Description:Some of the letters to the press following the inquest following the death of Eliza Garland who drowned in the Tame Valley Canal. Two onlookers, Francis Perigo and Joseph Horton attempted to rescue her but did not get in the water themselves. The Coroner returned a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane and stated that he felt Perigo and Horton exhibited great cowardice by not making more strenuous attempts to rescue her. This case resulted in a large number of letters to the press such as this example, mostly from people who felt that as the two men were non-swimmers entering the water in the dark would simply have been foolhardy. The letters were written under pen names such as 'Fair Play', 'Justice', 'Common-sense' and '14 years a swimmer'. On January 16th the editor of the Birmingham Daily Mail printed a letter from one of the men with a note under it that 'This correspondence must now cease - Ed. B.D.M.' Some of the letters and the press report following the inquest are available on this website.
From the G.H. Osborne collection of newscuttings.