Felo-de-se / by J.G. Davey.

  • Davey, James George, 1813-1895.
Date:
[1870]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Felo-de-se / by J.G. Davey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    gear—or working order—that he became, to all intents and purposes, mad. The issue of the whole was he killed himself by taking a large quantity of the essence of bitter almonds. The coroner’s jury, presided over by the late Mr. Wakley, returned a verdict in these words, viz.;—John Sadleir died by his own hands, when in a perfectly sane state of mindF I must now call your attention to the facts elicited at the inquest, and with these contrast the verdict just stated to you. A certain Bank in Ireland is—or rather was—supposed to be on the verge of failing 5 and this the consequence of the forgeries, &c., done by the suicide. The failure anticipated, it was known to him (John Sadleir), would involve the discovery of his many guilty deeds. He is seen in the city the day pre- ceding his decease, and it is declared, on oath, that he exhi- bited considerable excitement, A second witness affirmed that he had several schemes by which he thought money could be raised but which, it was added, ‘ I could neither recom- mend nor adopt.’ He then became very excited, put his hands to his head, and said, ^ Good God! if the Bank (naming it) should fail, the fault will be entirely mine ; and I shall have been the ruin of hundreds and thousands!’” We are told farther that, He walked about the office in a very excited state, and urged me to try and help him, because he said he could not live to see the pain and ruin inflicted on others by the cessation of the Bank.” A third witness spoke to the deceased’s intense and agonizing excitement throughout the whole of the Saturday preceding his death. He is visited by a friend late on the Saturday evening, and a few hours before the fatal act is supposed to have been committed; and this friend says, he noticed a redness of the eyes, as though Mr, Sadleir had been weeping; and that when he arrived, he (Mr. Sadleir) was walking about the room, which, it was affirmed, was a very unusual occurrence with him; that he was so im- pressed with the effects likely to be produced on the deceased by reverses of fortune, that he made the remark that he should not be surprised if Mr. Sadleir shot himself.” The coroner also, in his summing up, admitted that the deceased must have suffered the most intense agony; and that the very act he committed proved, of itself, the mental suffering that drove him to such a measure of desperation.” Now we are assisted in a very material degree in coming at a truthful conclusion in this painful matter by the letters of Mr. Sadleir, written by him but some few hours before his death:—