The Sun. — 1862-07-10 (London, England)

MURDER AND SUICIDE AT SHAD WELL.  Yesterday evening an inquisition was taken before Mr. John Humphreys, coroner, in the large dining-room of the Albion Tavern, High-street, Shadwell, on the bodies of Ramon Capele Vila Roca, a Spaniard, aged 30, and Leonora or Honora Scannell, aged 24 years, a woman of the town. The tragedy which led to the investigation occurred in a brothel, kept by a woman named Kersig, at No. 12, Albert-square, Albert-street, Highstreet, Shadwell, on Saturday afternoon last. The Spaniard, a bricklayer, who came to this country from the Havana six weeks ago, murdered the woman Scannell, a native of Ireland, and directly afterwards shot himself. Mr. George Allison. inspector of the K division, and a large body of police were in attendance to preserve order. Margaret Kersig, a native of Germany, said that she kept the lodging-house, No. 12, Albert-square, Shadwell. The deceased, Leonora or Honora Scannell, had been lodging with her for seven weeks. The Spaniard Roca had been staying with the deceased Scannell for four weeks. On Saturday afternoon last Scannell called to her and said, "Do come upstairs and turn him out of the house, for I cannot clear up nay room." The Coroner—Did you talk to him about leaving before Friday or Saturday ? Witness—The deceased woman told me on Saturday she thought he had no more money, for she had not received any of him for a week. When I was called upstairs on Saturday afternoon I said to the Spaniard, " Why don't you leave the place ?" He said " All right ; wait 10 minutes, and I'll find her plenty of money." The witness, after detailines some irrelevant matters, said, "I told the Spaniard not to bring any pistols to me, and left the room. I had got half way downstairs when the girl called out lam stabbed ! I am stabbed !' I made an alarm, called for the police, and left the house. I ran into the street. The girl fell down the stairs before I left the house. The Spaniard heard Leonora say she was stabbed before I left the house. He had a pistol and a dagger in his hand when I was called upstairs. He presented a pistol at me. I believe the deceased Spaniard had been drinking on Saturday; he was not quite drunk, nor quite sober, In answer to further questions by the Coroner, the witness said the Spaniard kicked the girl down the stairs. She believed that kick caused the girl to fall on her head at the bottom of the stairs. She returned in half an hour, and found Roca and Scannell both dead. The Spaniard was very fond of the girl. They often quarrelled about other men. The Spaniard was very jealous of the girl. The deceased woman was a prostitute. In answer to questions by the jurors, the witness said the Spaniard brought home about £24, of which the deceased might have had about £5. Mary Lacey, an old Irish woman, who lived as servant at the house No. 12, Albert-square, gave evidence in confirmation of the last witness, and of jealousies, suspicions, and quarrels between the deceased persons. The girl was anxious the Spaniard should leave her several days before the murder and suicide, but he would not do so, and said she should not form an intimacy with any other man, and that he had plenty of money to give her. About three o'clock on Saturday the deceased woman tell at the bottom of the stairs into witThe Coroner—Did you ness's arms, and said "I am a dead woman !" see the Spaniard stab her? Witness—He was behind the girl with a dagger in one hand and a chair in the other, While the girl was in my arms he struck her with the dagger several times—two or three times at least. They were all in front of her person. The Spaniard said he would not kill me, but he would kill her and kill himself afterwards. In answer to a juror the witness said the deceased man did not spend more than £6 upon the woman Scannell during the four weeks he was with her. The Spaniard was jealous of a Portuguese seaman who used to visit Honors. Robert Smith, a police-constable, No. 253 K, said --I went to the house, No. 12, Albert-square, on Saturday afternoon. The deceased Spaniard was standing at the street door with a pistol in one hand and a dagger in the other, and I told him to lay them down. He would not, and said, ," I will shoot you. I blow my head off—l shoot one." I asked him again to lay them down. He refused to do so. I struck at him with my staff; which hit the doorframe. He shut the door, bolted it, and fastened himself in. He ran upstairs and opened the window. He looked out, and the mob threw oyster shells and stones at him, He then drew back, and in a moment afterwards I heard the report of a pistol. I forced a way into the house, and entered it with other constables. The deceased woman was lying at the foot of the stairs quite dead. On entering the room upstails..il discovered the body of the deceased Spaniard. His feet were towards the door, and his head was in a was a pool of blood near the fire-grate. There single ,barrelled pistol, which I now produce dagger stained with blood by his side. The wen© bespattered picatnudr eas in the room, the wiling, and the walls tered with blood, the teeth, and portions of the jaw of the deceased Spaniard Mr. John Ross, physician and surgeon, Highstreet, Shadwell,—l was called to the house No. 12, Albert-square,Shatlsevyeel. rr l, onhSeatlouwrdearyjaawfteorfnoon, I saw two bodies h was blown off, and a portion of the the Spaniard upper jaw was c. The woman was lying on the floor i 4 the back room below. She was dead. torn, as if in a scuffle. There was were the back which punctured the left lung. aH wounde r clothes n There was a large gash on the upper shoulder, which also punctured the lung, and there wero three other stabs ; one had penetrated the chest, and another the heart. There was also a wound on the hand. Death was instantaneous. Wm. Hunt; the beadle of Shadwell, produced a