A STRANGE SAD STORY OF SUICIDE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1668, 21 September 1887, Page 3

A STRANGE SAD STORY OF SUICIDE.

" m - The following letter (tays a London journal of July 21) was tonnd last week m a lady's handbag on the river bank at Goring : — Whoever finds this bag, let this be sent to my friend 0. 0. Jewell, Esq , St* George's Club, Hanover Square, London. W. July 8, 1887. Have been m the woods all day, with nothing to eat Am tired and weary to-night. It will soon be ever ; and, after, all, what have I to make me stay here 1 Nothing much. Bed I been able I should have dono the deed last night ; but, meeting a young Oxford man, how can I forget, his sweet manner ? and lam now glad I met him, for he unknowingly prolonged my stay on earth. I only wish I had met him before. Perhaps this would never have befallen me. To die so young as I am. — A.D. The Berks and Oxon "Advertiser" thna explains this mysterious epistle : — Borne three weeks or a month ago a hand-somely-dressed lady, about thirty years i of age, came down to Goring, and took apartments m the village, giving her name ■s Mrs Jewell, and saying she expected her husband m a few days. The supposed husband came and went, and still she remained. But on Tuesday week she returned to town with him, and her lnggage waa addressed to Paddiogton. The Thnnday following the returned, bnt did not go to her former apartments. She seem* to have taken up her abode In Hartelock Wood, where she passed her ttm-, on one or two occasions going to a cottager at Gatehampton Farm, and asking for a piece of bread, and for the company of the children. She kept ln the wood the whole of Thursday night, Friday, nnd Saturday, and no one seems to have noticed the oddity of her course of procedure. It rained heavily no more than one occasion, but still she remained there. She was a singula* y fine, handsome woman, and tbe deaangsment to her dress seems to have caused her at length to avoid being seen at all, as the entries m a kind of diary she kept show. She was evidently quite penniless, and waa m the greatest straits, though her relations, it ■eem?, were well able to help hor hid she bat made known her position. But this it seems she was ssbamed to do. Sbe was Ust seen by a cottager at Gatehampton on Saturday night, and the next that was heard of her wa. on Monday, when Mrs Allen, a visitor, who passed the wood ln a boat, called the ferryman's atiention to the fact that a handbag and a lady's bat were on tbe bank a s\ort distance off. He immediately proceeded to the spot, and found tho hat and handbag as described, and also saw an umbrella sticking m the mud, and tbe body of a female m the water. There was a small pock-t book In the handbag, which contained a letter sod a diary, beside a cabi-net-sized phntograph of herself, but not a farthing m mooey, or any kind of food. Ihe police constable at once telegraphed to Mr 0. 0. Jewell, at St George's Club. Her real name waa Alicia S. Douglass. She was- very nicely dressed, and had a quantity of jewellery, and from (hi* it is Inferred that she had had a misunderstanding with her paramour ; but no explanation was elicited at tbe evidence taken at the Irquest, although Mr Jewell was present ; and this has given rise to considerable comment m the village, where the ■ad event has caused the greatest excitement. Mr Jewe'.l stated that deceased was not his wife, but that he had lived with her as such. He last saw her, he said, on the 2nd of July, and found her m a very (depressed elite of mind. She had been under the protection of an officer who died m the last Egyptian campaign. He was not surprised wlnn he heard of her death, hut was much grieved, This la a summary of the evidenoe taken, which was very brief and the jury returne^^ verdfot if " Found drowned." Thevnlagers seem to think that Mr Jewel ought to have given a much fuller account of his transactions with the deceaaad, and of the circumstances nnder whloh be parted with her m London ; and the matter is the theme of general conversation m the village. A lady's pooket-book, which contained a few of her own address cards (name only) and one or two addresses of gentlemen, nothing else, had the following pathetic notes written daring her stay m Hartilook:— Sunday Morning — Io the Hartslcok Wood two nights. Wet through. No fqod since I left town last Thursday. Fpr one so carefully brought up this is fearfully hard to be_r. The fearful pain of my heart, tbe dark and lonely woods add to my wretchedness. Yet, alas ! I would sooner be thaa miserable thin return to town, where deep and unknown sorrow wonld be my We. It is so hard to die. yonng, so I try to s'rugglo ogalnet this nnhappy death ; and I think if some kind friend was only here now I would listen to advice. But too late. I must die.— AD. Sunday afternoon —Still here. C .nnot bring myself to die m the river. lam not mad, and so, therefore, being quite ■ane, I am backward to destroy my life. Wood and river full— boats and people. Must remain elo.ee. Am bo untidy, and ■o ashamed to be seen. Farther on m the book was the following :— Mother, my dearest mother, forgive your phild. I have bean much sorrow and trouble to you. Dearest, forgive me now. Father, I also ask your forglvenes3, and my brother's. I ask Goa's mercy and forgiveness, for I a sinner. May he grant me a little mercy ; and, If I cannot receive it, oh 1 Heavenly Father, let my soul rest m peace. Father, forgive me, Iso unworthy, am not fit to aak you for this mercy. The subjoined was written at a later period. The woods to day (Sunday) are full of happy folk. Some are sinking. They little know one so miserable is quite near bnt I dare not show myself. Never shall J gain the love I have lost. Like the poet Tennyson says : 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. But was my love worthy of me— not ihe lilt bat the fint 1-A.S.P,