The Daily Telegraph
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888
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SUICIDE. - An inquest was held last evening on the body of the young man Benson, who committed suicide in a barber's shop at Brighton. It was stated that the deceased was an art student, residing at Haverstock-hill, London. He went to Brighton on Saturday with his stepbrother, Dr. Shuttleworth, of Lancaster, for the benefit of his health. The barber deposed that he saw the deceased cut his throat, but he was so frightened that he, his boy, and a customer ran out of the shop. A verdict of suicide while of unsound mind was returned.
THE LONDON TRAGEDIES.
FURTHER DISCOVERY OF REMAINS AT WHITEHALL.
A HOUSE-TO-HOUSE SEARCH.
The following official notification has been issued:
"Sir Charles Warren wishes to say that the marked desire evinced by the inhabitants of the Whitechapel district to aid the police in the pursuit of the author of the recent crimes has enabled him to direct that, subject to the consent of the occupiers, a thorough house-to-house search should be made within a defined area. With few exceptions, the inhabitants of all classes and creeds have freely fallen in with the proposal, and have materially assisted the officers engaged in carrying it out.
"Sir Charles Warren feels that some acknowledgement is due on all sides for the cordial co-operation of the inhabitants, and he is much gratified that the police officers have carried out so delicate a duty with the marked goodwill of all those with whom they have come in contact.
"Sir Charles Warren takes this opportunity of acknowledging the receipt of an immense volume of correspondence of a semi-private character on the subject of the Whitechapel murders, which he has been quite unable to respond to in a great number of instances, and he trusts that the writers will accept this acknowledgement in lieu of individual replies. They may be assured that their letters have received every consideration."
It was reported yesterday that the police authorities have information tending to show that the East-end murderer is a foreigner who was known as having lived within a radius of a few hundred yards from the scene of the Berner-street tragedy. The place where he now lodges is asserted to be within official cognisance. If the man be the real culprit, he lived some time ago with a woman, by whom he has been accused. Her statements, it is said, are now being investigated. In the meantime the suspected assassin is closely watched.
An additional discovery of human remains was made yesterday, in the vault of the new police buildings, on the Thames Embankment, where the trunk of a female was found a fortnight ago. Mr. Jasper T. C. Waring had placed a Spitzbergen terrier at the service of the authorities, and shortly before noon yesterday the animal was taken to the vault by its owner in order to test its powers of scent. The dog almost immediately commenced scratching at a mound of earth not more than a yard and a half from the spot where the first discovery was made. Some tools were obtained, and the excavation commenced, the excitement of the terrier meantime increasing. After a few inches of soil had been removed, the animal seized hold of an object which proved to be a portion of a human leg. A considerable quantity of soil adhered to it, but it was evident, even by the dim light of a candle, that the limb had been severed at the knee joint. A police-constable who was on duty at the works came up at the moment, and at once reported the circumstance at the King-street Police-station, meanwhile forbidding the continuation of the digging until the arrival of his chiefs. Dr. Bond, divisional surgeon, was summoned, and stated that the remains which had been unearthed were the left foot and lower part of the leg of a well-developed woman. From its decomposed state he judged that the limb had been deposited in the vault at least six weeks ago, in all probability forming part of the body the trunk of which was recently found at the same spot, and one arm of which was discovered in the river near Grosvenor Bridge. At the conclusion of the examination the limb was wrapped in brown paper, and taken to the mortuary. Subsequently the terrier was further employed in searching for other portions of the remains, and the police were engaged in digging the ground in various parts of the vaults.
On inquiry at King-street Police-station last night it was stated that no further discovery had been made, but that arrangements had been completed for the thorough examination of the floors of the vaults. It turns out that the earth by which the limb was covered was thrown back from an excavation made some eight or ten weeks ago. This confirms the medical statement as to the length of time during which the leg had been deposited, while it also has some bearing upon the date when the other remains were placed in the vault. The workmen asserted that the body was not there on the Friday previous to its discovery; but in Dr. Bond's view the blood-stains on the wall of the vault had been so thoroughly absorbed as to suggest that they had been there a considerable length of time. At any rate, it is quite clear that the leg found yesterday could not have been recently deposited, as a strict surveillance of the premises has been maintained by the police since the first startling discovery. More than that, the hoarding all round the site of the buildings has been increased in height by about 3ft, so that it would be absolutely impossible to climb over it. The further investigations of the police are naturally rendered more difficult by the intense darkness of the vaults and the tortuous passage by which they are approached. Up to the present there is no clue as to the identity of the murdered woman. At the adjourned inquest, on Monday next, evidence will be given as to yesterday's discovery.
The following statement has been supplied by an eye-witness: "Mr. Waring, the owner of the Spitzbergen terrier, sought the assistance of Mr. W. H. Angle, on Tuesday last, having failed to gain access to the premises with his dog, although he had applied to the police authorities, and to Messrs. Grover, the contractors, for permission to test the dog's instinct. Mr. Angle, who was present when the trunk of the body was found a fortnight since, appointed yesterday morning for the visit and the proposed experiment with the terrier. Some little difficulty occurred at first, owing to the police-constable on duty at the buildings requiring an authority from his superior officers to allow an inspection of the premises, and a search of the excavations. Ultimately the police withdrew their opposition, but could not give a formal authority, and by the courtesy of the foreman of the works the two applicants above-named were admitted and allowed to pursue their investigations. Some time was spent amongst a lot of timber, where it was suggested the head could easily have been slipped between the logs, ultimately falling to the ground, and here the dog hesitated, sniffed, and scratched for awhile, but nothing connected with the remains was discovered, the timber not having been removed. At the suggestion of Mr. W. H. Angle, the dog was taken to the spot where the remains of the deceased woman was discovered, and by the aid of a candle-light the blood-stained bricks at the base of the wall where the remains was laid were clearly visible. In the opposite corner (less than a couple of yards off) the little terrier sniffed and retired, but, urged to 'find it,' the dog again went to a heap of earth, and began to scratch it away. Mr. Angle commenced to remove some of the earth with his foot, when Hedge, a labourer, brought a spade, and upon digging away some four or five inches of earth, after the removal of stones and portions of brick from the surface, a red fleshy substance was observed. At this moment the constable on duty at the works gave orders for the digging operation to be stopped until the arrival of his superior officers. Mr. Brown, the assistant-foreman, speedily summoned them to the scene. Sergeants Rose and Ferris arrived, and the former completed the task of unearthing the portion of a limb, which was ultimately found to be the left foot and part of the leg as far as the knee. Dr. Bond, of the Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, was soon in attendance, with Inspector Peters and a staff of constables, who took possession of the premises, not allowing any one to leave or to enter during the investigation. Dr. Bond was apparently of opinion that the remains found had been deposited at least six weeks since, and that the workmen who had stated that the trunk was not there on the Friday before its subsequent discovery were in error, they having overlooked it, for the blood-stains on the wall must have had some time to soak in. The doctor having completed his examination Sergeant Rose carefully wrapped up the remains in a brown paper parcel, which he tied up and sealed, a board being placed underneath to keep them intact. He then conveyed them to the mortuary in a cab. The recess where these remains were found is situated in a vault underground, about eighty yards from the Cannon-row entrance. It is quite dark, and difficult to find except by some one acquainted with the construction of the works."
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LYCEUM THEATRE. - Sole Leasee, Mr. Henry Irving. - TO-NIGHT, at nine, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. LESBIA, at eight.
LYCEUM. - MR. RICHARD MANSFIELD. - In consequence of the enormous success, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE will be played TO-NIGHT (Thursday), and on SATURDAY EVENING.
LYCEUM. - TO-NIGHT, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE. - To prevent disappointment, seats should be at once secured for the performances of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" - Box-office (Mr. J. Hurst) open daily from ten to five.
LYCEUM THEATRE. - Special Notice. - BENEFIT PERFORMANCE, TO-MORROW (Friday) EVENING, in AID of the BISHOP of BEDFORD'S HOME and REFUGE FUND for the POOR of the EAST-END of LONDON, under the patronage of H.R.H. Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, H.R.H. Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, the Right Hon., the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, the United States Minister and Mrs. Phelps, his Grace the Duke of Westminster and the Duchess of Westminster, General Sir Richard Taylor, K.C.B., and Lady Jane Taylor, Sir Philip Cunliffe Owen, K.C.B., Sir Augustus Adderley, K.C.M.G., and Lady Adderley, Sir Ambrose Shea, K.C.M.G., and Lady Shea, Dowager Lady Freske, Lady Dorothy Nevill, the Countess de Labaume, Sir Charles Mills, K.C.M.G., Mrs. Bright, of Colwall, the Rev. Walter Clark, B.D., Walter H. Pollock, Esq., Joseph Knight, Esq., Gilbert Dalzeil, Esq., Joseph Hatton, Esq., Mr. Morell Mackenzie, Henry Labouchere, Esq., M.P., Edmund Yates, Esq., Clement Scott, Esq., Thomas Catlin, Esq., Carl von Buck, Esq., Savile Clarke, Esq. On this occasion will be performed PRINCE KARL, a comedy in four acts, by Archibald C. Gunter (author of "Mr. Barnes of New York" and "Mr. Potter of Texas"), in which Mr. Richard Mansfield will appear in his original character of Prince Karl. Commencing at 8.45. Preceded by a comedietta. Seats can now be secured, for which early application is respectfully solicited, at the box-office (Mr. J. Hurst), open daily from ten till five.
LYCEUM THEATRE. - PRINCE KARL. - TO-MORROW (Friday), at 8.45, BENEFIT PERFORMANCE, under the most distinguished patronage. MR. RICHARD MANSFIELD as PRINCE KARL, his original character. BENEFIT of the POOR at the EAST-END of LONDON.
Sir Charles Warren, encouraged by the marked desire evinced by the inhabitants of Whitechapel to aid the police in their pursuit of the perpetrator of the recent crimes, has directed a thorough house-to-house search to be made within a defined area.
Further investigations in the vault of the new police buildings, on the Thames Embankment, where the trunk of a female was brought to light a fortnight ago, have led to the discovery of a portion of a human leg, much decomposed, which was concealed in a mound of earth. Mr. Jasper Waring had placed a Spitzbergen terrier at the service of the authorities, and yesterday this gentleman, accompanied by a friend, made the test, with the result that the dog in a few minutes indicated the spot where the remains were subsequently found. Dr. Bond has expressed the opinion that the limb is that of a female, and probably belongs to the as yet unidentified body.
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POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MARLBOROUGH-STREET - COWARDLY ASSAULT. Santiago Dias, a foreign cabinetmaker from Albany-street, was charged with assaulting Mrs Rebecca Crawford, in Cleveland-street, at one o'clock yesterday morning. A police-constable saw the prisoner strike the woman and knock her down three times, and on running towards them he found that she was bleeding profusely from the nose. He took the man into custody, and with great difficulty got him to the station. - Mrs. Crawford, the wife of a tailor, living in Whitfield-street, deposed that she was on her way home from a place of amusement, when the prisoner, without her having said a word to him or given him the slightest provocation, struck her and knocked her down three times, and she would have been beaten by a lot of foreign women if a constable had not come to her aid. - Mr. Hannay said it might be that the prisoner mistook the prosecutrix for some one else. Dias was fined 40s or twenty-one days.
WORSHIP-STREET. - CHANGE FOR A SOVEREIGN. - Walter Evans, 40, and Francis Sims, 39, tailor, were charged, on remand, with having feloniously obtained a sum of 19s 6d, the moneys of Mr. Samuel Brewster, licensed victualler, of the Star public-house, City-road. - The men went into the house and called for ale, for which one put down a sovereign in payment, when the other offered to pay, and the first one received the sovereign back. Then he offered to pay again, and, throwing down a coin, said, "Take it out of the sovereign," and the barman gave change, 19s 6d. A moment later the men left. Detective Merroney entered, having been watching them, and stated his suspicions. The barman looked in the till, and found the coin was a shilling, which had been dexterously substituted for the sovereign on the second offer of payment. - The prisoners were committed for trial.
THAMES. - "KEEPING COMPANY." - William Woods, 20, was brought up for assaulting Annie Ellis, of 34, Smeaton-road, Bow, E.; further, with committing wilful damage to the extent of 5s. - The prisoner and prosecutrix had been "keeping company," but the young woman wished to have nothing more to do with him, and would not go out with him on Tuesday evening. He then asked her for a likeness he gave her, and because she could not find it he knocked her down and struck her several times about the face. He also smashed a window in the house of her mistress. - The defendant admitted the facts, and was sentenced to two months' hard labour for the assault and to fourteen days' hard labour for the damage.
THE EAST-END MURDERS. - Dr. Edmund King Houston, divisional surgeon of police, H Division, and Mr. Slight, relieving officer, brought up a lunatic for the magistrate to examine, and presented the necessary papers for her removal to one of the county lunatic asylums. The doctor's certificate states that the patient is Sarah Goody, aged forty, a needlewoman, living at 46, Wilson-street, Stepney. She told him (the doctor) she was followed about by men who watched her movements, and intended either to murder her or do her some harm. They had pursued her in several parts of London, and on one occasion she had to run into a tram-car to escape them. She was so frightened that she could neither eat nor sleep. Her mind was full of those things, and had she not been taken into the workhouse she would have committed suicide. The lunatic attendant stated that the poor woman declared she was followed about by murderers, who intended catching her. On one occasion she asked her landlady to see if there was any writing on the shutters. - Mr. Lushington, having examined the woman, signed the necessary papers for her removal to an asylum.
