30 JULY 1870, Page 3

Coroners' juries are beginning to be ashamed of the verdict

of " temporary insanity" in cases of suicide, but seem unable to hit upon any compromise between felo de se and falsehood. Ellen Elizabeth Dent, servant to Dr. W. Evans, Hampstead, poisoned herself because her lover had deserted her. She told her master so, it was proved that her death was caused by strychnine, but still the jury returned that there was no evidence to show how she took that poison. There was evidence, and quite enough, and the verdict is no more true than the usual and ridiculous one of insanity. Would the simple verdict " Died of strychnine" be illegal?