CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT - SEPT. 24.
(Before Mr. Justice CHARLES)
SERIOUS CHARGE AGAINST A MEDICAL MAN. - James Gloster, 34, a duly-qualified medical practitioner, was charged with the wilful murder of Eliza Jane Schumacher, a married woman. - Mr. Poland and Mr. Mead appeared for the prosecution on behalf of the Treasury: while Mr. C. F. Gill and Mr. Horace Avery defended the accused. - Dr. Gloster resides in Upper Phillimore-street, Kensington, and the deceased was a woman who for several years had lived apart from her husband at several addresses in Moreton-place, Pimlico, receiving a small allowance from Schumacher, which she supplemented by acting as a dressmaker. Last spring she believed herself to be enceinte, a delusion on her part, and she consulted several doctors, one of whom tried unsuccessfully to convince her that she was mistaken. On June 27 she died, and an examination proved that an unlawful operation had been performed upon her in a very bungling fashion. Among the medical men she consulted was Dr. Gloster, and the prosecution allege that he did something to her which resulted in her death. The principal evidence against him was the woman's own statement, made on her death-bed, and the statement of deceased's sister, who said that she called on Dr. Gloster while Mrs. Schumacher was very ill, and asked him to visit her sister, but he declined, on the ground that Mrs. Schumacher had deceived him, adding that he would not go back though £500 were laid before him, as "his name was his name." It was not denied that Dr. Gloster had visited the deceased once in Moreton-place, but he strenuously asserted that he had not performed any operation whatever on her, or been present when any such operation was performed. The prosecution admitted that it was difficult to understand how a qualified medical man, such as the defendant undoubtedly was, could have acted so clumsily as was done in this instance. - The case against the accused was not completed when the Court adjourned.
POLICE INTELLIGENCE
BOW-STREET. - THE POLICE AND THE PUBLIC. - Elizabeth Owen was charged before Mr. Bridge with being drunk and disorderly. - According to the evidence of Police-constable 139 E, the prisoner was having a dispute with another woman on Saturday evening, opposite St. Mary's Church, Strand. She refused to go away, and was taken into custody, when she became very violent. - Mr. Beaumont Kent, a reporter, said that he saw the constable use very great violence towards the woman. The officer rushed at her, driving her against the wall. He then dragged her across the street to an empty shop, and, taking her by the throat, knocked her head against the shutters three or four times. Witness stepped up and remonstrated against the unnecessary violence that was being used. The constable told him not to interfere, and pushed him back roughly with his arm across his chest. He also tried to get hold of him by the throat, and said he would "run him in" if he had any more of his --- cheek. Some persons came round, and appeared anxious to get the woman from his custody, and he then desisted in his attack on witness. Mr. Kent followed to the station, and there the same constable asked him rudely what he was doing. He replied: "You know what I am doing." The constable ordered him to leave the station, and threatened to "chuck him out." He declined to leave on the constable's order, and was then seized by the arms and pulled very violently away from an iron bar to which he clung. His hands were injured, two of the small bones being put out. - Mr. Bridge said witness might have a summons against the constable, or report the matter to the Commissioners. - Mr. Kent replied that in the interest of the public he should prefer to have a summons. He should not be satisfied with an investigation before the Commissioners. - There was no dispute about the woman Owen being drunk, and she was fined half-a-crown, or one day's imprisonment.
THAMES. - THE ATTEMPTED MURDER IN WHITECHAPEL. - William Seaman, 40, a builder, of 11, Princess-street, St. George's, was brought up, on remand, charged with attempting to murder an old gentleman named Thomas Simpkin, chemist, of 82, Berner-street, Commercial-road, by striking him on the head with a hammer. Inspector Thresher informed the magistrate that the prosecutor was still unable to attend. - No further evidence was taken, and the accused was again remanded.
Additional particulars respecting the victim of the tragedy at Gateshead have been received. It appears that Jane Beatmoor, more commonly known in the district as Jane Savage, resided with her parents at a place called Whitehouse, near Northside. Her mother, with whom she lived, was married a second time, her present husband being Joseph Savage, who follows the calling of a miner, and is a sober, industrious workman, respected by all his neighbours. His stepdaughter, also, was of a quiet, inoffensive nature, and was generally liked. Of late she had been in weak health, and had been attending the Gateshead Dispensary, where she had received medicine from time to time. On Saturday she went to the infirmary, and returned home in the afternoon. In the evening she started on a visit to a neighbouring farm, and called on the way at the Moor Inn, near Birtley, where sweetstuffs and general stores are kept. Having purchased some sweets there she resumed her journey. She was last seen alive on the way to the farm about eight o'clock, and several persons stated that she was in the company of a young man. As she did not return up to eleven o'clock, Mr. and Mrs. Savage became anxious about her, and at that hour went out in search of the girl, but returned without ascertaining any tidings of her. They consoled themselves with the thought that perhaps she had stayed overnight with some neighbour, and they retired to rest.
About seven o'clock on Sunday morning a fitter named John Fish, employed at Ouston Colliery, was proceeding along the wagon way from Pit Houses, Black Fell, when at a point known as Sandy Cut, he suddenly came upon the body of the missing woman. The place at which the corpse was found is a dreary-looking spot, and one in which a foul deed might be perpetrated with little fear of detection or interruption. The wagon-way is used for the carriage of coal from Ouston Colliery to shipping spouts near Bell Quay, and, dismal as is the region which it crosses, no place is more desolate than the locality where the unfortunate woman was found dead. The body lay about three or four feet from the line, the head being in a gutter about nine or ten inches deep, and the legs being pointed towards the wagon way. It leaned partly on the left, and on the right side of the throat, just below the ear, a frightful gash was visible. Police-constable Dodds, stationed at Eighton Banks, about a mile distant, was at once sent for, and the body was removed to the deceased's house, Dr. Galloway, Wrekenton, being meanwhile summoned. Dr. Galloway having found that life was extinct, the house was securely locked up, and the occupants transferred themselves to a neighbouring dwelling.
The police are, it is stated, looking for a man who was employed at one of the local ironworks, with whom deceased had been keeping company. He disappeared on the night of the murder and has not been seen since. A search was made yesterday in the field in which the body was discovered for a knife, or other weapon, with which the deed may have been committed. The position in which the corpse was found was such as to indicate that the woman had been seized with sudden alarm. The palms of her hands were stretched out, and were close to each other. An inquest was formally opened yesterday morning, and adjourned for a fortnight. The police have decided to explore the whole of the disused pitshafts in the neighbourhood as there is a rumour that the murderer after committing the fatal deed threw himself down one of them.
Dr. Phillips, who made the post-mortem examination of the body of Annie Chapman, the victim of the last Whitechapel murder, left London last evening for Durham, and will examine the body of the young woman who was murdered and mutilated at Birtley, with the view to ascertain whether the injuries resemble those inflicted on the Whitechapel victim. Inspector Roots, of the Criminal Investigation Department, has also gone to Durham to see if any of the facts connected with the murder of Jane Savage on Saturday night are likely to be serviceable in elucidating the Whitechapel mysteries. Up to a late hour last night, the local police had obtained no clue to the murderer. The whole neighbourhood has been scoured, and the people have everywhere shown the greatest zeal to assist the police in the search, but their efforts have been so far without reward. The methods and success of the murderer so closely resemble those of the Whitechapel fiend that the local authorities are strongly inclined to connect the two crimes. As in the last two London cases the murder was effected without any violent struggling on the part of the victim, the actual cause of death was the cutting of the throat, and the same parts of the body were mutilated in a very similar manner.
Details concerning the murder of Jane Beatmore, whose body was found horribly mutilated in a lonely wagon-way near Gateshead, on Sunday morning, show that she was last seen alive at eight o'clock on Saturday night, when she was on her way to a neighbour's farm. The coroner's inquest was opened yesterday, and adjourned for a fortnight. At present there is no clue to the murderer.
James Gloster, a duly-qualified medical practitioner, was put upon his trial at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, charged with the wilful murder of Eliza Jane Schumacher. It was alleged that the accused had performed an unlawful operation on the deceased, who was a married woman living apart from her husband. The defence was a total denial of the charge. The case for the prosecution was not concluded when the court rose.
