The Warwickshire Herald. — 1891-09-17 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

CHICAGO MYSTERY.  A sensational mystery is reported, which is greatly occupying the public mind, and which up to the present time has baffled all the efforts of the best letectives in Chicago to solve. It appears that Miss Ava, an English lady who was possessed of great wealth, and who has for some considerable time been a resident in the city, had actively inteSested herself from • philanthropic point of view in the oondition of the poorest and most wretched classes, and in pursuance of her labours to ameliorate their condition she had fearlessly ventured, unattended, into the remotest slums, where, however, in recognition of her self-devotion to her errand of mercy she seems to have been treated with a great amount of respect, even amongst the most selfabased of those whom she sought to befriend. Whilst engaged on one of her charitable expeditions some days ago she mysteriously disappeared, and all the efforts of her friends, backed up by the utmost exertions of the Chicago police and private detective staff, have failed up to the present to discover a clue as to her whereabouts. Her Mende, who are naturally, in a state of the deepest distress, have informed the authorities alit the unfortunate lady had recently received several threatening letters, couched in brutal language, to which, however, she paid very slight attention. So far as can be ascertained up to the present, Miss Ava was last seen in one if the city churches, where she had been in the habit of pasting a short time daily in religious devotion, by one of the priests who officiates there, and from his statement it appears that she was then accompanied as far as the door by a lady companion. Miss Ava was still in the church engaged in religious devotion when the priest quitted the building. Her friends, in view of the terms con'ained in the threatening letters, fear foul play, and are afraid that even if the missing lady has not been decoyed into one of the slums of infamy isith which the lowest quarters of the city abound, find there murdered for the sake of the money which it was known she carried about her person for the purpose of immediately relieving urgently necessitous cases, she has at least been abducted by some villains and possibly conveyed beyond the precincts of the town in order that they might extort blackmail for her release.  At Wolverhampton, on Friday, Florrie Styche, an actress, was charged with stealing a quantity of clothing from her lodgings in that town. The prisoner, who has had engagements with a number of well-known touring theatrical companies, has been out of employment for a short time. She was remanded. Henry Jonas, accountant, was charged at Birmingham on Friday with defrauding the Patent Axle-box and Foundry Company (Limited), of which he was secretary.—The prisoner's counsel read a confession from the prisoner pleading guilty to specific charges of fraud, and throwing himself on the mercy of the court and directors, expressing deep regret for his unfortunate folly.—Prosecuting counsel said the defalcations amounted to £30,000. au. J. b. Radcliffe, the well-known sporting iwriter of the Nnocastle Journal, has made a curious porting match, which he is confident of winning. He is to swim a quarter of a mile, ride a horse, row a skiff, run, and ride a bicycle similar distraces in 15 minutes. A duel has taken place at Perth between the editor of the Hirlap and H. Sarkany, who, by playing cards with a young son of a Pesth tradesman and "winning" a large sum from him, had driven the youth to commit suicide. Sarkany was seriously wounded; his adversary seolained uninjured.