PETERSFIELD.
SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A WOMAN.—An inquest was held yesterday se’nnight before Edward Hoskins, Esq., touching the death of Elizabeth Flint, which took place under somewhat singular circumstances. It appeared that she had lived with a navvy named Matthew Brown since March last, and they had been in Petersfield about a fortnight. She was unwell then, and got some pills, one of which she took every day. She complained of a pain in her stomach, and was very sick, and could keep nothing down, and she died on the previous Saturday. Dr. Peskett attended the deceased, and treated her for inflammation of the bowels. Before she died she told Dr. Peskett that her name was Elizabeth Brown, and that she was married at Bishop’s Waltham on Easter Sunday last. From the nature of the symptoms, Dr. Peskett had afterwards some suspicion that a mineral poison had been administered, but he failed to find any traces with the ordinary tests. He, however, persevered a for a professional analyst. Elizabeth Parker and Nancy Nichols Newman, married women, gave evidence as to the cohabiting of the deceased and Brown, and the affection which apparently existed between them. Dr. Peskett was recalled, and, in reply to the Coroner, said as far as his experience went, he had never seen any natural disease of the same nature that showed such evidence of an extreme character as the present, unless under the influence of some irritating cause. The Jury, after consultation, returned the following verdict: “That the deceased, from severe inflammation of the intestines, after several days’ previous illness, did die; but whether such Inflammation proceeded from natural causes or otherwise, there is not sufficient evidence to show.”
Ancestry shows an Elizabeth Fleet dying in June 1863 in Petersfield. No other details