Sergeant Lyttle: I have made every enquiry, and I cannot hear of her making any purchase in Swinton or of sending any grown-up person for it.

The Coroner: The only thing that surprises me is what she got it in. Suppose she got it, either in Swinton, Mexborough, Rotherham, or Sheffield, she could not keep it in the cup all along.

A juryman remarked that she might have destroyed the bottle. The canal was near at hand, and she might have thrown it in.

The Coroner, in summing up, said that appeared to be all the evidence. The letter did not throw very much light on the affair. It might be read either way. They might either read it as the letter of a woman who intended to commit suicide; it was quite consistent with suicide. On the other hand it was quite consistent with the state of a woman who was tired and who wanted a good sleep, and who went into her own bed so that she would not disturb her husband or her husband disturb her. She said. “Get some steak for yourself and fry it” – that sounded as much like having a good long sleep and not wanting disturbing as anything else. He did not think there was evidence to justify the jury in saying that she had committed suicide, even though it might he that she had tried to commit suicide before.

A juryman said all the neighbours hail noticed a change in her manner, and that at times she was lightheaded.

The Coroner: You see a person of weak mind may have sense enough to know what will do her good. and yet her very weakmindedness would lead her to take more than what was good and thus kill her without there being any intention to commit suicide. He thought the jury might give the woman and the family the benefit of the doubt and say that she died from an overdose of laudanum, and leave the question of suicide out altogether.

A verdict in accordance with this suggestion was then adopted, and the inquiry terminated.