Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1875-09-18 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

SUPPOSED MURDER AND MUTILATION OF A  YOUNG WOMAN.  An affair which threatens to turn out a terrible murder, was discovered in London on Saturday evening. A lad who was passing along Commercialroad was accosted by a young woman, who asked j him to and t her in carrying some luggage to a cab, 1 awl on going w,th her to a house at No. 5, Queen's- I court, he was shown two bundles, one of which he vlaced on his shoulders and carried to the street. Ihe contents smelt horribly, and the lad's curiosity being aroused, he turned down the wrappers and discovered that they enclosed a portion of a dead body. The woman carried the other package, and when they got to the street they were joined by a num, who hailed a passing cab, and along with the woman and the bundles, drove rapidly off in the direction of London Bridge. The lad, suspecting foul play, followed the cab, and did his best to alarm the police. His efforts to keep the cab in i sight, and at the same time to get assistance wore uesucci saful until after the vechicle bed passed over London Brid,:e into the Borough, where it stopped at an ' empty house at No. 54, High-street. At this point he managed to communicate with two police-con- I stables, who opened the cab door and demanded , that the roan should inform them of the contents of theparcels. The effluvia arising was unbearable, and in order not to attract the attention of the pedestrians, ' the officers ordered the cabman Os drive to the 1 police-court. The man, on entering the police-court, I suddenly turned pale, and the woman trembled in every limb. On the police opening the smaller parcel, which WAR wrapped up in a black piece of American canvas, they were horrified in finding the contents consisted of the decomr osed trunk of a woman. The man regained Ma self-possession until the second parcel was opened, when he again became pale. The parcel was larger, and the contents were enclosed and packed up in the same manner, but one side was left slightly open, and the fingers of the dead woman were protruding, The . contents of the second bundle consisted of the head of a female, apparently about twenty-four years of age, but it was in a very decomposed :-tate, and being covered with lime, it is impossible to tell her exact age. The auburn hair was par:ly burnt off the crown of the head through the action of the lime, and the eyes were not discernable. Her arms and legs, which had been amputated in a very skilful manner, were also in the parcel. The man has given his name as Henry Whinwright, aged tweuty-six, residing at School House-lane, Changford, Essex. He was then charged, along with the young woman, Alice Day, with having in their poesession the mutilated body of an adult female, at present unknown, supposed to have been murdered, the aforesaid body being found by the police in a cab in High-street, in the parish of St. Saviour. The male prisoner, it is believed, has been a manager to a large corn chandler. The woman Day is said to be a ballet girl. The mutilated remains were removed by the police, and handed over to the coroner's officer, Mr Drewitt. They are now lying in St. Saviour's Mortuary, and information of the horrible tragedy has been forwarded to Mr V. J. Payne, the coroner for the district. It is believed that the man and woman intended to have buried the murdered woman under the flags in the kitchen of the empty house, 54, High-street, Borough. It would appear from a search made in Wainwright's premises that the woman was buried there in quicklime, and that-she was exhumed because Wainwright's lease expired on Saturday, and he was compelled to give up possession.