A Sergeant's Suicide

by **Karen** Wed 1 Jun 2011 - 11:59

An inquest was held at Tunbridge Wells on Monday last on the body of Richard Neal, a detective in the metropolitan police. Chief Superintendent Williamson, of Scotland-yard, said the deceased, who was a sergeant, obtained leave of absence on Wednesday. On Saturday last he received a letter from deceased, who said he intended committing suicide, as he had found his brain giving way rapidly, and, sooner than be shut up in a pauper lunatic asylum, he had gone to his native place to die. On the same morning, at seven o'clock, Neal was found in a dying state, having taken a quantity of cyanide of potassium. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased committed suicide while temporarily insane.

Source: Brief, May 2, 1879, Page 442