Geelong Advertiser (Vic. : 1859 - 1926) Monday 25 March 1872 p 3Article
DETERMINED ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE.
At twenty-five minutes past one o'clock
on Saturday afternoon Senior-constable
Gorman received information that a young
girl named Louisa Morgan, nineteen years
of age, and said to be the step-
daughter of a compositor, had attempted
suicide. He, with Constable Hatton,
at once proceeded to the scene, a detached
room at the rear of Mr Robert Jones's,
Sturt-street, and finding the door securely
fastened inside, effected an entrance through
the window, when a horrifying spectacle
presented itself. The floor of the room
was deluged in blood, and the girl lying in
it face downwards, bleeding profusely
from a large incised wound in her
throat, nearly severing the windpipe.
The police at once turned the body,
and with some articles of dress in
the room Gorman endeavored to tem
porarily stanch the blood, and removed
her to the District Hospital, nearly oppo
site. Here she was at once attended to by
Dr Owen and Dr Bullen; the wound-a
frightful one-was stitched and every care
accorded her. Two large carving knives,
deeply blood-stained, were found on the
floor. The girl has been a resident in Mr
Jones' house for the last eleven or twelve
years, and at present no cause can be
assigned for the rash attempt on her life.
A little while since she passed a few days
in Melbourne, since which time a slight
difference in her accustomed manner has
been perceptible. The attempt was a most
daring one, but the surgeons are of opinion
that a slight, though very slight, chance
exists as to her recovery.-Ballarat Mail.
The version given by the Post alludes to
the supposed cause of the act:-' A respec
table young girl, named Louisa Morgan,
aged between 18 and 19 years, who has
lived in the family of Mr Robert Jones, of
Sturt-street, for the last eight years, more
as a friend than a servant, committed suicide
this morning, under the following circum
stances :-For some weeks past Miss Mor
gan has shown signs of dejection, and it is
supposed that this was to some degree
added, to by the fact that Mr Jones, who is
about to visit England, was not going to
take her with him. On Thursday evening
last she dressed herself in very light
clothes and left the house, without saying
where she intended to go, and nothing was
heard of her until Friday night, shortly be
fore dark, when she went to the house of Mr
Jones's father, Soldier's-hill, and said she
had spent the intervening time in wander
ing about paddocks on the Creswick-road,
and said it seemed as though she had been
asleep all the time. (In connection with
this statement we may remark that the
poor girl is said to have had fits of som
nambulism on previous occasions.) She
was taken all possible care of by the
friends to whom she had applied and
passed a good night in their house. On
Saturday morning she had a hearty break
fast, and returned to the house of Mr
Robert Jones, where she did all the house
hold work, and appeared to be in her usual
health and spirits. Shortly after midday
she was missed, and upon being searched
for, was found weltering in her own blood.
Mr Jones and his family feel the loss of
Louisa almost as much as though she had
been one of their family, as her very pro
per conduct and amiable disposition during
the eight years which she had spent
amongst them had endeared her to all.