A MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15718, 19 September 1914, Page 2 (Supplement)

A MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

THEORY OF ROBBERY

The parents of the eighteen-year-old Hitchin (Hertfordshire) youth, Walter Spiccr, whose* mutilated body was found on thc Great Northern Railway near Seven Springs Bridge at midnight last month, believe that he was murdered for the sake of the money he had on him. The boy's sweetheart, Ina Stevens, stated :-"I left Walter at about twentyfive minutes past nine on the Saturdayevening. He showed me £3 in gold and more money in silver, and said he was going to London by the 9.50 train to got a suit which he had ordered. We parted on very friendly terms, and he said ho would be back the following morning by the 10.10 from London." The money was not found on the body, but the girl thought he must have had it when he entered the train.

Mr. Frederick Spicer, the father, said he felt sure that robbery was at the root of the tragedy. "There hag been foul play, ' ho said. " A week before his death lip showed me a heavy purse and told me ho was saving. Where has his money gone? When lie was found his pockets were emptv, and his body was on the top of a high embankment. How, after being so terribly mutilated, did it get there? If this can be explained, and his money and watch traced, we shall be near the explanation of how my boy met his death." '•The case is mysterious," said Superintendent G. Reed, of the local police, " but that the boy was murdered is not my view."