A VERY SAD CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 201, 27 August 1886, Page 4

A VERY SAD CASE.

A Young Mother Crowned,

A host harrow ing caße was reported to the City Coroner on August 17th. The details are of a peculiarly affecting kind, nnd In-

quirers into the case yesterday realised more than others who had not seen the locate of the tragedy whit a painful time of it the young mother must have experi-

enced on the lonely beach at Elsternwick during the long hours of the night before I she laid her helpless infant on the. bank .

j us' above high-water mark, and then walking in until she reached deep water herself*! sank, and was drowned. It bas been the

custom of Mr Morrison, a brushmaker, re>

siding in New-street, for some time past to take a constitutional walk along the beach , early every morning, and he was pursuing * thi« practice between G and 7 o'clock yesteiday morning, when, as he came to a j point many hundred yards from any hahitution and from the main thoroughfare,''

ElwoodParado, he was startled to Eeeayoung tl woman lying oo hor back at the edge of the" wfctrr. The upper part of her body rested on'> clean sand, and tho lower part in the water. ;

A hasty glance satisfied the surprised di»

covorer that she was dead, and he at once

hastened to the local police station, neatly

a mile distant, and gave information, Senior-constable Ryan and Conßtacle Hoi-

land accompanied him b3ck to the spot« As they approached the body the senior' constaula obsetvid a small bundle, appar'

ently cf clothing, lying on the sand just aoove high- wator mark -it was then not quite low tide—and ho was about to turn it over with one of his feet, when a faint wail came from the bundle.

Picking it up quickly, ho found it was a ti-iy infant, appirontly hardly two weekß old", warmly dressed, the outer wrapper being a svaito opera cloud with a broad red border, which had so enveloped the child-! to give it the appearance of a small bundle. It was attended to, and the body of the young woman brought up from the water. Her age was judged to be from 20 to 23 years. She had been good looking, but her it hands and arms were much wasted, whilst she was thinly attired for this season of the year. Her long black hair had escaped from ifcs fastenings, and wa< full of sand. Her complexion was decidedly dark, and she wore a fringe. Her outer garment was a che-k over-all, and her hat a black one, with feathers. Her feet - very small feetwere enclosed in a pair of quitfl new kid boots and all her personal iff cts seemed to be intact, but there was no wedding ring. She wore a cheap silver brooch (woo pattern), and an inferior gold watch, and still more inferior silver chain j whilst her small black sealskin bag, which was found on the boach, contained a sum of £4 7s, made up of three £l-notes on tho City of Molbourno Bank, a halfsivtrign, and the rest in silver ; but there wore no papers nor anything to lead to identification. The body was removed as soon as a conveyance could be summoned, and was placed under look and key in an out building at one of the local hostelries. The little female infant had previously been wrapped up by Senior-con-stable Ryan in his coat, and taken to one of the nearest houseß, which proved to be that of Mr Young, a city jeweller. Mrs Young gave it some nourishment, and it waa then handed over to a kind matron, who will retain it until Ps future is decided. The next step of the police was to find out. something about the young woman, if they could. They ascertained that, on tho previous afternoon, between 4 and 5 o'clock, she had been seen walking down New-street by Mr Boylan, a black? smith, and Mr Carman, a publican. A Bhower of rain was falling, and she was walking along quietly, and apparently unconcernedly, with her infant hugged to he t. Inquiry at almost every houEewaß made,but no one else bad seen her, and the police aro confident, she then went direct to the lonely beach and remained ther« until probably about half-past 3 a.m., when it would be full tide, ar.d then committed tho act When the tide went out the body was left r,s it was found. How sho spent thoso long hours in the cold on the dark beach thero is no chance of over knowing.

Tho police are satisfied she was alone, for Constable Holland, who has had experience as a buebmau, traced her foot-

prints from the hard ground in a direct line across the sand to the scene of the tragedy.. As far as is known, the deceased was a completo strangor in the locality, and why she chose the beach of Elsternwick she only herself knew. There were no marks of violenco on the body. "Melbourne Telegram."