TRAGEDY NEAR LEEDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11825, 30 November 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

TRAGEDY NEAR LEEDS.

! YOUNG GIRL'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH. 'A girl has died at a farmhouse at Wike, mar Leeds, under singular circumstances. The girl was Lizzie Crowther, the eldest of the five children of George Crowther, an undertaker's foreman living in Spencelystreet. Woodhouse, Leeds. For three or four vears past she has lived with her grandmother, Mrs. crowtuer, at Wike. assisting her in the duties connected with a small farm, upon which her younger sister has been brought up since childhood. About nine o'clock at "night she went to see her aunt, the wife of Mr. Benjamin Dalby, of Manor House Farm. Mrs. Crowther's farm is only a, short distance — from 30 to £0 yardsfrom Manor House Farm, which deceased was in the habit of visiting regularly. After she had been ! gone half an hour she rushed into her | grandmother's house, .breathless and agitated, her hah disarranged, aud a shawl which she had thrown over her head pulled down. The statement she made to the occupants of the house was that as sho was returning home someone whom she : did not know and could not describe, but who had the voice of a man, seized hold of the back of her hair, and exclaimed, " Give me some brass," or words to thaieffect. She replied that she had no money, whereupon her assailant put his arm round her head and face, and pushed something which was bitter into lie: mouth. She getaway from him, and calling him a brute ran into the house. On getting into the .louse she got some water and washed out ; her mouth. Sobbing and exhausted she | sat down, apparently seized witu convul- ; sions. Her friends at once despatched a I messenger on horseback to Dr. Frank I Carter, of Chapeltown, the family doctor, but it was, of course, a considerable time before lie could arrive. In the meantime, j however, the girl hau died, her death, in ■ fact, taking place within about a quarter j of an hour after she returned to the house.

EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST. Ay a result of the proceedings at the inquest the girl's death is a deeper mystery than ever. Her mother, Mrs. Fanny Crowther, stated that the girl would , have been 21 years of age on November 9, and that she was always strong and healthy, and of a cheerful disposition. She was engaged to be married to a master plumber in Leed?, named Gilbert Westerman.

Elizabeth Crowther, the girl's grandmother, stated that Lizzie Crowther lived with her for about four years. She was strong and healthy, and a blooming-looking girl as need be. She was to be married shortly. Her young man was always coming, sometimes twice a week. She had had no quarrel with anyone. On the night of her death Lizzie went out just after nine o'clock, saying, '' I'll go across to my auntie's." She did not take her hat, but pinned a woollen shawl over her- head. It was a dull night. In about twenty minutes he came rushing back through the kitchen door. Her mouth was full of dirt. Her aunt got her some water to wash it out, but a few minutes afterwards her hands began to clutch, and she said, Oh, grandma, look at my hands." The Coroner: What were her first words as she came in?

Witness: She said. "A brute of a man gob hold of me, but I never saw anyone. i did not know his voice. He said to me, ' Give me some brass.' I told lum I had none, and he seized me by the hair." She then added, " I have such a nasty taste in my mouth. I can't bear it." Did she tell you how the taste- gob there? Yes. that he had put it there. After a while she said, " Ul). grandma, I'm dying." and witness exclaimed, " Surely not, surely not." Her colour unci changed to almost blue. Some terrible pains appeared to come to her. and she said. "if only I could be sick I'd feel better," and shortly afterwards she said, " Oh, it's in my legs." She had been sitting on the chair, and she then partly slipped off and stretched herself out, moaning. ' Oh, that brute of a man. Catch him! Catch him!" Those were the last words she spoke. She died on the floor about ten minutes niter. Her shawl had been pulled off her head, and her hair was down.

The testimony of Dr. Francis Carter, Chapeltown, was that a post-mortem examination of the bod],' showed all the organs) to be perfectly" health}-. There was nothing to account for death so far as his examination went. Externally there was not a scratch.

The Coroner: Do you know of any poison which will kill a person without" leaving a trace? Dr. Carter: Yes; strychnine, nicotine, and another poison. In "the case of nicotine there would certainly be some smell. It might be strychnine, then? It might be: but there is always the supposition that it might be due to fright. The coroner remarked that tne case still remained enshrouded in mystery. The inquiry was adjourned to allow of an analysis of the contents of the stomach.