A DEATH CONFESSION.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 303, 21 July 1868, Page 2

A DEATH CONFESSION.

The Middlesex coroner, Mr John Humphreys, was engaged at a court, held near Old-Stairs, in investigating the death of a man whose body was found floating in the Thames, and in the course of the proceedings an extraordinary " death confession " of the deceased was brought to light. A person named John Walker, of Aim's place, Deptford, stated that the deceased, who had lodged with him, was formerly a soldier and served with the 109 th regiment in India, Having palpitation of the heart he was discharged, after between six and seven years' service, with a pension of 7d a*day for 18 months, and when that time had elapsed, he petitioned unsuccessfully to have his pension continued. He was not able to do much work, but the dock people near Deptford gave him light work. This failing, the deceased despairingly declared he would not be a burden upon anyone and left his lodgings about a fortnight before his body was found. It—transpired that he had no relations, and that his brother was drowned some two years ago. One of the Thames police stated that on searching the lodgings of the deceased for the purpose of ascertaining the names of any friends or relatives he might have had, there was found the following, written on the fly leaf of a Bible—" Oh, brother! it is my intention to drown the same as you,but I could not believe you were drowned. Now my time has come, and I must join you. There is nobody left now. I have seen all off this earth before me, so now I come, good-night.', The officer further found, between the bed and mattress, a document headed "My death confession'" and making the folio wing statement: — I entered the dockyard thinking that would end my life. My pension, would not be renewed after serving six years and seven months in her Majesty's 109 th, and I was discharged with 7d a day for a short period of eighteen months ; and after it was up I applied again and was heartlessly refused. So, what can Ido ? To apply to the workhouse, I should do work or be turned out, or be brought before the magistrate and get three months ; so so I made away with myself in the (name of the river feft blank) in consequence. My friends know nothing of this before they hear of it. It is a resolution of my own, as I have been discharged from the dockyard. I want no man to alter this, for it is from my own hand. "What need has a poor man to live, to steal and get put into prison for it ? No, I would not do it, The rich can walk about and don't know what to spend their money on, they have so much, where the poor man has not a penny to lay aside. If a poor man ask a rich one for a few coppers the gentleman calls a policeman and gives him in charge. At the same time the gentleman may have £9O or thereabouts on him. It is no uce speaking to me about the Bible, for I don't believe in it. There is a God, but he is too good to do anyone harm. He might be in the clouds, and I say it is a good way to frighten the money out of people's pockets. "Why don't the rich stick up for it better if this is true ? No, they don't believe in it, but pay men to preach to the poor to frighten them from stealing from the rich. Also in telling lies and other things, and also making them go to church every Sunday, after being at work hard all the week. "Why not make the rich go three times a week, as they have nothing to do ? No, it is only the poor man they want to look after to stoop him from stealing from the rich. I mean to make away with myself. It will be only a short time before my time comes, but to wait till then would be great suffering ; so I might as well be dead at once, for I will then rot into dust. When healthy men cannot get work, I cannot expect it, so farewell to this starving world where there are more rats than cats,' and the rats eat up the food." The clause about " more" rats is supposed to refer to a grievance which the deceased considered he had, because some one was promoted in the yard to a position he couveted. The jury came to the conclusion that the " Deceased destroyed hinself while in an unsound state of mind."

A Souheu's Description oi Abyssinia.—" I heard a soldier of ai Engliah regiment make rather an am using remark when struggling uj rather a steep hill in Abyssinia. ' tell ye what, Bill, I've heord of tin table land of Abysoinia but blow'd i I dout think they've turned the tabh dowu'ards and we march over legs., ' Extbaobdinakt BiiiTiis, —It is re lated by B unlock that the wife ofj countryman, in the Moscow district, hac given birth to sixty-nine children a 27 confinements ; four tiines 4 at on< birth, aeven times 3, and sixteen timet twine. In the year 1809 the Yiennj newspapers contained the following announcement: —Maria Anna Helen, the wife of i poor liuen woaver ii Neulerehenfield,twenty years married bore at eleven confinements 32 childdren, 28 ii/ing and 4 dead; 2(i were males and 6 females; all were by one father and r.urßed by herself. She had at her last confinement three children, one living and two dead Her htsband was a twin, Bhe herself one oi four. Her mother had produced 28 children, and died during a confinement with twins. The greatest number of children ever produced at one birth appears to have been six, all of whom were boys, and all dead ; and the woman who gave birth to them had been twice married, and had already given birth to 44 children. During her fiirst marriage, which lasted 22 years, she bore 27 boys and 3 girls. In her second marriage, which lasted but three years, she bore 14 children—--3 at the first, 5 at the second, and 6 at the third coninstient." A French Estimate of the Scotch Soldier.—A writer on the British army in the 3foniteur de Soir speaks as follows of the Scotch soldier:—The Scotch soldiers form, without contradiction, the cream of the Biitishtroops. The Highlander is the prototype of the excellent soldier. He has all therequisite qualities and not one defect. Unluckily for Great Britain, the pouplation of Scotland is not numerous. Saving, it is true, to the point of putting by penny after peony, the Scotchman, for all that, is honest, steadfast, amiable in hia intercourse with others enthusiastic, and proud ; chivalrous when the question is about shedding his blood. The old traditions of clanship subsists ; each company is grouped round an illustrious name, all and every man in it is sure to be the captain's cousin. The Highlanders have a strauge sort of bravery, which partakes at once of French fire and of English calm. They rush on with impetuosity ; they charge with vigour ; but they are not hurried away by anger. Iu the very hottest moment of an attack, a simple order Bulficea to atop them. Formed in square, one would take them for Englishmen; in charging with the bayonet you would swear they were French. For the rest they are of Celtic origin, and the blood of our fathers Sows in their veins ; but the blood has a little cooled down by the severity of their climate. In the eyes of the Turks the Scotch had one enormous fault, that of showing there legs. In our @jeo they have but one djfect. a slight one, but still excessively annoying—their depraved taste for the screaming of the bagpipes. We know that the Highlanders would not get under fire -vithout being excited by their national airs, played on this discordant instrument. One of their generals having put down this piercing music, they attacked the enemy on one occasion so languidly that the bagpipes had to be restored to them, and they then took the position. In a word, we repeat the Scotch are magnificent soldiers."