MANY MURDERS IN LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 255, 3 November 1897, Page 5

MANY MURDERS IN LONDON.

The present extra epidemic of murders, suicides, and outrages upon women in London and its vicinity seems unequalled since the days of "Jack the Ripper." During the month of September the public were startled by an atrocious murder, and the alarm is increased by the fact that the perpetrators of the crime have battled the police, and have escaped without apparently leaving any clue as to their identity. Ihe murder in a railroad carriage of Miss Camp in February last, the perpetrators of the crime not having been discovered, has been followed by another railroad tragedy in which Mrs Bryan, the wife ot Dr. Bryan of Northampton has been killed under cirumstances pointing to murder, and the Rev Aubrey Brice, a well-known Divine, was killed at his residence on Monday. A little boy has been kidnapped and murdered in the suburbs. A rich miserly ■woman has been found cut to pieces at her residence at Bethnal Green, and a fanner's daughter, Emma Johnson, has been murdered at Windsor under peculiarly atrocious circumstances. Her body was mutilated, . stripped and thrown into the Thames. The authors of all these outrages are still at large, and there seems to be no trace of them, although the murder of Emma Johnson is believed to he the work of a maniac, whose actual identity is not known, but who for many months has frightened and assaulted persons on the road from Windsor to Maidenhead and who has always managed to elude capture. FAMINE AND DEATH UPON A LONELY SEA. One of those tales of the ocean that will come as long as men go down to the sea in ships Avas brought into the port of San Francisco on September 25th by the British vessel Hahneniann, navigated by her first officer Green, and with a crew of men almost recovered from scurvy and exhaustion cansed by short rations. Within a few miles of the Equator at a time when starvation was staring himself and his crew in the face, her skipper Captain Bindon died and was given a sailor's burial with a shot tied to his feet, in the still waters of the Tropics. For weeks afterward the balance of the crew lounged about the decks praying for a favourable wind to bring them to port before their food supply should be entirely exhausted. Then when hope was nearly gone the United States training ship Adams hove in sight and rescued them from starvation. Such in brief is the record of the ship Hahnemann's eventful voyage, a voyage extending over a period of 214 days, one of the longest that has ever been known between the coast of England and San Francisco. The details of this eventful trip show that among the twenty-live men in the vessel's crew there were many who, weakened by scurvy and the want of proper provisions, undoubtedly would have met with the fate of their Captain had not the Adams reached them when she did. The vessel left Hull January 30th and South Shields February 23rd. A succession of head winds prevented her from making Madeira until thirty-five days out. Falling into the trade winds she made GOO miles, when they fell away from her and she met with asuccessionof headwindsand occasional squalls. May 31st the ship reached the Horn, ninety days out. On June 7th a heavy sea carried away the starboard screen and parts of the deck houses and smashed one of the life boats. For several days following the vessel laboured heavily, with spars and decks coated with two inches of ice. June 24th, four months out. The vessel succeeded in rounding the Horn after having been kept south of the Capri for over three weeks. Captain Bindon, who had been suffering from a mild attack of erysipelas for several weeks, became worse in the closing days of June, and one of his last orders was to put the men on an allowance of two quarts of water a day and Board of Trade shortage rations. With the vessel on the Doldrums, the skipper sank rapidly. On July 18th he gave orders to the mate to run to Callao, but before they were carried out the captain died, and was buried at sea on the evening of July 19th, together with all his books, papers, etc., for fear of contagion. Many of the crew were dispirited by the loss of their captain, while nine of their number contracted scurvy. July 23rd, with the water almost gone, the ship drifted into a rain storm. The few members of the crew who had strengtli enough spread the sails aud so were enabled to replenish the tanks. When 192 days out the Hahneman drifted into the track of the Honolulu traders, a lookout was kept for some ship that might bring relief and food to the exhausted and half-starving crew. September II : 200 days out. The mate announced to the crew that only seven days' allowance of rice was left, and that the biscuits would only last another four days. The men below with scurvy, half famished," and without any substantial food except salt meat, were in a terrible condition. The morning of September 12th broke fine and. clear, the calm still- continued. The allowance of barley,enoughfor a child, was served out and desperation was writttn on the face of every man on boord, when a steamer hove in sight on the lee bow, running toward the vessel on the opposite tack. The reversed ensign was runup as well as the code of signals, "We are in distress and want assistance." The rescuing steamer proved to be the United States training ship, Adams, and as she stood up underneath the bow and swung around in answer to the signals, the crew of the Hahnemann sent up a feeble cheer. The captain of the Adams did everything that was possible, sending a large quantity of provisions, including a large quantity of green stuff and several bottles of medicine. Twenty-four hours 'after the timely relief a fine breeze sprang up, and the Hahnemann was headed for her destination. On the 17th of September she was within 700 miles of San Francisco, with the sick men gradually recovering health and spirits, brought about by fresh provisions and other favourable conditions. Captain Bindon was 42 years old. Most of his previous voyages were between Halifax and New York. He leaves a wife and iive children at Liverpool.