City & Liberty of
Westmr . in the County
of Middlesex }

Informations taken this Twenty ninth
day of June 1772 at the Parish of St. Margaret
within the Liberty of Westmr. in the County of
Middlesex upon an Inquisition touching the
death of James Payne< no role > lying dead in the said
Parish & Liberty of Westmr.

Emanuel Morris< no role > son & Apprentice to William Morris< no role > of Kings
Arms Stairs in the Parish of St. Mary Lambeth Barge
-Builder on his Oath saith That on the 19th. day of this
Instant June between Eight & Nine o'Clock in the Evening this Dept. having occasion to come to the
Seed shop in Parliament Street for some Parsley seed
& James Payne< no role > the Deced & Henry Burnford< no role > a Led agreed
to go with him, Says that when they were come taken
Westmr. Bridge about three archy they saw two Men
Swimming in the Thames, upon which the Deced got
over the Ballastrades on the lowerside of the Bridge
and walked upon the [..] Curb on the outside of the
Ballustrads says that he desired the Deced to came
back upon the Bridge but Deced said as he was there
he would walk on to the End, and Deced did according
walk along there, until he was got very near to
the Westmr. side, when he fell down from off the
Curb into a Boat in the Thames fastened there,
says that the Deced was not Sensible, and unable to speak,
that his Right Leg was broke by the fall says that Mr. Justamond a
Surgeon was fetched who ordered the Deced to be carried
to the Westmr. Hospital, and Deced was carried there
immediately, where the Deced was bled and his Head
Trapanned, Says that he saw the Deced on the 21st. June
in the Hospital, that the Deced was then Sensible, and on
his being asked how the Accident happened Deced said that his
foot Slipped which occasioned his falling down, and Dept. says
that the Deced's fall was Accidental, Says that the Deced died
in said Hospital one Saturday (June 27) about two o clock in the
afternoon and believed that the hurt which he reced by the fall abovementioned
[..]