Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1893-10-07 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE BATH MURDER.  Mr. Cannings Collins, solicitor, of Bath, received instructions on Saturday from the Treasury to prosecute, on behalf of the Crown, the prisoner Combs, charged with the murder of Elsie Adelaide Luke, otherwise Wilkie, in August, 1891. The circumstantial evidence continues to accumulate. On Saturday Mr. Lewis Vigis, chemist, of Bath, on reading the facts of the case, was reminded of the fact that in Bank Holiday week, 1891, a young man, giving the name of Coombs, came to his shop with a contused hand. The hand was dressed and the man was supplied with a bottle of mixture and some pills. He did not pay, and gave the name "A S. Coombs, 25, Kingsmead-terrace "—the prisoner's name and address. On the following day the man came to the shop again and received additional treatment. The injury to the hand appeared to have been caused by a severe blow, and not by a cut. In addition to the contusion, which was on the right hand, there was a ,goed deal of inflammation, and Coombs stated that he had not been to work and could not go to work. As the account remained unpaid it was posted from the day-book into the prescription-book, and the entries in the fermer have never been crossed through. In each book the natre A. S. Coombs and the address 25, Kingsmead-terrace appear. The visits paid to the shop were on Wednesday and Thursday in Bank Holiday week August, 1891. It has also been ascertained that the victim was for several years an inmate of the Girl's' Reformatory, Litnpley Stoke, having been sent there in 1880 from the Thames Police-court by Mr. Lushington. She was describe( by the matron as having been a nice-looking gir% remarkably quick and intelligent, but her tempek was violent and revengeful, and in consequence of this she was not sent to service, as the majority ot the inmates are. After living for some time. at Plaistow with her mother, who is a German, she returned to Bath and frequently visited the institution. The last occasion was on a Sunday in July, 1891, when she said that she had come to say "Good-bye," as she was going back to London. The floor of the cave in which the remains were found was dug up on Saturday, but nothing of importance was found, no trace being discovered of the gold brooch, bangle, and ring which the girl was wearing, or of the money which she is known to have had ii her possession on the day preceding her disappearance.  7On Tuesday, before the Weston Bench, Arthur Coombs was charged on remand with the murder of Elsie Luke, or Wilkie, whose remains were found in a cave on Hampton Down, near Bath. Letters were produced from a servant girl reproaching the accused for his relations with the deceased. It was also stated that in August, 1891, he was treated at a local hospital for a human bite. He was reanded.  A very iuteresting and important piece of news is found iu the Stamford in the report from Odessa that the Russian Government has invited upwards of fifty thousand Greeks to different parts on the Black Sea coast, to engage in the maritime business carried on in those waters. They are to become Russian subjects and receive allotments of land.