When John VINCENT of 41 Simonds street, North End, left his home yesterday morn. about 6 o'clock to go to work at Carleton (St. John) his wife was alive and apparently in the best of health. He returned last eve. about 5:30 o'clock and found her dead. She was lying under a table on her face, with her mouth and nose so closely pressed to the floor that death was doubtless caused by smothering. A rocking chair was lying across her back. The head was surrounded by a pool of blood and the nose was split from the eye to the nostril. Coroner Berryman was immediately sent for and examined the body. He has not yet decided whether an inquest will be necessary or not. The wound on the face was likely caused by the head striking heavily on the floor. The coroner says the woman had been dead for several hours when he arrived. He could find no other marks or injuries about the body. Mrs. Vincent was 62 years of age. Her husband is a ship carpenter.