Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1886-04-03 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

STRANGE STORY OF MURDER.  The American papers to hand by the last mail contain particulars of the discovery of the mysterious murder of a woman named Chapman, fourteen years a„iin, in London. The particulars of that murder are of a very extraordinary character. About a year before the murder of Mrs Chapman her husband, Joseph Chapman, together with two men named Joseph Reilly and Carlo Sisscovitch, were arrested in Turkoy for forgery, and were sent to prison. Mrs Chapman, on hearing of her husband's arrest, left London and went to Turkey, and, making her way into the prison, she was able to communicate with Reilly and Sisscovitch. Chapman at the time had been guilty of a breach of discipline, and was undergoing punishment in a dark cell on bread and water. His associates promised to assist in the escape of Chapman if Mrs Chapman would supply them with tiles and other tools. The woman smuggled the tools into the prison, and before the men made any attempt to break out of goal she started back for London. A few months later Reilly and Sisscovitch escaped from the prison without making the slightest effort to assist their companion, Chapman. The fugitives escaped to London. and when Mns Chapman became aware of their treachery she threatened to expose them to the authorities. Her murder followed the threat, and before the discovery of tbe.crime Reilly and Sisscovitch disappeared. It has now been discovered that Sisseovitch, who has adopted the name of Dago, is serving out a long term in the penitentiary at Cleveland,Ohio, and that Reilly has just been arrested, with a man named Raymond, for forgery. The arrest of Reilly has led to .the revelation of the cir= cumstances of the murder. After the crime was committed both Sisscoviteh and Reilly lied to America, and, under the aliases of Dago and Elliott, they have hitherto succeeded in evading 1 detection.  Scotland Yard has given to &London reporter its version of the Chapman murder. it place in a house in Maude Grove, Brompton. The crime was supposed to have been committed by Sisscovitch, alias Wallace. A verdict of " Wilful murder" was returned by the Coroner's jury, but the police theory was that the woman, who was in a very weak state of health at the time, had died from the shock of discovering that she had been robbed of a large quantity of valuable property. Sisscovitch was then living with • woman in the house of Mrs Chapman, who was believed to have been strangled. In regard to Mrs Chapman, however, it is a fact that many years before her death she was herself concerned in another murder. At that time she was a member of a gang of expert East End thieves, and acted as the "decoy." On one occasion she lured a man into a dark alley in the East End. There he was seized by her confederates, who garrotted and robbed him. It appears, however, that the attack was a most violent one, and that the "hug" was "put on" to such an extent that the injured man never recovered. It was well known to the authorities that Sisscovitch was in America, but they never thought that the evidence against him was of sufficient strength to warrant an application for his extradition.