The Kenilworth Advertiser. — 1879-05-17 (Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England)

SATURDAY, MAY 17. 1879.  KENILWORTH is to be congratulated on many things : its historic associations, its beautiful scenery and healthy air, its general appearance which stamps it at once as belonging to the beau monde, and lastly the fatherly care which its leading inhabitants exercise for the good of their fellow-townsmen. Like disobedient children we are some of us apt to think that paternal precepts are occasionally hard to obey, even if not difficult to understand, but when we know that it is all done for our -own good, we endeavour to cease our grumbling, and attend to the powers-that-be. We have . long been under the impression that our good town o V Kenilworth is decidedly a healthy place; if any man doubts it, let him look around. But it is one thing for a place to be salubrious, and quite another for it to be known to the world as such. If we had never had a Local Board, we should not have had the advantage of having a MEDICAL OFFICER of HEALTH of our own, and the world would not have been told tliat the death-rate for the past quarter—a most unusually trying one—has only been 17.8 per thousand. We hope friends from a distance will take note of this—particularly the decimal, and excuse us for remarking en passant that a death-rate without a decimal is not to be relied on. For decimals, we assure the aforesaid friends, we have a great affection ; they remind us of our youthful days. But to return to our Kenilworth. When the se decimals—we beg pardon, we mean when this death-rate becomes known throughout the length and breadth of this habitable globe, there will be such an immigration into Kenilworth as has never been seen before. The Jew and the Armenian, the infidel and the heretic, the Cockney and the Yankee, will take to themselves wings and fly to Kenilworth. All we want now is for some learned savant to declare that the Barrow-well water ivossessed of virtues to which the waters of Thoxtou or Matlock, of Homburg or Baden-Baden, are but as trifles. As we have already said, the future of Kenilworth promises to be important, and as we look with prophetic gaze down the dim vista of succeeding years, we see her outstripping her aristocratic rival on the banks of the Learn. Floreat Ken il worth a !  THE Spring of the poets—the Spring of buttercups and daisies—seems very loth to visit us. We may echo the well-known line "Come gentle spring, ethereal mildness come," bat will she come, when we do call her? On Monday morning, however, those persons who had the advantage of scanning the predictions of the weather—in otlfer words the weather forecasts of the Meteorological office—were afeeably sarprised to find that they might expect "westerly to south-westerly winds, moderate; fair to showery" weather. Still more pleasant was the realization of the prophecy. The wind has been so long in those  111110111011101=  parts which seem to breed nothing but colds and "Eastern Questions," that it was some relief to find on Monday morning that every respectable weathercock persistently refused to look toward the gloomy East, but resolutely turned his beak to welcome the long-wishedfor sighs of Favonins. The sun, too, seemed for once disposed to be genial, and the result was a fair—a very fair Spring day, such as we have not had lately. indeed so warm were the rays of the sun in the afternoon that people began to wonder whether they had not been suddenly landed in another planet. Those who had ventured out in top-coats and wrappers of various finds were apt to find them burdensome —a sure sign that the weather is warm, for there are certainly more agreeable objects than a thick heavy great-ccat on a. hot day—the very sight of it makes one warm. In the night the showers came, and so the prophecy came to be fulfilled to the letter. Long may the nevi Clerk of the Weather predict genial sunshine and gentle showers, long may his vaticinationg turn out to be as true as those of Monday. If he goes on long like this, we shall have to give him a testimonial.  LONDON would appear just now to be a horrible place. We have hardly done wondering about the Richmond affair, before we are scared with another discovery, equally horrible, equally mysterious. We may say even more mysterious, for in the Richmond murder, the facts, such as are known, lie within a very narrow compass as to date, but in this more recent tragedy doctors differ as to the time, and their differences are not only of months but of years. The remains which came to light so unexpectedly in the cellar at Euston-square on Friday may, according to one authority have been there quite three years, while another medical man gives it as his opinion that the body has only lain in the cellar some six months or so. Of one thing we may be pretty sure both with regard to this and the Burton. crescent mystery, and that is that in each case a most foul, diabolical, and unnatural murder has been committed. There are some people whose minds have such an ingenious turn that they will seek to convert a murder into a suicide without any hesitation. In these two cases there will be no room for the display o their perspicuity. People do ocoasionally tie cords round their necks and die, but they do not as a rule sprinkle quick lime over their bodies to hasten decomposition and prevent unpleasant smells; nor do they as a rule boll and chop up their precious limbs. No, the verdict must be murder in each case, and the sooner the guilty person or persons are brought to justice, the safer we shall all feel. At present there are considerable difficulties in the way, for the strangest rumours are afloat as to the age of the murdered woman. She may have been any age from 30 to 50 according to the reports; her hair may have been a grizzly grey or a delicate auburn; and she may have had a naturally curved spine, or the curvature may have been the result of the body having been thrown down and lying in a peculiar position. These are some of the differences of opinion which at present stand in the way of identity. One fact seems pretty clear and that is that the deceased was well-dressed and fairly well It is not pleasant to think that these horrible crimes can be committed with such impunity, and if more discoveries of this kind take place, we shall not be surprised if there is a revival of the BURKE and HARE scare.