Saturday 21 Dec 1844 (p. 3, col. 3) INQUESTS. ----- (Before Mr. CARRICK, Coroner.) An inquest was held at Dalston Forge, on Tuesday evening last, on the body of Robert HETHERINGTON, a carter in the service of Mr. ROUTLEDGE, who committed suicide. It appeared that the unfortunate man's health had been declining for a week or two and that his wife and nine of his children had also been visited with fever. The fatigue and anxiety consequent thereon brought on premature labour, and she was confined on Sunday night. Deceased had been very low for a time and on Sunday night he was heard to exclaim, "he thought their house was bewitched, he could not stand up against it." At five o'clock next morning he fed and dressed his horses as usual. He was not seen afterwards. On Tuesday morning his coat, waistcoat, and hat, were found on the west bank of the Caldew, a short distance above the suspension bridge, at Hawksdale, which led to the discovery of his body in the water. Verdict-"Suicide by drowning, temporary insanity." (Before Mr. LUMB, Coroner.) An inquest was held at Whitehaven on Monday last, on view of the body of Jane TEMPLE, an infant about six months old. It appeared, from the evidence, that the unfortunate little sufferer was ill on Friday last, and her mother sent a boy about eight or ten years old, to Messrs. RANDLESON and FOSTER's shop with a tea-cup for some tincture of rhubarb, which the boy obtained, but on returning home spilled it, in consequence of which a girl, about a year or two older than the boy, was sent upon the same errand. The girl stated distinctly that she asked for the tincture of rhubarb, which she obtained, as she supposed, and returned home with the cup. The mother administered a doze of the supposed tincture to the child, and it fell asleep. When the child awoke the doze was repeated: but as it did not produce the desired effect, Mr. CLARK, surgeon, was sent for, and on examining the cup he at once discovered that instead of the tincture of rhubarb the unconscious mother had administered two doses of laudanum to her suffering child! Mr. CLARK applied the usual remedies in such cases; but all his efforts to preserve life were unavailing, and the child died on the following day. The jury, after a careful investigation of the case, returned a verdict of "Accidental death, caused by laudanum having been administered by mistake for tincture of rhubarb." (Before Mr. THOMPSON, Coroner for Westmoreland.) On Monday last, at the Union Workhouse, Kirkby Stephen, on the body of a person unknown, who was found dead the previous Saturday by two persons of Kirkby Stephen, lying upon the ice at the edge of the river Eden, at a short distance from that place. The Jury, after some deliberation, returned a verdict of "Accidentally killed by falling down a Scaur." On the following day, upon view of the body of Mrs. Sarah SIMPSON, of Kirkby Thore. Deceased was found lying upon the stairs quite dead. A fracture on the back part of the head about the size of a crown piece was the only wound visible, and it appearing to have been produced by a fall, and from which a large quantity of blood had flown, led the jury to the conclusion that this had been the cause of death, and a verdict to that effect was accordingly returned.