A FOUL MURDER.

fanny Marshall's fearful Fate I....■'•■'' ■'■ ....■'•■'' . . ■ Some Incredible Suggestions. Is it a Case of ; Necrophilia?

Auckland was horrified 'on Tuesday morning to learn that on the previous night, or early that morning, a woman had been done to death m the city, under circumstances of the most horrible brutality imaginable. Indeed, m many of its characteristics, the crime is, reminiscent of the notorious Jack the Ripper outrages which paralysed London with horror years ago. , The victim of. the murder was a woman named Frances Marshall, wife of Frederick Charles Marshall, a fish curer- The couple lived m Grattan-street, off Nel-son-road, Freeman's Bay. She was a • buxom and. well kept woman of fortythree years of age and stated by nor neighbors to have been of sober and industrious habits and generally well liked. ; She' had no children, but appeared, to live quite happily with her husband. * • According to the neighbors, she left home m. company with her husband on Monday night about 7 o'clock. They proceeded together some little way down the street where they parted. Mrs. Marshall, it is stated, 'after visiting a hotel, repaired to the house of a friend, named Mrs. Wh'itford, living m ; Wellesley-street. Her husband, it appears, was aware that she intended making this call when sho left him. She remained with Mrs. Whltford until nearly ten o'clock and then left, stating that she had to bo up early to attend to her husband who was going out after a job. She made her next , call at a small shop near the Welllnsr-ton-street corner, and after that her movements were lost sight of. . Early on Tuesday morning a little girl playing upon a vacant section at the back of the premises or" Mr. M. D. Taylor, coffee merchant, Nelson-street, noticed the body of a woman lying extended m a narrow space between Mr. Taylor's premises and the house of Mr. Peter Erickson, tramway employee. She informed Mr. Erickson of what she had seen and he at once went m search of a policeman. He found Constable Macintyre, of Newton Police, on the beat, the time being then about 7.45 a.m., and informed him of the girl's statement. The constable at once hastened to the spot and found to his horror evidences of a murder most foul. The unfortunate woman was lying on her side with her head In a pool of blood and with other shocking cuts arid abrasions visible. She j was quite dead and had evidently been ; killed some hours previously. Her ! throat had been cut practically from ! ear to ear and the jugular vein sever- ] cd-' The forehead and scalp had been ' scored by the same instrument and the nose cut about. A further examination showed that the desperate miscreant had also repeatedly stabbed the unfortunate victim through tho loft breast and chest, no fewer than twen-ty-five wountls being discovered upon her. In addition the woman's skull was fractured m two places. Them were no indications that the woman 1 had been dragged to the spot where she was found. The site of the murder is not a right-of-way or lane, but simply the ordinary gap, two or three feet wide, between two premises, on one sldo being the wall of Erlckaon's j house and' on the other a scoria wall I attached to the premises of Mr. Taylor. There is no exit from It at tho Htreet end and tho only access Js ] through the vacant section m which j the child who discovered the murder was playing. A thorough examination of the surroundings was made by tho police, but nothing to throw any light upon tho mystery was discovered, except that i a Hum of five shillings was lying at j her sldo. In her hand-bug there was v small purse containing aevenpenco ! and a receipt, bearing the name of Marshall. A watch was still suspended round her neck by a cord and this is ■ , taken to indicate that ) ROBBERY WAS NOT THE MOTIVE | leading up to tho crime. The murdered woman was of medium height and build, pleasant looking ant) dressed m a black skirl, short blue knitted Jacket and wore a small blue hat. The police would bo glad to hear from anybody who may have seen a woman answer- , Ing this description, either, by herself or m company on tho night of the murder. Tho scene of the outrage Ik only j about thren hundred yunls from tho shop lust vl6ltcd by Mrs. Marshall and was on her direct route home. Inquiries ollclt that no disturbance was heard In thu neighborhood on the fatal nlfrht, j nnd whatflvcr happened, mum have happt-ned quickly and noiselessly, for the district Is thickly populated. The husband's story Is that their life wu« . one of marital huppitutss. Frederick Charles Marshall, a thickly built and stocky man, -14 years of age, when soon by a "Truth" reporter, said that he nnd his wife had boon married for about twenty years and had ; spent a long life of perfect happiness together. She was everything that a man could desire In a woman und had made his home a real home, though there wero no children. He related that ho and hl« wife hat! loft tho house on Monday night as stated. She going to visit a Mrs. Whitford, whom sho know well. He returned borne and wailed

up for a while before going to bed. As she did not return ho got up several times and looked out and became very anxious, although he had come to the conclusion that, for some reason, ■ sho might have had to stop the night at . Mrs. Whltford's. He resented the suggestion that he had accepted his wife's absence very casually and said she had never before been out all night; since they had been married. He got up early m the morning and- after swallowing a cup of tea, went out to see if there was any sign of her. He was anxious also for her early return, as he , had to make inquiries about a job that morning. He had been asked, tog o up to the cemetery and paint a graye, and he intended to go to Mrs. Whitford's and inquire, and after calling In at the hotel for a. glass 'of beer, he was returning home to see if she had arrived, when he was met by a neighbor who gave him the information that HIS WIFE HAD BEEN MURDERED. He at once went to the Police Station at Newton, and was taken to the city morgue where he Identified the body as that of his wife. Marshall states that his wife was not a hard drinker, "though she would have a glas of beer ■with " me," and. that she had no vices that he knew of. He, feels very keenly the suggestions that* have been made, and said that his wife had* a Hum 01 six or seven shillings when she left the house, and that all the neighbors will testify to her steady habits. While every allowance must bo made for the husband of the woman so foully murdered, the unfortunate position is that the police theory of murder is that while the murdered woman was outwardly respectable, she was, m reality, a woman of the unfortunate class. She did not pursue the calling boldly, but quietly, and would nol accost men, but preferred to bo accosted. It is suggested that on Monday evening she was accosted by the murderer, that a bargain was struck, that she herself led the way to the spot where she was found foully murdered. The fact that the sum of money mentioned was found near her dead body, that the few articles of jewellery on her were not removed, strengthen the belief that the motive of the murder was not robbery, but that the foul deed was the work of a maniac, probably the work of a foul' being known to scientists as a necrophilo — one who satiates his lust on the body of the dead. This, of course, is only a surmise, and. perhaps the mystery may yet bo cleared up by tho authorities. ! The -polloo are certainly working m tho dark, and havo little, If any. clue to go upon, though it might reasonably be suspected that the murderer is a seafaring man, who would be quick to destroy the evidence of his brutal crime. All Indications at present aro that the murder will remain a mys- | tery, | On Wednesday morning last Coroner I Cutten formally opened the inquest on tho body at tho morgue, for the purpose of establishing identification before tho burial of the body. After viewing tho i body, evidence of identification was given by the husband of the murdered woman, and tho inquest was adjourned until Monday," October *12.