WOMAN OF MYSTERY

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 June 1928, Page 2

WOMAN OF MYSTERY

OBAYSWATER GAS POISON CASE

LONDON, May 3.

Mr H R. Oswald, the Paddington coroner, held an inquest on the body of tlie woman who died in St. Mary’s Hospital, after being found with a young man unconscious in a. gas-filled room at a Bayswater hotel. She gave her name at the hotel as Airs Millicent Nowell, and stated that the young man was bier son, Air Edward Nowell. The man is still in St. Alary’s Hospital, recovering from tlhe effects of gas poison-

ing. Detective-Sergeant Butler, attached to the Finger Prints Department at Scotland Yard, identified the body as that of Alillicent Phillips, according to the Criminal Records Office at the Yard. He said she was also known as Emily Martineau and Alillicent Aloxon. He could not say what her real name was. She was about 53 years of age, and she was also known as Alillicent Alargulas, Alillicent Howard, Alillicent Edwards, Alary Alargulas, Helen Dennis, and Margaret Howard. Those names could all ije proved by the records. There was nothing to show in her criminal history whether dhe was married or single. The Coroner said he had a card showing the name “Captain and Airs 11. E. Nowell,” and an address at Nice, Promenade des Anglais. That might be a fake, of course.

Sergeant Butler said she had no permanent address. She came under the notice of the police principally for fraud The first time was for larceny in 1887. She was then registered as a waitress. She was apparently born in Liverpool. She was first charged at Jarrow. Sh elhad been convicted many times for larceny and fraud, the last time being in 1914. Nothing had been heard of her since until now. She was not under police supervision. At the time of her death she was wanted on live warrants for offences which had been committed in this country subsequent to 1914. Evelyn Roddick, manageress of the Embassy Hotel, Bayswater-hill, said that the woman and a young man, whom she described as her son, arrived at the hotel on March 14. They registered in the name of Nowell. The young man told her he was 26. He appeared to be mentally deficient. She had seen him suffering from fits. The woman said that she must have the same room as her boy because he had to be watched on account of the fits. After a. time she had two rooms, each of which had a gas stove with a Is in the slot meter. The woman, who called her son “Eddie,” said that she had come over regarding an estate in Argentina. Some days before she was found unconscious Mrs Nowell gave her a sealed envelope, saying, “In the event of anything happening to me I want you to open this.” The letter read :—

In the event of my sudden death before I leave Londoii I earnestly request that no one but Miss Roderick (evidently meaning Aliss Roddick, the Coroner pointed out) goes through my papers and no one except Aliss Roddick lias any of my things—M. Nowell.

The witness said she left the police to go through the papers. There was 5s in the gas meter when the discovery was made.

Police-Sergt. Upperton said that fie found two passports in the names of Airs Alillicent Aloxon and Edward Alexander Aloxon. In one the woman described herself as a widow and a British subject. She gave her place of birth as Whitehaven, Cumberland, and the date as 1880.

The date of the passport was iTbvember 14, 1926, and it was available for the British Empire, France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and the Argentine Republic. The second passport was that of Edward Alexander Moxon, who was stated to have been born at Winchester in. 1902. It was available for the same countries as the other passport LETTERS FOUND. Detective-Sergeant Nunn said he found in a handbag a packet of salts of lemon, apparently unopened. There were four letters, one addressed to Captain Nowell, one to Mr Nowell, while the other two were unaddressed. One signed “M.M.,’ ’which began ‘ ‘Harry, ’ ’ said : —- I only wish to tell you that as you have taken away all that made my life sweet and good, I am going to end it. I will not live to see this awful dishonour come to me. Pray do not worry about money. You will have mine, but my son must go with those who once loved and honoured his mother. I know he will be well looked after. You have caused me nothing but awful suffering. I cannot face life. You are an adventurer, only out after money. Till I met you 1 loved life and all it gave. Now goodbye, and may God judge you. Sergeant Nunn said that no doubt the woman and the man described as Nowell had been living together for some time. The woman was wanted on five different -warrants, and the man was wanted on the same warrants as well He was an associate of hers in fraud.

A letter from Nice, read by the Coroner, was as follows: —

Whatever (happens to me, that terrible man Nowell has driven me mad. He says he is a bosom friend of Sir and the Duke of . I only know he came to us in the clothes he stands in and with a. suitcase full of empty bottles and papers, and not a stitch of underclothes or even a collar. He has boasted and kept on what he would do when he got hold of our money. He has led me a. terrible life. I honestly believe he has tried to drive me to suicide. He has even knocked me down and kicked me when I was down. All he is out for is money. . . . He

stuck like a leech. ... I have often sent for money and he has kept every penny after keeping us without food He has stood over me and made me write begging letters, lies, and if any money has come he has kept it. I was an honest and greatly respected woman until Captain Nowell, as he called himself, molested me in my rooms. He forced his attentions on me and told lies. He said he was a bachelor and that we would be married as soon as possible. . . . He said he had not seen his wile for fourteen years, and Hhe bad lived with his own best friend—and he. Captain Nowell, would get his divorce through before the end of September. He is a lazy coward and terribly plausible liar. ' He has made my life a perfect hell. Ido not know how I have borne my life.

The Coroner said that Nowell was a plausible woman apparently, and one could not say how much truth there

was in these statements about other people. Sergeant Nunn said that the woman had been living with men for the past ten or twelve years. Before 1914 she was arrested for larceny or fraud practically every year. The fact that she had not been convicted since 1914 might be due to her having been looked after by some man or men. Dr N. R .Pooler, of St. Mary's Hospital, said that the young man was not in a. lit mental state to give any information. The woman’s death was due to asphyxia from bronchial pneumonia consequent upon coal-gas poisoning. The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide while of unsound mind.’’