THE CLIFF TRAGEDY

Evening Star, Issue 13145, 29 December 1908, Page 6

THE CLIFF TRAGEDY

MRS EARL "FOUND DROWNED:"Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright., LONDON, December 28. (Received December 29, at 8.35 a.m.) Mrs Earl, who was concerned in the Dublin Bay tragedy of the 16th November last, was found drowned. [On November 14 Mrs Lloyd and Mrs Earl went together to have tea with a friend at a cottage near the Bailey Lighthouse. At dusk they set out to walk home along the steep path known as the Cliff road. This path overhangs the sea some 200 ft below. They did not return to Mrs EarFs house. Search parties, including several police, went out over the cliffs, while the coastguard boat was despatched round the headland to places where the ladies might have fallen. On a steep part of the cliff near the lower walk a coastguard came upon two women's hats and signs of a struggle, and on further search Mrs Earl was found only partially conscious halfway down the cliff. Mrs Lloyd's body was not discovered until early the next morning/ When dawn was breaking the men in the coastguard boat saw a still figure lying on the rocks a few feet above the breaking waves, and not far away from where Mrs Earl was found. It was Mrs Lloyd, dead. Mrs Earl partially recovered consciousness after she was found, and she told a story to the following effect:—She and her sister had reached a point within a mile of Howrth, and at.the highest part of the cliff, when thev'met two men, whom Mrs Earl described as big, hulking fellows, looking like tramps. One carried a pack or bag on his back. The men demanded money. The ladies, though frightened, indignantly refused. Thereupon the men set upon them, and Mrs Earl had no recollection of anything more. Mrs Earl's story was subsequently found to be untrue. She was subject to fits of mental depression. Less than twelve months ago she attempted suicide by jumping into a canal near Dublin, and was rescued with difficulty. The theory accepted was that while passing along the edge of the steep cliffs on the north side of the Hill of Howrth Mrs Earl was seized with an attack of suicidal mania, and that in endeavoring to prevent her, Mrs Llovd lost her own life. Hair, collar, brooch, and other ornaments were evidently torn from Mrs Lloyd in the course of her efforts to restrain her demented companion. In several places the turf was torn up. Mrs Earl was then placed under restraint.]