A MYSTERY UNRAVELLED.

Evening Star, Issue 7412, 6 January 1888, Page 4

A MYSTERY UNRAVELLED.

A short time ago (says the Timaru correspondent of the Christehurch ' Press') I telegraphed you that an elderly woman named Kent, who led a somewhat secluded life in Sandytown, disappeared suddenly, and no trace of her whereabouts could be found. The local police have all along been making vigorous inquiries, but no recjyd could be found by them. Mrs Kent's son only as recently as Wednesday morning made inquiries at the police station if any intimation had been received in reference to her unsatisfactory disappearance. However, the following clipping from the Melbourne ' Catholic Advocate,' kindly placed at my disposal by Father Foley, of Timaru, clears up the mystery:—" It was reported to the St. Kilda police lately by the residents of Nightingale street, Balaclava, that an old woman, named Mary Elizabeth Kent, sixty years of age, a resident of that street, had not been seen by anyone for several weeks. On removing ths blind of one of the windows of the house which she had occupied, Senior Constable M'Evoy saw the dead body of the woman in a kneeling position by the side of a stretcher, the only furniture in the house. Her hands, which clasped a rosary, as if she had been in the act of prayer, wero folded and the body was partially undressed. The body was much decomposed, death having apparently taken place about twelve days ago. No food was found in the house,

nor were there any signs of struggling. The deoeaeed took the house in July last from Mr Kelley, of High street, under the name of Mary Hammam and had paid rent up to November 23. When the collector called later on, he got no reply to his repeated knocks. In a portmanteau were papers showing that her maiden name was Mary Hamman ; that she was married to William Kent, at Brighton, England, on the 12th February, 1864, and obtained a protection order in February, 1873, at Timaru, New Zealand. A purse containing 12s Id, and a will bequeathing her property to H. E. Kent, her son, of Timaru, with a small annuity to the Roman Catholic- Bishop of that diocese, were also found in her possession."