The Express.
London, England, 1863-01-03 00:00:00

THE SUSPECTED MURDER AT NEWCASTLE.

We yesterday gave • few particulars relative to
the discovery, on New Year's-day, of the body of a woman
at Newcastle, adder circumstances which lead to the mispi-
ciao that she seat a violent death. The following &Ws
are ham the Newcastle Daily Chronicle of yesterday:—At
about 3 a.m., two men walking along the long lane or =
connecting Darn Crook with Westgate-stress,and
West-walls, discovered the body of • wonting I • in the
mud, and quite dead. Her face was co with blood
which had apparently issued from her nostrils; her features
were swollen and her eyes nearly alined, but there were no
marks of blows visible on her countenance. BM was wretch-
edly clad, and bar dress bad been torn from the upper pert
of her person to below the waist, She had no shoes nor
stockings, and her clothe., which were few and of the most
poverty-stricken description. were maturated with mud. The
men who found her, whose names were James Shearer, of
Stowell-square, and Thomas Archibold, of Balley-streek
hastened to the Westgate Police-station, and informed the
arthonties of the facts just narrated, and constables were
cent to the place indicated. They coaled the body of the
woman to the dead house, where Mr. Baynesaraistent
Weeded, and pronounced life to be extinct. The woman
is apparently about 40 years of age, but may be younger,
ands she has not been identified, it may be well to give •
more &Mika description of her appearance. She is slender
and somewhat emaciated in person, is about five feet two or
three inches in height, has dark brown hair, and has three
teeth somewhat protruding in the upper jaw. A slight cut
on the thumb, which had been bound up, was theonly mark
on bet person. She wore a brown stuff skirt, an old lilac
jacket or gown, • Paisley shawl, stays, had on a bat or Mo-
net, but no cap, and had • brass ring on her middle finger.
Al a/reedy stated, she had no shoes nor stockings on her
feet, the toles of which seemed to indicate that she had
walked barefoot in the mud, and so had not been deprived
of her shoes and stockings after she fell. Nevertheleem
there is strong ground for supposing that some foul deed of
brunt violence had been committed. The lane called
West Walls is about eight or nine feet wide, and it is very
dirty, muddy, and dark, only • single lamp et • bend n:
Dare Crook seeding a few faint rays into the obscurity be-
yond. On one side the lane is overshadowed by the old
town wall sad turrets, from which it takes its cams, and
which, having outlived its parpoa sea means of defame,
is gradually mouldering into decay. The wall extends
along the whole length of the lane, from Dare Crook to
Westga:ostniet, sod it is the largest and bast relic left of
the banter of which it once formed part. The lane rues
parallel with fitowell-street, and the doors of the back
premises of those homes open into the road on the side
opposite the wall. It was near one, ee rather • pair of these
yard doors, about • hundred yards from Darn Crook, and
half that distance beyond the bend where the lamp is situ-
ated, that the body was found. There is no reason to be-
lieve that the miserable woman bad then been long dead,
as a policeman had peeled along the lam between one and
two o'clock, and bad observed nothing of an unusual elm-
meter. Nor are the people living I. the neighbourhood able
to throw much light on the mystery of the wansa's death.
The last night of the old year in Newcastle is prolific in
Noises and brawls, and that portion of the town under
*Mice is by no mesas exempt from such disturbances.
Mr. Elliott, the landlord of the Northumberland Arms, at
the corner of Darn Crook and the West Walla, dosed his
bar and retired to rest soon after one o'clock, but he does
sot recollect having seen any woman answering the deacrip.
Jim of deceased in his house. There were numbers of
rough people about, and repealed disturbances WOW A
woman who lives within • few yards of the spot where the
be ly was found, and whose chamber wisdom faces the lane,
fancied the heard faint moans about two is the monis&
but so she was not quite lure whether the sound might not
e that of a pe-son snoring, her statement does not teed to
prove anything. Traces of blood, almost washed out by
the rain, were distinguishable in the mud on both sides of
the lane near where the body was discovered, but beyond
this there is nothing definite known as to bow the de-
ceased came by her death. Mr. Reyes bee been in-
structed to make a past mortem 4i/smarties, and it is ex.
pected that the inquest wall be held to-day. The body, it
is said, though presenting no marks of blows, has the ap-
wartime of having been subjected to violence. During
the day the police of the B &visas., were actively engaged
is making inquiries respecting the es" and the result
of their investiptioe bee been the apprehension of a man
tamed George Vasa, on a charge of causing the death
of the (smile. This man was the first person who saw the
body after death, and was one of emend penman who
accompanied Shearer and Archbold to the polies etation
when the information wee lodged there. He is WINO
teen years of age, and is the son of • cab driver living
in Stowell-street, acid was taken into custody at his
fatl er's house by Bub-laspectar Scott at one o'clock. On
being accused of the offence he denied the charge, bet he
seemed to be very much flurried and agitated. The fact
that tells most strongly epithet him is, that about two
o'clock in the worming he was seen with • woman in West
Walls, towards whom be was behaving indecently.
There can be very little doubt that the wretched woman
who kiss come to Oh sad sod is we of those homeless and
homeless 0140111411 who have no fixed place of abode ; and it
is to be feared that her death has been caused by the John-
man brutality of Rome worthless person or persons. Who-
ever she maybe, the woman has evidently not Mena regular
denizen oftt neighbourhood, or she would in all probabi-
lity have been known to the police. The aspect of the
place, as already described, is quite in keeping with the
commission of such a deed of violimoe ; and from its being
t o dimly lighted it is seldom traversed by respersteble per-
sons after nightfall.