A MYSTERY SOLVED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1732, 5 January 1888, Page 3

A MYSTERY SOLVED.

■ ♦ ■ TRAGICAL DISCOVERY. j

Tbe Tlnaftjra correspondent of the [ " Pmm " tcleguphi under date January 4 ; M folio** :— * A abort time ago 1 telegraphed yon that ] •b elderly woman named Kent, who lived j « somewhat secluded life m Bandy town, disappeared suddenly, »od no trace of her j whereabouts could be foand. The local police have all along bean making vigorous ( •cqairies, bat so record conld be found ' by them. Mr* Kent's ton on'y as tecently M this morning made enquiries at the ] Polle* Station if any intimation had bean j received In reference to her unsatisfactory disappearance. However, the following \ clipping from the Melbourne "Catholic ( Advocate," kindly placed at my disposal % by Father Foley, of Timaru, clears up tbe ' myitery : —" it was reported to the St < Ktlda police lately by the residents of i Nightingale street, B>laclava, that an rid | woman named Mary Elizabeth Kent, 60 , years of age, a resident of that street, had ( not been seen by anyone for several weeks. , On removing the blind of one of the windows of tbe booee which she had ' occupied Senior Constable Mcfivoy saw ! tbe dead body of the woman m a kneeling i position by the side of a stretcher, th« only furniture m tbe House. Her hands, | which clasped a roeary, as if ebe had been , m tbe act of prayer, were folded and the ' body partially undresßed, The body was ' much decomposed, death having appa- ' cenily taken place about twelve days ago. 1 No food tr«o foatd iv the house, nor : were there &cy signs of struggling. The i deceased took the honee m July last from , Mr Keller, of High street, under the name of Mary Bam man, and had paid rent up to 28th November. When the colleotor called later on, he got no reply to his repeated knocks. In a portmanteau were papeis sbowipg that her maiden name was Mary Hamsun; that she was married to William JKent at Brighton, England, on the 12th February, 18C4, and obtained a protection order is Febroary 1873, at Titnaro, New Zealand. A puree containing 12s Id, and • will btqae*.tj«iDg b*c property to E. E. Kent, the son, ct Timara, wiih » email annuity to the Rcmat* Catholic BUhop of that diocese, wtie alto fypud iv her possession,' 1