, 1894-11-21
A SOHO MYSTERY.
(Daily Telegraph J

The Central News SAYS On Sept Is last
an elderly gentleman. supposed to be a Span
ish priest, accompanied 10y a Frenchman,
aged apparently about twenty-five wears,
hired a small doubIe-bodded room on the
third floor Of BlondeI's hotel and restaurant,
at 49, Old Compton street, Soho. The priest
gave no name, bu. the Frenchman gave tbat
Of Eugene. The couple lived quietly. and
paid their bills regularly, aud the priest kept
a'good deal indoors. On Friday, the 9th lust,
Eugene disappeared from the hotel and has not
since been seen. On the previous morning,
Thursday the servant who used toattend on the
priest heard him coughing in his room. On
Sunday morning the same servant. who mean
time had not seen or heard anything OF the
priest, entered his room, the door being un
locked, and found him dead. The body was
hanging by a silk handkerchief to the rail at
She head Of the hedstead. TIE moose into
which the handkerchief was tied WINS much
larger than The neck, and the body lay upon
It's b7ct, on the right hand side Of the bed
stead; and several feet in front II it. and
slightly TO the right, were slippers and q
revolver, loaded in all its six chambers. On
the tab.o W $ q letter in Spanish, wordel az
follows. ITO the Inspector Of Police-Dear
Sir-Do not accuse anybody Of my lie tn. 7
am finished with life. I am disguised with
my family. ! do not require any noise after
my death. I havs no papers. | 10 not wish
an ybody to know the other motives. once
moro. keep silence, in order that there may be
no scandal. May God bless You. Signed
Louis Caceres. a native Of Peru"
An inquest WAS held by Mr.. Harold
Smith, Deputy Coroner for Westminster, and
the medical evidence vas to the effect that
death was due to asphy1ia from strsngulation,
and that it took place two or three days pre-
vious to he finding Of the body. nr. Sewers
added that, in his opinion, it was a case of
suicide. rs the deceased was q big, stout man,
and could not easily have been placed by any
one else in the position in which he was found.
But in the absence Of the man Eugene, for
whom the police stated they had yainiy
searched, the jury we're not altogether salts
fed with the suicide theory, and returned an
open verdict.
The Central News has, it states, ascertain
cd the following remarkable facts:
The letter signed "Lo1is Caceres' was not
written by the deceased, who was not a Pc
%ruyian, but a member Of a highly respected
family in the Argentine Republic and his
real name was Gabriel Tg Segui. He was in
holy orders, and in comfortable worldly cir
cumstances. When he left Buenos Ayres he
had in his possession, besides other property,
a letter Of credit for 84J0 sterling upon the
London and River Plate Bank in London.
He was accompanied ON board the ship by
the Fronchman Eugene, whose acquaintance he.
is believed to have made previous to embarka-
ton. No money or valuable securities Of any
kind were found on the priests body or in the
room but it is now known that after putting
up Mt the hotel in Old Compton street, Fa-
Their Segui obtained the sum of $50 upon the
letter Of credit. 1t is probable that Father
Segul met his death On the afternoon Of
Thursday, the 4th inst. 1t is certain that he
was dead on the following day, Friday. But
upon that day, the letter of credit was pre-
sented to the local agents of the River Plate
Bank at Havre by a man purporting to be
Father Gabriel Segui, and the balance Of
1910 was duly paid and signed for. The
signature, however, was not that of Father
Segui. It is believed that the man who thus
personatsd Father SeguI travelled by the
boat train from Waterloo to Southampton on