SUICIDE OF VICTOR TOWNLEY.

Evening Post, Issue 84, 17 May 1865, Page 3

SUICIDE OF VICTOR TOWNLEY.

The convict Townley, whose reprieve from the sentence of death which had been passed upon him for the deliberate murder of Miss Goodwin, of Manchester, to whom lie had been engaged for marriage, excited so great an amount of public attention and discussion at ,the time, committed suicide, on Sunday afternoon, in Pentonville Prison. He was returning with the other prisoners from the usual service in the chapel, when he seized an opportunity to dash himself over the railing of the staircase. On being raised he was found to have received concussion of the brain, which caused his death at eight o'clock the name evening. On Thursday, Dr. Lankester held an inquest on the body of Townley, at the Model prison. The jury having been sworn, they proceeded to view the body of the deceased man, which lay in one of the outhouses of the prison. It presented a ghastly spectacle occasioeed by a severe cut (sustained in the fall) over the right temple and forehead, 1 extending half over the right eye. Upon returning to the inquest room, the coroner proceeded with the inquiry. S. W. Hill, 20 Twyford street, Caledonian road : lam instructing warder. I was on (Sunday, the 12th, at five minutes to five o'clock, in the central hall, underneath the landing. I heard some shouting from above, and on stepping from underneath the deceased fell at my feet. He never spoke after he fell. R. P. Green : I am warder of D 3 ward of this prison. I was on the top of thp circular staircase on Sunday last at five minutes to five. I was superintending the prisoners coming out of the chapel. On the prisoners comingfinto the B division there was a stoppage, and I then ordered tho prisoners to walk on quicker. During the time I was addressing the prisoners I heard a shout, and on turning round I saw the deceased lying on the floor of the central halt I remained at my post, and some of the prisoners, cried out, " Poor fellow, poor fellow, he has killed himself." G. Bearman :lam a prisoner here. I recollect that on Sunday, the 12th inst, I was sitting on the right of the deceased at chapel. He was very quiet till the last hymn. He then got up, opened his Prayer-book, and sang out the last two verses very loudly. I never heard him do that before. He said to me," 319 th hymn." That was the right hymn. He then shut his Prayer-book, said the service, and then walked out. He made a full stop at the bottom step in the chapel, dropped his Prayer-book, got hold of the rails in front, with his feet on the steps, and sprang right over, head over heels, and as he fell he exclaimed, «Oh I" He fell flat on his face below. I always sat by his sid e. I never saw anything particular in him. He was always very quiet. He never used to speak. I have never been spoken to by any one on the subject of the man's death, and I speak without the least fear. We . were all singing when the deceased began to sing. **' "G. L. Bradley, surgeon to the prison, said : I was called to the deceased at five <tfitofek on Sunday. He was insensible, breathing hard, and presenting symptoms **jff?jsßbußsion of the brain. There was 3^od on the nostrils and on the right ear.

There was a severe wound over the right eyebrow, denuding the bone, which presented a fracture. There was a cut over the left eyebrow, a cut through the upper lip, an inch long, another through the lower lip half an inch long, and there waa a fusion of blook in the tissues of the eyelids. He died at twenty minutes past eight o'clock the same night. I have since made a post-mortem examination. The tissue of the scalp was covered with blood, there was a star fracture on the right temporal bone, there was coagular blood in all directions, the base of the skull was smashed, and the brain was lacerated. There was a comminuted fracture of the left knee. He fell on his head, and died from fracture of the skull. The height he fell was twenty-three and a half feet. The substance of the brain, as far as I could see, was healthy. There was no disease of the brain sj far as could be ascertained, but, notwithstanding that, insanity might have prevailed, By the Coroner : He came into this prison on the 3rd of Febrnary, 1864. On admission he appeared in good condition. I have seen nothing to lead me to suppose be was subject to attacks of insanity ; nor has he ever been reported to me as having any tendency to un soundness of mind. Ambroise Sherwin ; I 'am chaplain to this prison. I was in the habit of seeing the deceased. I observed the state of his mind closely from the time he entered the prison , and if I had not known his previous history, I should never have thought him insane. He was always cheerful, always ready to enter into conversation, and at all times was extremely courteous. I have seen iour of his letters written to Ims friends. He wrote a letter last Friday to his mother, and a passage in the letter I think indicates an unsound mind. The passage was read, which found fault with the prison arrangement, because a letter of his had been intercepted, in consequence of its being 1 too closely written, which was against the rules of the prison. After some further evidence, in the course of which Townley's father stated that eleven relatives of the deceased on his mother's side had committed suicide ; the jury retired to consider the verdict, and after an absence of a quarter of an hour returned the following verdict:— " That the deceased destroyed himself by throwing himself from the gallery of the Model prison whilst in an unsound state of mind." They append the following to their verdict;:— "The jury regret that the letter was not sent,as they find nothing in it contrary to the rules of the prison." The governor said that it should be forwarded to the directors of convict prisons.