The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-02-22 00:00:00

THE REV. MR. !WERE THE
MISSING CLERGYMAN.

The Morning Pod of Saturday nayi4

We believe wean, correct In announcing that all fears as
to Mr. Spoke having been murdered On having committed
gnielde may now be dispelled. There Is little doubt of the
rev. gentleman's existence, am( that Information has been
received of his prevent whereabouts. _

We (I)sly News Monday) are informed, however,
that up to a late hour last night the police officers to
whom the task of investigating the circumstances Con-
nected with the disappearance of the rev, gentleman
has been assigned, had no satisfactory information
with regard to him. They know nothing which con-
firms a rumour that he has been traced to a lunatic
asylum in Germany, and cannot find that he called at
his sister's house in Queen's Square, Westminster, on
the evening of his disappearance. The house has, it
is said, been searched, and from the character of the
persons who are in charge of it it seems very unlikely
that they know anything of foul play. The finding of
the hat in Birdcage-walk of coulee led to the suspicion
that the missing gentleman committed suicide by
drowning in the adjacent ornamental water, but it has
been dragged several times, and is indeed so shallow
in every lint that a discovery must have been made
immediately if the body had been there. All that the
police know has been already told- namely, that after
Mr. Speke left the hatter's in Warwick-street no one
has been able to give them the slightest information
concerning him. The relatives have, it is said, been
strictly examined (if such a word may be used in such
a case), inquiries have been made at every hospital,
lunatic ikiylum, prison—everywhere, indeed, from
which there might be the slightest hope of obtaining a
clue. Mr. Williams, as the chief detective who has
charge of the case, has hail a vast number of visitors,
and received many hundreds of suggestions, all of
which, as far as desirable and practicable, have been
promptly acted upon. Only those which were abso-
lutely useless, on account of their outrageous absur-
dity, have been rejected.

The disappearance of Mr. Speke involves a question of
serious importance to the public. Every reasonable argu-
ment, therefore, that may possibly lead to its solution is
worthy of attention—writes a correspondent of the Daily
Telegraph—who then proceeds to discuss the case as
follows:

Assuming the case to have been one of murder, and
taking the facts already known as a basis for further
opinion, the following seems to Inc the most probable
interpretation of the mystery. The known facts are
as follow: let. Mr. Speke when last seen was on his
way to Westminster. :2ii4. He had scarcely sufficient
time to go there on foot, and keep his appointment at
6.30 in Eccleston-roinare. :W. His bat was picked up
Itirdvage-walk, near to the re,hirnen of his sister.

What, then, is the inference to be drawn from these
facts? The hat being found near to the residence of
Mr. Spike's sister may be taken as evidence of the
direction in which he WWI going. At any rate, it
disposes of the supposition that it v.-as designedly
placed there "as a blind," for unless the missing
gehtleman had placed it there himself with this object,
it is highly improbable that any other person would
aecidentally have produced this singular coincidence.
Thus I think we may fairly infer that, notwithstand-
ing Mr. Speke's knowledge of his sister's absence, he
was on his way to her house. Now we come to the
next point. We have evidence that he was pressed
for tine., and the tuned course with gentlemen in such
a case is to bail the first hansom. NVhether Mr. Spoke
did this can, of course, only he surmised ; but certainly it
is highly probable, and, seeing what has happened, it is
equally improbablethat he took a "four-wheeler," for,
in the latter case, the driver must have had a con-
federate inside, an arrangement which no gentle-
man taking a cab would submit to. Upon the
supposition, therefore, that Mr. Speke took a hansom,
let IN consider what way pomibly have occurred. Ile
would olonoire the driver to put him down at the nearest
point to hjneen-square, which from Pimlico would be
in Ifird-eage-walk. Now the evening was foggy, and
it wns getting dark. Upon reaching the place where
the bat was found circumstances may have been fa-
vourable to crime, and it may have been Mr. Speke's
misfortune to have fallen in with a driver not only
contemplating such, but prepared LO take advantage
of the opportunity. Thin being the supposed position
of Mr. Speke, we come now to the question—t !mild a
murder be committed under these conditions? NOW
it occurs to me that the trap-door on the roof of a
hansom might assist such evil purpose, the Iliad of
• the victim being immediately beneath it. The aetual
ihalramient or method employed, whether a life-pre-
server, air-gun, pistol, or other weapon, can only he
guessed at, neither is it very material to the inquiry,
lint it is highly probable that as short struggle would
ensue—the hat of the sufferer would be knocked off,
and roll fmt of a 'Janson. . . .

All this may appear to you very visionary, but I
submit that it is not an impossible counie of events.
It explains the finding of the hat, and it accounts for
the entire disappearance of the body. Of course, if it
can be shown that by no known means could 'louder, or
even stupefaction, be thus produced, that part of my
theory falls to the ground ; but let it be remembered
that the only part of the .1,41 attended with chance of
failure, and consequently risk of detection, would be
the work of a minute. The after proceeding would pre-
sent very little difficulty. For instance, the mur-
derer would let down the glass front of his cab, take
up a confederate upon the step behind, and proceed,
unsuspected WO unchallenged, to the nearest and
moist favourable suburb of London, there completing
Iris diabolical detil, plundering his victim, and dis-
posing of the body.