Tired of seeing ads? Click here to upgrade to Elite Membership!

Author

Message / Information

Jennypeg
Researcher

This message was updated on 6/9/2008 9:04:53 PM by Jennypeg

PUBLIC HOUSES
replied on: 6/9/2008 11:30:33 AM

Hi Jenks,
I think this answers most of your previous questions!!!!!!!!

THE RIPLEY ADVERTISER
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20TH 1886
DOMESTIC TRAGEDY AT RIPLEY
SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED MURDER
About noon on Saturday last, the inhabitants of Lowe’s –hill, Ripley, were thrown into a state of immense excitement by the report that Mr. Cornelius Jenkins, landlord of the King William IV Inn Ripley, had shot himself and his wife. This proved we are sorry to say, to be correct, the unfortunate man dying immediately. Mrs Jenkins was wounded in the breast, but is hoped her injuries will not prove serious. The sad affair was the general topic of conversation in the town after it had become noised abroad, and in the afternoon large numbers of persons wended their way down Lowe’s-hill, to view the scene of the melancholy affair.
On Monday, at four o’clock, an inquest was held at the Inn kept by the deceased, before W. H. Whiston, Esq., coroner, and a jury composed of the following gentlemen: Messrs J. M. Thrush (foreman), T. Machin, J. Ollernshaw, F. Payne, T. Moore, J. Tealby, W. Redfern, E. T. Baker, J. Elliott, M. Gregory, and W. Hawkins. Mr J. T. Capon, from the office of A. Copson Peake, Esq., solicitor, Ripley, was present in the interest of the relatives. At the commencement of the proceedings the Coroner decided to take the evidence of Mrs Jenkins in her bedroom, where she was at the time compelled to remain, being under medical treatment. In the presence of the Coroner and jury, the following evidence was given by the wife of deceased:
The body just seen by the jury is that of my late husband. He was a licensed Victualler and kept this house. He was 57 years of age. We were at home on Sunday. I was in the little kitchen about 11am. My husband was in the same room. He stood with his back to the window; his right hand was by the door and his left by the fireplace. My little granddaughter was in the room. I was sitting on the sofa mixing the dinner for the pigs. I told my granddaughter to go and see what time it was in the next room. The moment she left the room he pulled his right hand from the back of him. I saw he had something in his hand. He fired one shot at me. I said oh! And moved slightly. It struck me on the arm, and rebounding, made two holes in my dress. He fired again very quickly. I was struck in the right breast. I jumped up and ran into the other room and said, “Oh run for somebody or I shall bleed to death” As I ran out of my room I heard the report of two shots, one after the other, quickly, from the kitchen. I came into the passage and out of the front door. I saw my husband’s head just in the doorway, on the floor. I knew my husband had fired at me with a six-chambered revolver. It was five minutes before any help came. There was only my little granddaughter and servant in the house. He had been very disagreeable in the early morning of Sunday. He had not got to bed till three o’clock on Sunday morning. He had been troubled in his mind by reading of Archer’s death. We had no actual quarrel. He was also troubled about money matters, and has threatened often to blow out my brains when in drink. He had been drinking last week. We have been married 38 years. He always said we should die together.
George Gaunt deposed that he was a nailer, and lived in Crossley Street Ripley. He was going down Lowe’s-hill at 11.45a.m. Of Sunday last. Saw a girl named Agnes Stone run up the road, and heard somebody say, “fetch the police” Just then Mrs. Jenkins came to the front door, and witness saw blood running down the front of her dress. She said, “He has shot me and shot himself.” Witness went into the house, and saw deceased with his head against the door and lying on the floor of the passage near the settle. He looked at him and called him by his name, but he made no reply, and immediately breathed his last. He was bleeding from the mouth, witness noticed a revolver lying at his feet, which he picked up and showed to some of the company present. He then went for the police, the son of deceased, and the doctor. Witness knew deceased well. Deceased never spoke after he had fired the fatal shots.
Police-Constable Bradwell, of Ripley deposed that from information received he went to the house of deceased, and found him lying on the passage floor. Blood was flowing from his mouth and there was a quantity of blood on the floor. He had the body removed into the house. Witness then examined the house, and found a hole in the wall, made by a bullet, and found part of a bullet on the settle. Noticed a revolver near his feet. Upon examination of the body, he found deceased injured about the mouth, from which blood was flowing. The left eye was black, and bruise on the right temple. His falling against the wooden partition might perhaps account for his black eye, and the discoloured state of his face on the left side might perhaps be due to his falling on the floor, which was very uneven in that part where he fell. Amongst other things found in the pockets of deceased. When searched, was a diary, which had apparently been kept by himself, and which contained the following entry: Nov. 14th. At home, row with mistress, called me terribly, miserable life since marriage, God help me.” Witness searched a drawer in the house, and found a box of ball cartridges, of which 37 were loaded and six discharged. The Witness had in his possession the under bodice of Mrs. Jenkins, which was stained with blood and had two holes in it, evidently made by the bullets which had been fired at her by deceased. The whole of the witnesses having being examined, the Coroner summoned up briefly, and said the only question for the jury to consider was the state of mind in which deceased must have been at the time he committed the rash act. After a short deliberation, the jury returned a verdict to the effect “ That deceased committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver during temporary insanity.”
Mr. Jenkins was well known in Ripley, and a very active and attentive man to his business. He was employed at the Ripley Mills, and also a public accountant. He had formerly kept the Thorn Tree Inn, Waingroves, and also the George Inn, Hartshay. He had not been long at the place where he has finished his career. It is alleged that jealousy was the motive for the rash act, but this was not disclosed at the inquest. Mrs. Jenkins has received a severe shock to her system, but it is believed the injuries will not prove serious.
Jenny

Tired of seeing ads? Click here to upgrade to Elite Membership!

ChatArea.com Help & News Forums | Terms of Use | Contact ChatArea.com | Advertising