Mr. William Beaney, of Sunderland, a coal agent, and secretary of a local labourers' union, committed suicide under painful circumstances on Saturday night. On Thursday last he was run over by a bicycle, and sustained such injuries to his nose and face that he was afterwards heard to declare that he would not be seen in the street in such a condition. His wife, who is caretaker of a local place of worship, found this message in pencil on a form in the chapel : "Don't go into the cellar alone." On investigation deceased was found hanging dead in the cellar underneath the chapel. (Yorkshire Evening Post, June 21st, 1897)
...Victorian folk really would commit suicide for almost anything, wouldn't they? Presumably his week-old injuries would have healed at least enough for him to be seen in the street.
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