The Warwickshire Herald. — 1892-11-24 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

SUICIDE OF MRS. MAUDE.  Mrs. Catherine Lulu Maude, the mother of the young lady in the above case, committed suicide early on Thursday morning by jumping out of a window on the third floor of the Great Western Hotel, Paddington. She went into the hotel on Wednesday afternoon, and, giving the name of Mrs. Maitland, asked if she could have a bedroom. The Ii ,ckkeeper, to whom she addressed herself, replied ,in the affirmative, and a servant having been simmened, Mrs. Maude was shown into a small o.droom on the third floor, the window ^f which looks out upon the approaeli to the Great lVe,tern Railway Station. From that time until late in the evening nothing was seen or heard of her, but at about 9 o'clock a parcel and mote were brought to the hotel for her. The hall-porter took them to the MOM occupied by Mrs. Maude. Ile knocked twice at the door without being able to obtain any answer. Finding the door ens locked he knocked loader, and this time Mrs. Maude ibquired "Who is these?" in a-tone that denoted annoyance at wing disturbed. The porter told her that be had a uareel and note for her, but she answered that she could not attend to parcels and notes at that hour, and added that he could nut come in. The porter Obis returned to the ball, and nothing more was heard of Mrs. Mantle until 8 o'clock the next morning. At that hour one of the servants on going out into the area found the maimed and lifeless body of the unfortunate woman lying on the stone pavement. She at once communicated the fact to the secretary, and messengers were immediately despatched for the police and for 'indica' assistance. The doctor, on his arrival, examined the body of the deceased, which was terribly injured, and pronounced life to he extinct. In fact, the body was already cold, and it was evident that the poor woman had been dead for some hours. She had fallen from her bedroom window into the area. a distance of 40ft. or hot. Her strange behaviour at the hotel, and the fact that oil Thursday morning her room was found to he locked and double bolted on the inside, leads to the assumption that she deliberately threw herself out of the window with the intention of committing suicide. It is known, too, that Mrs. Maude was in extreme difficulties. Not only were telegrams found in her pockets, one demanding the immediate payment ot £2O and the other asking for a settlement of • much larger amount; but on Thursday afternoon two gentlemen called at the hotel, and one of them informed the secretary that he had been looking for Mrs. Maude all day. He added that he had a warrant for her arrest. and had been to 16, Hyde Park-gate. Kensington-road, where she re-idel3, and had searched the house from top to bottom, but without finding her. The bookkeeper who received Mrs. Maude on her arrival at the hotel says she brought no luggage with her, and only carried a small handbag. She was a handsome woman of about 40 years of age and very tall. She was a very heavy woman, and the fact that she had fallen right through the thick material with which the area was roofed over may explain the reason why her body was not discovered sooner. On the arrival of the police the body was removed to the Paddington mortuary.