SYDNEY MYSTERY

Evening Star, Issue 18335, 24 July 1923, Page 7

SYDNEY MYSTERY

MRS HEAYDON'S DEATH.

POLICE BAFFLED.

Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. ■ Australian and N.Z. Pross Association.

SYDNEY, July 23, (Received July 24, at 12.40 a.m.)

Tho police etato' that the trunk which wau discovered tlixows no light on the Coogoo myat&ry. Tho police are still searching for' the trunk with the body or for the carters who removed it from Coogce. THE MISSING WOMAN. Gertrude Mabel Hcaydon, twenty-six years of ago, who lived at Piercourt Plata, Manly, died in a room in Newetoad Plats, Beach street, Coogeo, lost October (says a Sydney paper). Her death, tho police believe, was the result of an illegal opera<tion. Some days afterwards tho body was carted, away in a cabin trunk and buried in a shed or garage, probably in Surry Hills. These are tho features of a ghastly tragedy Detectives Lynch, Garlick, Allmond 1 , and Jones; and Constables Alexander and Holby, of the North Sydney police, are attempting to unravel. Two 'men and a woman are under detention.

Tho Bertha tkmghlan, caso in Melbourne pales into insignificance beside this latest murder. Airs Hcaydon was a native of Newcastlo-on-Tyne, England, and was married in 1919 to Alfred Ernest Hcaydon, a member of the A.1.P., who is a commission agent in Sydney, Sho was a member of tho W.A.A.O.s, and had throe years of service in Franco, where sho and Hcaydon became acquainted. They arrived in Sydney on tho steamer Alain in December, 1919. They had one child eighteen months old at the time of tho death of Airs Heaydon. She is known to have left Manly last September, with tho intention of visiting Nurse Hughes, since, deceased, at Nowstead Flat, Beach road, Coogee, where she occupied a room in the front, and l on the left-hand eido of the ground’ floor. Nurse Hughes was also known by tho name of Taylor, REMOVAL OF A BOX.

Tho police say that Airs Hcaydon went to undergo an illegal operation, and that she died a few days after reaching there. Tho date of her death would have been somewhere in tho vicinity of October 2. Her body was removed from the promises about 9 o’clock on the morning of October 5 in a small cabin trunk, the police say. Tho trunk had an oval lid, and was probably about sft long and 2ft deep. It was taken away in a email box cart drawn by a bay horse in poor condition. The box at tho time was covered with the material from a three-cornered wardrobe, or hanging wardrobe, as they aro sometimes known.

It was taken in the direction of the city, and buried' in a stable, shed, or garage, probably in Surry Hills, which had been rented some short, timo beioro by ono or two men.

The polico first received an inkling of the affair in October, when information came into their possession that a woman had died at Coogce, and that the body had been carted away. Inquiries were made at the time, but they could find no record of any woman being reported as missing. JEWELLERY RECOVERED. A few days ago, however, it was definitely established that it was the body of Mrs Hcaydon, and tho police now' have some of her jewellery in their possession. Sho was never reported! missing- to the polico. The later information received was in tho form of, a letter from her father in Farndale road, Newcastle-on-Tyne. It was addressed to the Inspector-General of Polico, and stated that fear's were entertained concerning the manner in which she had met her death. As soon ns this peached tho hands of the detectives concerned they started tho machinery moving, and her disappearance synchronised with tho death of the woman at Coogce. The suspicions of tho people in England had been aroused in a cirri one manner. Tho dead woman’s sister received/a letter toward tho end of last year to tho effect that her sister had died from heart failure. Her father, however, knew that sho had served in France, and was a more than ordinarily healthy girl. Ho could not understand it. Soon, however, his daughter in England received another 'letter from her sister in Australia, written some ton days before her death, stating her intention of visiting a certain nurse. There was nothing in the second letter to indicate that sho was suffering from heart failure, and it was tho discrepancy between tbe_ two missives that ret the father wondering. The names of tho/o under detention are Alfred Ernest Hcaydon (husband of (ho deceased woman), * Nellie Cretan, and Philip Reilly. Many statements have been taken since the inquiry was first commenced, but during tho last few days the police have had something to work on, and have boon aide to bring their inquiries to a head. Thc.ro is a possibility that tho body was cut up to enable those concerned to fit it into a box.