MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIV, Issue 5019, 17 December 1877, Page 2

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A YOUNG WOMAN.

THE BODY FOOND AT SHELLY BEACH.

The denizens of Ponsonby, Freeman's Bay, and of their immediate vicinage, were yesterday morning thrown into a state of unwonted excitement by the intelligence that the dead body of a young woman had been fouDd on Shelly Beach, aDd that there was something mysterious about her death. The news was quickly circulated, and as the day advanced and waned the most conflicting though circumstantial accounts of the sad affair became current. The burden of some was that the deceased had been foully murdered, of others, that in a fit of religious mauia she had committed suicide ; while the story which received the greatest amount of credence was that she had fallen over the clitf. Of the respective degrees of credibility which these suppositions are entitled to receive, the public may judge when the short facts of the death, so far as they are at present known, are laid before them. They are as follow : — At a quarter - past S o'clock on Sunday morning, two men, named respectively SutcliCfe and Sceats, arrived at Shelly Beach with the intention of gathering some pipis. They had traversed but a small portion of the beach, when to their extreme surprise they beheld the body of a woman lying in a small pool of water. Going up to the spot, they found 'hat the remaius were those of a youuc; woman, a domestic servant apparently, and also that they had not been long in the water. The men were too much disturbed and alarmed to make any examination, and they went off hurriedly for the police.. Constable Bourke was soon fouud, and being made acquainted with the place where the body was lying, procured the SVa er- police | boat, and accompanied by Sergeant Martin and Constable Sampson hied with all possible expedition to Shelly Beach. Arrived there the body was found in the spot and position indicated, having evidently remained undisturbed. The place was imme* diafcely beneath a precipitous cliff, at the bottom of Mr. John Campbell's property, and distant only a few feet below high water mark. The deceased was dressed in working clothes, viz., a striped print dress, somewhat the worse for wear, one slipper upon her foot, and no hat upon her head. The features were calm and composed, and the hands were peacefully crossed over the breast. The appearance of the body was sufficient to set at rest any suspicion of death having been occasioned by a fall from the cliff above, for beyond a few trifling scratches and skin abrasions, and a slight iodentation on the temple, caused by the head resting on a stoue, there were no marks of violence. Evidence, however, there was that the deceased had been in the water, for in addition to the fact of the clothes being saturated with salt water, the lid of the right eye had been partially eaten by fish. The limba were quite rigid, and, putting all things together, it was thought that life had been extinct ten or twelve hours. Be that as it may, it was speedily conveyed to the Dead-house in Freeman's Bay, where an examination was made for any property that might be about the clothes. The only articles found in the pocket of the dress were a penny, a piece of paper, and a portion of what is known as a "wishing-bone," i. e. } a small bone from the breast of a fowl, 'the legend connected with the wishiug-bone, aud the uses to which it is put are pretty generally known, and need hardly be recited here.

Inquiries were immediately set on foot, with the object of establishing the identity of the female, but for some time proved of no avail. At length a clue was obtained, aud, being followed up, led to the discovery that the deceased was the daughter of Mr. John Fraser, a shipwright, of Freeman's Bay, that she was one of their family of five grown up children, and her Christian name Isabella. Her age, it was stated, was between 24 aud 25 years, but as to the cause of death the father, mother, brothers, and sisters, appeared as much mystitied as the police. The young woman had been employed as a domestic servant by Mr. Frank Quick, aud iu that quarter additional particulars were gleaned. Sliehad, it seemed, been sent at 9 o'clock on Saturday night from Mr. Quick's house with some clothes to Mrs. Hopkins, a washerwoman, in order that they might be put through the mangle. Not returning, Mr. Quick waited for her till 12 o'clock, aud then, thinking that she had gone to the house of her parents aud stopped for the night, he went to bed. Mrs. Hopkins lives about 100 yards from Mr. Quick's house, and she says that Miss Fraser arrived a few minutes after nine o'clock, and having delivered her message, asked her (Mrs. Hopkins) if she would mind going to Henderson's, the chemist's, and paying 6s she owed there. Her reason for making the request, she said, was that she was hardly in a presentable state to go shopping, having just come from her work. Besides, she wished to return to Mr. Quick's as quickly as possible, for she had to clean some knives. Mrs. Hopkins promised to do what was asked of her, aud the girl took her leave remarking thac she was tired alter the day's labours. She was attired iu the same dress which was upon the body wheu found, and had ou her fuet a pair of light slippers. Mrs. Hopkins is, therefore, so far as ascertained, the last person who saw the unfortunate girl alive, and how or by what means she came by her death is as yet unknown.

There is an indefinable feeling of uneasiness about the matter, but suspicion has not yet raised her linger. Assuming that suicide was contemplated, it looks very strauge that the girl should select a place at such a distance, when, by proceeding along St. Mary's Road or College Koad, she could much more quickly have found parts of the beach quite as secluded and as suited for the purpose as ! Shelly .Beach. Again, it is difficult !to beiwve that the girl meditated stlfdestructiou, for she possessed a good character, was in goo.l health, in presumably sound mind, was of a cheerful rather than of a morbid temperament, and was on good terms with her family, her employers, and her friends. Mr. Quick states that her conduct had been most exemplary, that she kept no company, and did not associate with any on<\ That she did not throw he-self or fall accidentally from the top of the cliff is as stated before, manifest from the state in which the remains were fouud. A path leads j from the top to the bottom of the cliff, and by that path it is believed she reached the beach. The third supposition as to how the girl lost her life, viz., that she met with foul play, is not supported by any facts at present known. Had there been foul play, it is not a strained or far fetched inference that there would | have been a struggle. The girl was well , made, and her limbs well developed, so that I if a struggle had taken place her dress and probably her limbs would have afforded : proof, but that the}' do not. Taking everything into consideration and rejecting nothing possessed of an appearance of probability, the only common sense conclusion that can be come to is that the girl, after leaving Mrs. Hopkins, proceeded along tho Shelly I Beach Koad, and descended by the cliff path co tiie beac'.i, where she drowned her- I

*='•1?. Supposing that she went from Mrs. Hopkins's house straight to the beach, she must have arrived there when it was dead low water. This is an additional elemeut of mystery. Pursuing these conjectures further, and going upon the assumption that she waded into tiie water until she had gained a sufficient depth to allow her to accomplish her presumed object, it is most unlikely that tiie body would have been deposited where it was discovered. At low tide at Shelly Beach, and in that vicinity, any person would have to go a way out to the wattr, aud an enormous distance to de-.p water, and a body would not float back io tho beach. It seem-* most probable, therefore, if d'..c;a::rd committal sniejdo, tho deed was not done till towards hi_,'h water, or about two or three o'clock. Where was deceased in the interval ? A pc<t morton examination of the body will be made today, and tiie inquest held as soon after as possible, and until that is over speculation is idle.

FIRE IN CHAPEL-STREET. At about 7 o'clock on Saturday evening the city fire-bells rang out an alarm with such vehemence that great cons torn at ion was caused. Queen-street was crowded at the time, and the greatest anxiety prevailed to ascertain the locality of the fire, but as there was no glare to indicate its vicinity, people rushed about in all directions in search of it. A fire had broken out, but it was fortunately observed in time and quenched with sufii- . cient prompitude to prevent it 3 spreadThe fire broke out in a two-roomed cottage in a close at the rear of the Alexandra Hotel. It is occupied by awidownamed Jane Harrington, who lived there with her two children. The house is in two storey 3. each comprising a single room. Mrs. Harrington is a washerwoman, and on Saturday being very busy, she bad not made tea for herself, so leaving some clothes to air before the fire, she with her children proceeded to a neigbour's house in Chapelstreet to have some tea. Dnring herabsence Mr. Campbell, landlord of the Alexandra Hotel, observed that the interior of the cottage was in flames, and that the fire was issuing from the windows and under the shingles. Sending a man known 'as " Scotty " to ring the alarm bell, he, with others who were in his house, went to the cottage and burst in the door. By a liberal application of buckets of water they succeeded in quenching l;he flames which at this time were travelling with great rapidity up the lining boards. The boards and the ceiling of the ground-floor are much charred. The Fire Brigade, under Superintendent Hughes, with suitable apparatus and hose were on the spot within a very few minutes after the first alarm was sounded, but the others who, with Mr. Campbell, had taken earliest action, were by this time successful in obviating the danger. The origin of the fire appears to be as follows : Mrs. Harrington's boy had brought home a bag of shavings in the afternoon. This was laid down close to the fireplace. It is supposed that a spark must have fallen on these shavings, which taking fire, communicated with the clothes which Were airing at the front of the fireplace. The latter were of course destroyed, and a mangle, which stood in the kitchen, is considerably charred. It is extremely fortunate chat" the flames were observed in good time, tor there are a considerable number of cottages in the close, and Mr. Purchase's cottage, facing Chapelstreet, was within a few yards of it, and connected with a high boarded fence. The Alexandra Hotel would also have been in danger had the fire been allowed to take sufficient hold.