MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 476, 31 May 1890, Page 3

MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

CURIOUS INSTANCES IN MELBOURNE. The “ mysterious drowning case at St. Kilda” (writes the Melbourne correspondent of the “Otago Daily Times”) has been a big type headline in the newspapers for a week and more. The body of a young woman was found floating in the sea, near the St. Kilda pier, and for two or three day no guess could be made as to its identity. Eventually a young man named Louis Lightman came forward and started the theory that the drowned woman was Pauline Levi, a young Jewess who had come all the way from Leeds, in England, to become his wife. They had not previously seen each other, but the contract was arranged by relations. But on the passage out Miss Levi became attracted by a mysterious stranger of the male persuasion, and the day before the wedding she disappeared mysteriously. Mr Lightman was ready to believe anything evil of the mysterious stranger, and had the firm belief that the drowned woman was his fiancee. For three or four days Pauline Levi was the sensation. It would be tedious to detail the turns the investigation took. Now it must be her, and again it could not be. A stumbling block was a wedding ring on her finger, but against this could be set the medical evidence, which showed that she was not a married woman. But eventually the mysterious stranger was discovered. He” was a Mr Reid, who had gone to settle at Mildura, and Pauline Levi was married to him, the ceremony having been performed in Adelaide. They had not made a confidant of Mr Lightman. Mr and Mrs Reid will now be sorry they did not do so, for all their romantic history has been published, as told by the rejected lover. Now, however, the body is pretty well identified as that of a Mrs Roberts. This young woman had come from Tasmania, and, according to her own statement, had been married for about fourteen months. Soon after her marriage, her husband commenced to develop symptoms of lunacy, and though he took a trip to New Zealand for the benefit of his health, he derived no benefit from the change, and shortly afterwards became so much affected that it was considered advisable to have him committed to the Kew Asylum, where he still remains. Mrs Roberts had been lodging at the South Yarra Coffee Palace, where she had been fretting and low-spirited. She had no friends in the colony, and was in the habit of lodging at coffee palaces, facts that would account for no one coming forward to identify her body if she is really dead. Her history would also account for the medical evidence given at the inquest, and, in addition to the other motives that might be suggested for her having taken her own life, while Mrs Roberts resided at ) the Coffee Palace she lived very frugally, as though she was approaching the end of her resources. There seems no doubt that , this is the solution of the mystery, and that it is a case of suicide.

In one of my letters a few weeks ago I mentioned a curious case which had occurred at Williamstown. The dead body of a man was picked up on the beach. It was claimed by a Mrs Bluett as that of her husband. She and her little daughter swore positively to it, both by the clothes and by marks. Strange to say, the doctor who examined the body declared he could not see the mark (a burn) which was so plain to the wife. All the people who were best acquainted with Bluett were examined, and opinions were equally divided. About a dozen swore it was he, and another dozen swore it was nob. The jury could not decide ; but Mrs Bluett buried the body as her husband’s. She also made application to the insurance company for his life policy of £3OO, bub was nob successful in obtaining it. Bluett turned up alive and well a day or two ago. Having had a disagreement with his wife, he went off to work on a railway contract in the wilds of .Gippsland, where he heard nothing of his supposed drowning ; and when he thought he had been away long enough to bring his wife to reason, he returned. Now he is being sued by the undertaker who buried his supposed bcdy for the funeral expenses.