Shocking Tragedy

This news article first appeared in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette on July 9th, 1863.¹ The image of the article follows the transcription.

Shocking Tragedy

A sad tragedy occurred near this city on Monday last. The facts, as given below in the evidence of the witnesses at the inquest, tell a miserable story. A poor woman named Sarah Cole, the wife of James Cole, a carver and gilder, formerly in better circumstances, lodging at No. 2, Galloway’s Buildings, left her home on Monday about noon with three of of her family of five children, telling her husband that she was going to get them a bun or two. She, however, did not return and was subsequently seen proceeding along the banks of the canal towards Bathampton. Thence she continued her course till she came to the stone bridge which spans the canal just beyond Cremorne, and enables passengers to cross the fields to the village or to take the lane to the turnpike road. A cluster of trees on the opposite bank secludes the spot from the observation of the residents of the adjacent villas. It is supposed that she first strangled her son, about two years old, and threw him into the water, where she had previously thrown an infant aged about 5 months. She next attempted to strangle the elder girl, aged about six, but in this she did not succeed, and she accordingly pushed the poor child into the water and then jumped in herself. Discovery of the lamentable crime was made by a farm labourer, and on assistance being obtained, the four bodies were taken out of the canal and conveyed to the George Inn, Hampton, but not before life was extinct. The inquest was held on the bodies yesterday, at the above inn, before Burges Fry, Esq., county coroner, and a jury, of which Mr. R. Osmond was foreman.

The Coroner explained to the jury the circumstances of the melancholy affair as far as he was acquainted with them, and also the nature of the law in such cases.

The jury then proceeded to view the bodies, which were lying in an adjoining outhouse. It was truly touching to see a young woman in the prime of life lying cold and lifeless, with the corpses of her three children, whom she had hurried with herself into eternity, stretched at her feet. The following evidence was adduced: –

James Cole said – I am a gilder by trade, but I do not follow such occupation. Deceased, Sarah Cole, was my wife; her age was 31, and the body lying dead at the George Inn, Bathampton, is that of my wife. I married the deceased, whose maiden name was Chappell, at Walcot Church, about 13 years since, and we have had seven children, two of which died before this sad occurrence. My wife’s mind was, as I believe, in a very low and desponding state in consequence of our distressed circumstances. We had no means of support for ourselves and five children. I was in business at the Ring of Bells, Thomas Street, Bristol, about four months since. I was unfortunate, and then left for Bath; since our arrival here we have been living upon the few articles we had left, and which we were obliged to pawn. Being unable to follow my trade, I gained a few halfpence by playing a violin, but my wife could not earn anything. About half-past eleven o’clock on Monday morning deceased left home with the three youngest children in a state of despair. She said, “I will not commit a rash act;” she had often before threatened to take her life and the lives of her children, but as she had frequently made use of the same words, I took no notice of it. I never saw her alive afterwards. I saw her and her children – Matilda Cole, aged 5 years, John James Cole, aged 2 years, and Alfred Cole, aged 5 months – lying dead at the George Inn, where they now are. I had no misunderstanding with my wife, we parted on good terms; I had no reason to suppose she would destroy herself or her children, but I am perfectly satisfied she did so from the reasons I have before given. Deceased had twopence in her pocket, and said she was going to buy the children a bun or two; she was fond of her children, and formerly kept them very clean, but latterly has neglected them.

By a Juror – Deceased has upbraided me for not getting a maintenance for the children, herself, and myself; I said I would do my utmost, but I did not know what to turn my hand to, and so I played the violin. The keeping the Ring of Bells was our ruin. I swear deceased did not get a livelihood by making pin cushions, or other trifling articles, and selling them.

By the Coroner – Mr Evans attended deceased in her former confinements, but on the last occasion she was attended by a midwife. She was always strange in her manner, very sullen at times.

By a Juror – We were not out together the night before the occurrence. My wife had not been out for three or four months; the reason was that she had pawned nearly all her things, and so had I.

By the Coroner – I never made our destitute state known to the parish authorities. Three shillings found in the house the day of my wife’s death were produced by the pawning by myself, at her request, of two flannel petticoats belonging to her. I pawned all the clothes to find bread to eat. I don’t believe my wife ever went to a pawn shop in her life. My two living children (who are girls and aged respectively 10 and 8 years) are now at Mr. Blackmore’s, No.2, Galloway’s Buildings; they are under his protection, while I am at the inquest. I have no means of maintaining either them of myself.

Edwin Chappell deposed – I am a milkman and greengrocer living at 37, Northampton Street, Bath. Deceased was my sister. I have visited her daily with one or two exceptions, during the three months they have been in Bath, giving them any milk I might have had left after supplying my customers; occasionally I have given them food. James Cole, the husband, had £1,400 left him seven or eight years ago, besides goods and chattels by his father, who lived at 9, Abingdon Buildings; he was blind and helpless, and my sister and her husband lived with him. After the old man died they when to Mount Pleasant; they then bought Dafford’s Villa, Larkhall, and about 12 months ago went to the Ring of Bells, Thomas Street, Bristol, and there failed.

By the Coroner – James Cole is a very intemperate man. He has never followed his business from his father’s death, but lived on his money. I believe deceased was very unhappy; her two eldest children were not kind to her, nor was her husband at times. I saw her three weeks ago; she was at that time in a distracted state of mind. I was the only one of the family that went to see her, which was on account of her husband’s foul language. She like the three little children, and said “where she went they should go.” My reason for not interfering and making the parish authorities acquainted with deceased’s state of mind was that I was afraid of James Cole’s violence. On Friday last I was with her for an hour and a half; she was very much excited at her poverty, and said she was afraid she should do something bad. Last Saturday, when I went to the house, her husband called after me, and said, “Thee had’st better come and take care of thy sister Sally, for she’s agoin to drown herself.” I said I could not say, as I was busy at home in the shop, and that it was his place to look after her. I then left. On Sunday I saw her, and took the milk as usual, and she looked very much worn out, but all appeared clean and tidy. Next day she and her three children were drowned. She told me she had not been out of the house since she left Bristol.

Henry Blackmore stated – I am a butcher, and live next door to the house of James Cole. I produce a notice to him from Richard Melluish, to quit the lodgings; this acted greatly on Mrs. Cole’s spirits, not knowing where she could go. I believe deceased was of unsound mind, produced by trouble and destitution. The family would have had to quit on the 11th July; nothing was owing for rent; the reason offered by the landlord for giving them notice to quit was that the children were so unruly.

John Morgan said – I am a dairyman living at No. I, Hampton Row. I saw a woman by the canal on Monday, at noon; a child apparently 5 or 6 years of age was about 80 yards in advance of her, walking slowly; the child was crying, and the mother was walking towards Bath. I thought the woman had been correcting the child. I have seen the bodies of the woman and the eldest child, and they appear to be the same I saw on Monday last walking by the canal. I know the woman by the shawl, and the child by the dress. I saw the woman in the water about half-an-hour afterwards, but at the time I thought it was a bundle of carpet. I gave notice at Mr. Candy’s farm, and a young man named William Burt came, and the body of the deceased was taken out of the water and conveyed to the George Inn. I never saw the woman jump into the water, nor did I see her struggling, for she was quite dead.

By the Jury – I do not believe I could have saved the woman’s life if I had got into the water when I first saw her.

By Mr. Superintendent Morgan – I said to a man while going for the drags to the Folly public house “Make haste, there’s a woman in the water.” I am subject to cramp, and am afraid to get into the water myself.

William Burt, labourer, deposed – I assisted George Glass, dairyman, and William Norton, painter, in taking the dead bodied of the deceased woman and her two elder children from the canal. I took off my clothes and jumped into the water, which was up to my chin, and brought the bodies to the bank; they were dead. Neither the other men nor myself know how the deceased and her children got into the water.

By a Juror – The last witness came to Mr. Candy’s farm and said something was in the water. Mr. Candy said, “Burt, you can swim – you had better go and see what it is.”

Glass and Norton corroborated the evidence of the previous witness.

Mr. R Biggs, surgeon, said – At the request of the coroner, the jury, and the police, I have examined the bodies of the deceased woman and her three children. There was no external mark of violence on the body of deceased; she died from drowning, the infant likewise. On the body of the youngest child but one, John James cole, I found the mark and pressure over the windpipe similar to that which would be produced by the pressure of the thumb; the tongue was firmly compressed between the teeth, and I believe that that child was suffocated and rendered insensible before being thrown into the water. The elder one, Matilda, had a similar mark, but it was not so distinct, and there was some discoloration of the skin of the legs, produced during life. In my opinion suffocation was attempted in her case, but from her greater age and strength it was impossible to carry it out, and I believe she was afterwards drowned. The Coroner then summed up the evidence very minutely. There could be no doubt, he said, that the unfortunate woman took the lives of herself and her three children, and he though there would be no difference of opinion as to the fact that she was of unsound mind at the time she committed the fatal deeds. She was also destitute as well as her husband and children, and that destitution he regretted to say was in a measure caused by the idleness and intemperance to a certain extent of her husband. Having commented on the evidence given by the various witnesses, and censured the conduct of the husband, Mr. Fry thought the jury might with propriety arrive at the conclusion that the poor woman took away her life whilst in a state of temporary insanity.

The jury coincided in this opinion, and returned verdicts to the effect that the deceased children had been murdered by their mother, and that Sarah Cole, had taken their lives and her own while temporarily insane.