MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR IN LONDON.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1008, 23 September 1882, Page 1

MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR IN LONDON.

Tiie Thames, grave of so many luckless ones, the silent tomb of so many mysteries, has afford, d yet another'fearful lierror. Among its dead it has just yielded up the bo;ly of a man named John Down, lately resident near Maidstone, in Kent. Medical evidence establishes beyond a doubt the fact that John Down was the victim of a foul and brutal murder. The condition of his lungs show that his death was not due to drowning. Several wounds on the head, and a,deep cut over the right eye point to the conclusion that the deceased was first beaten and (ben thrown j 'nto the Tham-'s. There is a curious story eo: nceled with the life of John Down, which has just come to light. It is alleged that about two years ago, w.iile working at the ihirmiugheath Lunatic Asylum, he sustained injuries, and was induced by a lawyers’ cleik to institute a claim for compensation. Down placed the case in this individual’s bands, and from time to time sent him various sums of money as costs. Put his case made no progress whatever, and, in reply to all his complaints, Down was told the law was necessarily tedious, but that his claim would certainly bo settled in due course. The story now runs that at last, worn out by these endless procrastinations, Down determined on going himself to London for the purpose of confronting his legal adv'ser, the clerk in question. He left his home in Kent, and entered the modern Babylon, only, however, to disappear mysteriously from the ken of living mortals. His body has since been cast up by the Thames, and the Scotland Yard have the matter in hand. The case is certainly a most extraordinary one.