DROWNED IN THE RIVER.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 2 November 1882, Page 3

DROWNED IN THE RIVER.

-T/.'l .l--!Miil.:-; . ... *■ . '• ': - • • , ,r:;| So,'loag a; time has elapsed since a' ■ ''deliberate drowning case oeourreddn the -i i riyer •■. that • considerable sensation 1 ' was excited 1 in- Wangaiiui yesterday -morning, ■when it .was known .that a respectable mame'd- -woman ' named Bridget k r ' 1^ Jiatl made away with ' hor- • '-self by' a.. watery -death; and. that the ,' 1 "cause \ffaß* a long-established | case', of 3 "_ tariapy>V l ThV J woman, in- question, was- ;} '.tfieij wife; ,of ' Mr Win.' , Shannen : (a black-' j,M W. w H<?mhifj wife appears to have been ..,, treated ,with eyerykindness. .The poor person,' as. will be seen from' • t..:ihe,j evidence given , at the inquest,. r, ;drowned;herSelr off. Mr George Howe's : .-- swhari about -7 o'clock' yesterday morn.■jiiidgj.'iheri'body -drifting. <'so : far towards. .'J.the boat shed, that it was easily brought 'i'ftolandiir a -boat' manned by Detective * i : ' T Benjaniiri. j ;and '■ Constable 'Btanton. A ' 1 * faithful dog followed the woman to the «j' scene of her destruction, and ro'inantilaid upon 'the shawl' deposited by ; i(1 tha ';wdman,^until , Mr' George Howe" /"'drove '.the_"^aniinal.aw.ay.' ; ■ It appears ' j .' that]' tb.6 '.deceased .person (who was a / Tvoinan'of'aboiit'4s, and has- one child, " -s girl of 17; living).had been in a state .-of lunacyfor a very long-time past: On >„'thel2th ot,. October, 1881J- she-was, on . ,v>the certificates of "Drs Earle .and Warren, committed to -the asylum,-, frour which she was dismissed' after a month's seclusion and certified to be sane. That . the Mount -View officials, as in other " " . well-known Wanganui cases, were in ; i'erfb'r in' discharging the patient so' soon' ; (and' .also - officially, complaining dis- -:'. '• tinctly-againstthe dcctors.who sent her •''"'to. the asylum), is too obvious to discuss,- ---■ JH and 'probably 'this 'poor woman's death ' ','; is to be laid "to the charge of red tape V.'pffioialism."- ; . The full particulars of the and-inque"sfc will Tie found in the -report' which we subjoin.. . ' " ■ -„.,-i ;The-inquest upon the body of Bridget -. Shannen, who was found drowned in the river .oh Wednesday morning, was- : held at theEailway Hotel before Mr G. |L H. Bbrlase, the coroner, and'a jury.. * r Z r The a^rangenients for the accommodathe jury/andfor the unpleasant „,!auty; . of -the dead body.were - ' unsnaUy. good. The following "gen tinmen -were sworn in as jurymen: — Messrs -T. J. BufshyJohhjßose, Joseph Brown, S. H. Man- : -^s6n,-T.-H:-Lightband,— J; G. B. Brock-' - ":■. ;inanj i John 'ponder.' > Brecliin, James Southcombe,-. W. %. McLevie, John' 7^lcD)i£rHv W,;,Orowe, T: B. Home, I;;Th'onia's Scrivener,- E. A. Biohards. -Mr ,;ißose,wa's,ele,cted*foreman. .... '• 'it .Sergt.' Bisset; ,re-piesented'the police Jr. authorities;^ -.The " folio wing, evidence was taken .after, tha jury had formally' 1 inspected the body : — ."..:■ '. . ■ " Eobert- Shannen identified the body of deceased Bridget Shannen,. as his wife. , whom he last saw alive that morning in y^theibe.drpom about 4 -o'clock. . She got; she was giddy and. 7 , could not;,:sleep. : Witness; heard ■ her. ji about;the house until 6 -o'clock. ; ■ When . witness got up about 7 o'clock he found that his wife had made the fire. For .' the last' two' months she had been ac l--i customed to wake witness about 6 o'clock i' 'but- that morning she did not do so. : ''.■Witness was surprised to find it was 7 .o'clock when he got up, and he looked, "; everywhere about the place for his wifp' ** bat,oonl(t findno sign, of her. Went to '^the "'river bank- opposite ''Mr George . Howe's_ito .see.. if there _were Bigns of deceasedi or of a dog which she ; waß in the . habit'of taking for a swini.' Could see nothing,, and asked Mr Howe, but he p-' 1 had not seen deceased. She had never : 'before gone ;onf for a' walk at such an ' "early.hour. ;Tlzo : dog was : inthe habiit '^'.pf going : 'about with deceased. "Witness- °' went up. the river as far as the Eailway Bridge, and on his return about 8 o'clock s,.Mr : ,Howe; informed him that the dog ...and a shawl ,had been found in one of , ,his (Mr; Howe's) boats. .The shawl ..belonged 1 to deceased. A constable mi ■■formed -witness that a body was in the »:rivei', and he, witness, was present when j■it > was 'brought ashore near the boat ' shed. Mrs Shannen had' been very ■r'poorly over 16 months; and. 12 months ' ago witness was compelled .to have her '■""sent to the Wellington Lunatio Asylumj in the usual way upon the order of a Magistrate and the certificate of Drs Earle, Warren, and Connolly. She re-j ■ mained in the asylum, about a montli . and then returned to ivituess as con-! " valescent. . Since, then deceased, had been perfectly insane in : witness's ■ opinion, except at intervals. She had - delusions about going fromxoom to room' .when the doors were shut. During the past two months, however, she seemed to ■■■be almost continually right. Dr Connolly had attended her since she left the asyluin.-HBy a juryman : ' Deceased put . on her usual dress when she got up that morning, and witness did not think it .unusual that she got up so earty. — By the coroner : Since she left the asylum she had .been despondent, melancholy, and had expressed a wish to be clear of life. Frequently, but not during the past two months or more, she had threatened to do away with herself. — By ~ :, another juryman : There had been nothr " ing exceptional to cause deceased mental anxiety. She Went to bed at the usual hour on the previous night. Dr Connolly deposed that, after a • superficial examination of the body, he found a slight bruise upon the right arm, hut no marks of violence -such as would cause death. There was nothing in her appearance to lead one to think that she met her death by any other means than drowning. "Witness had examined her before she went to the asylum, and then she was - decidedly insane. Her principal delusion

was that some neighbours , meant ,to bring : her to the Court,' and ■ therefore ' she ( threatened J to ; do away "with herself. „ She. was, ,bpth. before . going, to, 7the ■' asylum, and some months ag6~wh L en wit- \ ness saw her last,' possessed of .undoubted suicidal 'tendencies. ' Althoughsh'e might \ have been' less' troublesome, and less afraid of her neighbours bringing her up . before the magistrate, during the last two . or three months, she'tfould still be liable , to any ' sudden outbreak of suicidal mania. — : By a juryman : Her delusion as , to going to. Court was not founded on : fact, and had nothing in it at all. , George Howe deposed that about 8 . o'clock'that -morning he found on the top of the tarpaulin covering the hatch- ■ way of ' his steamer, the Fannyi' a shawl, and a dog apparently looking after it. Witness recognised both 'as belonging to Mrs Bridget Shannen (whose body ' he had seen and ihdentifted), and added that wheii witness took the' shawl the dog .followed' him': Had, noticed at various times insane symptoms on the part of Mrs Shannen by her conduct on -. the river bank. Saw footmarks leading to the boat, and on the boat, and no doubt she first placed her shawl on the . boat, and then walked into the .water. It was very near low water at the time. . • '. Thomas Kearse, who was on the river bank at half-past eight that ■ morning, opposite the Temperance Hotel, noticed a body caughtby- a snag about twenty yards. out from the. bank. The black clothes and the feet were ' alone visible. Informed : his '■ brother," who < made it known to the police. ' < ' ' ' : Sergt. .'Biss'et- deposed, that about 9 o'clock that, morning he saw the body (ldentified).taken_out:of . the river. . ■: : The Coroner in summing up said that ' although there) was- no evidence of deceased having been Reen to go into the water, yet there -was sufficient evidence of' her ■> state of mental ' ab' ber'ration ; ' and' the pre'sfence'of 'the dog and shawl on 'Mr .Howe's boat, >nd the muddy footsteps leading to the river, led to the conclusion' that deceased' had' come to her death by drowing. ' ..' •The ]ury, : after a. few minutes deliberation returned an open , verdict of •"Found drowned.' 1 .',.'.