The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-01-18 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

MYSTERIOUS SUICIDE OF A FEMALE  IN LIVERPOOL.  About six months ago, an unknown lady from London opened a shop in Cases-street, Liverpool, for the sale of tobacco and cigars. She was somewhat good-looking, and her amiable deportment soon made her a general favourite with her neighbours, among the most inquisitive of whom, however, nothing could be learned as to her antecedents. She represented herself to be a married woman, and gave her name as Mrs. Crown, to which address many letters came by the post. About a fortnight ago, it was observed with regret that she had begun to indulge in drink, and a moody melancholy seemed to have settled on her mind. In the meantime she had parted with her little servant maid, so that she was left alone in her dwelling. She got an humble but respectable married woman in the same street to come and assist her occasionally in cleaning the house, and to this person she at times revealed a sentiment or two contained in the letters she was in the habit of receiving, which, she said, were from her husband, who was a commercial traveller. On Sunday morning Mrs. Crown had her shop opened as usual, and about one o'clock she requested the neighbour, to whom we have referred, to bring her a noggin of gin, remarking, when it was brought, that she should " drink that at least, though she might never drink any more." At three o'clock Mrs. Crown was again seen by her neighbour, and up to this time she had taken no dinner, although some beefstakes had been prepared for the purpTse. In the morning it was observed that :she had received a letter by the post, and after its receipt she did not appear to be in very high spirits. About five o'clock her neighbour's little boy wandered into the shop, and seeing that the mistress was not present, he sat down on a chair outside of the counter. Some time elapsed, and still the lady did not appear ; and, as he had found the shop door wide open on his entrance, he thought something must be wrong, and alarmed his mother. The two immediately instituted a search, extending over the whole dwelling, from the cellar to the garret, and on the narrow stair leading to the latter the little boy stumbled upon what to him seemed the body of a woman. His cries brought the child's mother to the spot, and she ran for her husband, who in turn called a police officer from the street. On their proceeding to the garret staircase, the unfortunate woman was found in a sitting posture, near the top of the flight, . suspended by the neck from a cord fixed to a balustrade, immediately overhead. When found, the body was perfectly cord, and life quite extinct. The deceased had told some of her neighbours only recently that she was twenty-five Sears of age. A large collection of letters have been found in the house by the police authorities, but it would appear that the decease], previous to the commission of the rash act, destroyed all those portions of them which might have afforded a clue to the whereabonts of her mysterious correspondent, who never was known by any of the neighbours to make a personal visit. None of the envelopes could be found, and the letters are neither dated nnr subscribed in the usual form. They are intelligently and even well written, and are generally signed, " yours affectionately. Will," or "yours very truly, William F." An inquest will be held on the body of the unfortunate woman this day (Tuesday).  THE LECTURE ON MILTON, as part of a course on Protestant Nonconformists, is to be delivered by the Rev. Wm. Graham, at the Concert-hall, this evening (Tuesday.)