English, William

DROWNED IN A WELL.
William English, of Oakville, While
Suffering From Despondency,
Takes his Life.
On Monday 13th inst. William English, came to Acton from Waterdown, spent a few hours with his brother-in-law, Edward Dynes, and then proceeded to the farm of Valentyne Dynes, about two miles below Acton, to visit his friends there. During the week it was noticed that he was suffering from a heavy mental strain, and was given to fretting and despondency. He volunteered the information that his boys were giving him great trouble and that the eldest had the week previous absconded from Parkdale, where he was agent of the G.T.R., with about $3,500. But nothing worse than a temporary depression of spirits was anticipated. On Thursday morning last after breakfast he went out to pick some berries, he said, and was seen returning about ten. He did not enter the house, however, and some time afterward Mrs. Dyson noticed his hat lying beside a well in the lane behind the barn. From his previous conduct she suspected something was wrong and being nervous and too muuch frightened to investigate she hurried to Mr. James Gibbons, the nearest neighbor, for help. Mr. Gibbons and his son James hurried back and found deceased, in the well, drowned. The position in which he was found would indicate a determined suicide. The well is only four feet deep and, the water comes within a few inches of the top. Deceased evidently plunged his head into the water and remained in that position until unconscious, for he firmly grasped the board fixed in the wall and his body rested on the left side over the edge. His hat and pipe were carefully deposited a few feet away.
The circumstances surrounding the case were such that an inquest was deemed advisable. A jury was empanelled and on Friday afternoon Coroner Sutherland, of Georgetown, County Attorney Matheson and Constable Lawson with the jury proceeded to the scene. Mr. George Hynds was elected foreman of the jury. A number of witnesses were examined and the evidence adduced was in every respect corroborative, and pointed to suicide.
The jury found "that deceased came to his death from drowning, the act being committed by himself while laboring under a fit of melancholia."
Deceased was about 45 years of age, had worked on the railroad at Lisle for a number of years but was about to settle in Oakville, where he owned a house and lot.
The remains were interred in Fairview Cemetery on Saturday, Rev. Mr. Edge officiating.
Mr. E. L. English, of Waterdown, a cousin of deceased, was here yesterday and after taking a survey of the surroundings where the event occurred leaned to the opinion that death was an accident.