Suicide By Poison at Newton Abbot: Considerable excitement was created in Newton on Thursday evening on it becoming known that Mrs. Pinsent, wife of Mr. J. B. Pinsent, junr., residing at Buckland House, on Wolborough Hill had committed suicide by poisoning herself. Yesterday afternoon an inquiry into the circumstances of the event was held before Mr. Sidney Hacker, Coroner, and a respectable jury, of whom Mr. W. Roberts was chosen foreman, when the following evidence was adduced: Mr. Thomas May, of Southport, Staverton, said the deceased was his sister, and in the 38th year of her age. He was her trustee under the marriage settlement, and came over the previous day, about 4 p.m. to see her on a little matter of business. His wife came with him, and when they arrived, he asked of the servant if Mrs. Pinsent was in and was answered “Yes”. They went first into the dining room. His mother was there, having lived with his sister ever since her marriage to Mr. Pinsent. They then adjourned to the drawing room, where he told his mother what business he had come upon, which in effect was that his sister had overdrawn her account at the bank, and he was there at the banker’s request. His mother, however, had made it right with the bank, and there was nothing to dread on that account. The servant was sent upstairs to tell Mrs. Pinsent of Mr. and Mrs. May’s arrival. She saw her at her bedroom door having her hand on the knob and said she would be down in a minute or two, but not coming, the servant was sent up again, and then she found the door locked on the inside and received no reply. Upon that they all became frightened, and tried to force the door, but were unable to do so. After some difficulty they procured a ladder, and witness got into the room by the window and found his sister lying on the bed. He unlocked the door and the servants, and his wife entered. They lifted his sister up and shook her. He saw dark stains each side of her mouth. She was then breathing heavily and gurgling in the throat but was quite unconscious. She was not at all rigid, but perfectly limp. Tried every means to restore her to consciousness but could not. He fancied she lived about ten minutes after he got into the room. Beyond a dropping of the jaw, there was nothing peculiar in her appearance. There was a blue glass bottle on the chimney pieces labelled “Hydrocyanic, Scheele’s strength Poison,” but there was not more than a drop or so of anything in it. As far as he knew, his sister, her husband and mother lived on very good terms with each other. She had been living beyond her income, but he didn’t know that it preyed on her mind at all. She had done so once before, and he remonstrated with her about it. The matter he came about now was not at all serious and was amicably arranged. She was not aware of his coming but might have expected him as he had been there once before this week to see her, but did not as she was out. His sister was of peculiar temperament, but her husband was kindness itself to her. Nothing of the kind had ever occurred in the family before, his predecessors having lived to a good old age. Mary Ann Couch said she had lived as a servant with Mrs. Pinsent for two months. Her mistress was out the previous day both before and after dinner – the latter time about three o’clock, she, having previously written a letter. There was nothing unusual that occurred at the dinner table, and her mistress seemed to make a hearty dinner. The witness then corroborated Mr. May’s evidence, and added that Mr. May entered the room, as before stated, she ran away for a doctor. She cleaned her mistress’s bedroom, but she never saw the bottle produced before. She had never seen any unpleasantness between Mr. and Mrs. Pinsent or Mrs. May. John B. Pinsent, husband of the deceased, and who gave his evidence under considerable emotion, said they dined at their usual times the previous day. Nothing unpleasant occurred. He left about five minutes to three; his wife was then upstairs nursing the baby. She had shown no difference in her manner lately. They had been married three and a half years. There was nothing on her mind at all that he knew of, and he knew nothing whatsoever of the business Mr. May came upon. His wife had not mentioned to him the subject of having overdrawn her account at the Bank. He knew nothing whatsoever that would throw any light on the matter. He went for a drive in the afternoon with a friend promising to be back to tea. Ann Nathan, nurse, said she had frequently heard her mistress complain of having had very sleepless nights and on one occasion recently she heard her say she thought she would take a dose of poison, but didn’t think she meant it. Her reason for saying it was on account of her sleeplessness. Dr. Scott said the deceased was a patient of his. He was sent for the previous night and arrived about six o’clock. Saw deceased lying on her back on the bed apparently dead, and upon examination she appeared to have been so for some time. Mr. May told him she had taken poison, and pointed to the bottle produced, which was then standing on the mantle-piece. Prussic acid of Scheele’s strength was about double the ordinary strength. It was an ounce bottle, and there was only a drop or so remaining in it. Deceased had all the appearance of poisoning by prussic acid: Had made a postmortem examination of the body. On opening her stomach, he could detect the smell of prussic acid quite strongly, and was certain death resulted from that poison. It never struck him that she was insane at all, but she was very reserved in her manner, with a peculiar indifference to everything about her. John Henry Bibbings, chemist of Queen Street, said the deceased had been a customer of his for five years. The bottle produced came from his shop; it was supplied to Mrs. Pinsent about half-past eleven on Wednesday morning. Having previously purchased some other articles, she said someone made her a present of a fancy dog, but she didn’t care about it and should like to poison it, and asked for a little prussic acid for the purpose. Witness asked her if he could safely trust her with it. She smiled at his remark and said she would not let it out of her hands. It was not more than a drachm, which he gave her, which was quite sufficient to kill a dog. He had not entered the sale in his book as several people came in at the time and, having known Mrs. Pinsent for such a long period. His last words to her, as she left the shop, were that of caution. The coroner reminded him of the formalities to be observed in the sale of poisons and the penalty he was subject to for non-compliance therewith. Mr. Bibbings said he was aware of it, and it should never occur again. After a short deliberation the jury returned a verdict that the deceased poisoned herself during a fit of temporary insanity. They also, through the coroner, gave Mr. Bibbings a word of caution as to how he dispensed poison in the future. Mr. Bibbings repeated his promise that it should not occur again.
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0470 Devonport: Jane Pinsent: 1847 – 1884
GRO0517 Devonport: John Ball Pinsent: 1844 – 1890