A Shocking Discovery.

Manawatu Herald, 5 September 1895, Page 2

A Shocking Discovery.

• I A case, the external appearance of which indicated that it contained ordinary merchandise, was found near the water frontage at Woolloomooloo, emitting a strong smell of carbolic acid an« decomposing animal matter. The police opened it, and found the body of a youag woman. The abdonleri had been cut open arid sewn up again; apparently by a practised hanu< I?he Government Pathologist states that the woman was evidently delivered ol a child by an operation made oj rare occasions, when natural accouchement is impodsible. She had apparently been dead between 30 and 30 hours. The body had been jammed into the box, and firmly fixed by battens. The theory is advanced that someone skilled in anatonly, without being a regularly qualified surgeon, did the deed ; that the woman died, and the operator, being frightened, took this means to get rid of the body. The iritetitiort Was evidently to throw the box Into the . Water, but high gates barred the way, and the box was ltfc in an unfrequented part of the street. A woman in the neighbourhood saw a buggy drive up, and a box taken oiltj apparently by several men, who then drove off. The body was clothed in a nightdress of expensive material. Thos. Meredith Sheridan, a chemist, principal of the British Musical Institute, and another man named Edward Thoiltas have been arrested at the Institute rooms in connection with the Woolloomooloo mysteiy. i Detectives have discovered that the box was purchased at a city warehouse on Saturday morning, and have traced it to Sheridan's rooms, where, it is alleged, a number of instruments havfe bepn seized stained with blood, and giving other indications that they had been used in the performance of an operation. The signs of the recent presence of a decaying body was also found. The body of the victim has been identified as that of Je9sie Nicholb, aged 28, the unmarried daughter of a farmer residing at Mulgrove, near Windsor. At the inquest, the mother gave evidence that the daughter left her home on Tuesday morning with the alleged intention of posting a letter ' and never returned, and her later inoveinent3 were unknown. ! A man named Seawell and a woman named Sarah Jackson, caretakers of the Institute, have l;e-n arrested on the charge of comp'icry j in the crime. i Miss Nicholls had been engaged for two years and a half to a young farmer, who was prospective heir to a rich uncle, and the hitter had threatened to disinherit him if he married the girl. Previous to leaving home, she I asked to be allowed to visit friends ' in Sydney. The mother objected, j and hid her clothes to prevent her j going. The girl was only dressed in a wrapper and underclothing when she left. After- her disappearance, (he mother went to the girl's lover, who said he was responsible for her daughter's condition. She had gone to him the previous day, and eaid she was going to the city to hide her shame. He offered to marry her, but she refused. Mrs Nicholls oame to Sydney on Thursday, and ascertained that her daughter had stayed all day with her friends, procured clothes, and left under pretence of returning home. An unsuccessful search ended in her reading the account of the finding of the body in the paper. The mother of the girl Nicholls is in a state of utter collapse and grave fears are held out for her reason. Her condition is very serious indeed. Sheridan has already served a long tentence for an offence of a similar nature. This was about ten years ago, when he was convicted at Dar* I linghurgt Court on a charge of being connected with an illegal operation, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. He has not been out of gaol very long, and occupied a place in Elizabeth street for a few months only. Judging by the instruments, drugs and documents found in the place an illegal medical business of an extensive nature had been conducted there. The woman Jackson or Campbell states that a certain operation was performed on the girl Nicholls on Tuesday last. The girl died on Friday. She informed Sheridan, President of the British Medical Institute, who went upstairs to see the body and then ripped open the abdomen to ascertain, as he said,, the cause of death. — Press Association.