STARVING WITH £l,800

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 928, 22 March 1930, Page 23

STARVING WITH £l,Boo

WOMAN'S HOARD IN BEDROOM WILL MYSTERY The finding of £1,500 and a bank book with a balance of £I,OOO in the room of a woman who had died from starvation was disclosed at an inquest which was adjourned by the coroner, Sir Walter Schroder, at Islington, N„ recently. The woman was Hephzibah Emily Whitelock, aged BS, a widow, of Hilton Road, Islington. She lived with her sister, Mrs. Brown, aged 92, and owned the house. Dr. Samuel Castell said that the women were very eccentric. Mrs. Whitelock’s death was due to exhaustion, owing to lack of food and heat. Mr. Walter Wright, who lives in the house, said that Mrs. Whitelock used to say, “A doctor can do nothing for me. because what the Almighty wills will be.” He found the money in a black bag.. It included £37 in gold. A reporter found that Mrs. Brown was seriously ill, and nobody can say at the moment where the money came from. A will was left by Mrs. Whitelock, but it is so illegible to whom her money is bequeathed. A neighbour said: Mrs. Whitelock came to this street about 10 years ago. She was very reserved, but I believe that she was

I the widow of a compositor, and tha t j she previously had a house in Glou- | cester Road. Regent’s Park, N.W. She never bought any new clothes, but she j was not exactly mean, and both she > and her sister never appeared to want for anything. Their only visitor was a woman who used to draw Mrs. Brown's old-age pension for her, but I believe that Mrs.' Whitelock has a stepdaughter, aged about 60, who lives near Bristol. I think her name is Annie Whitelock. Mrs. Wright, who lives in the lower part of the house, looked after the sisters, but she could not get Mrs. Whitelock to eat any’ food for many days before she died. She constantly said th%t she wanted to die.