The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1868-02-22 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

THE REV. MR. !WERE THE MISSING CLERGYMAN.  The Morning Pod of Saturday nayi4  We believe wean, correct In announcing that all fears as to Mr. Spoke having been murdered On having committed gnielde may now be dispelled. There Is little doubt of the rev. gentleman's existence, am( that Information has been received of his prevent whereabouts. _  We (I)sly News Monday) are informed, however, that up to a late hour last night the police officers to whom the task of investigating the circumstances Connected with the disappearance of the rev, gentleman has been assigned, had no satisfactory information with regard to him. They know nothing which confirms a rumour that he has been traced to a lunatic asylum in Germany, and cannot find that he called at his sister's house in Queen's Square, Westminster, on the evening of his disappearance. The house has, it is said, been searched, and from the character of the persons who are in charge of it it seems very unlikely that they know anything of foul play. The finding of the hat in Birdcage-walk of coulee led to the suspicion that the missing gentleman committed suicide by drowning in the adjacent ornamental water, but it has been dragged several times, and is indeed so shallow in every lint that a discovery must have been made immediately if the body had been there. All that the police know has been already told- namely, that after Mr. Speke left the hatter's in Warwick-street no one has been able to give them the slightest information concerning him. The relatives have, it is said, been strictly examined (if such a word may be used in such a case), inquiries have been made at every hospital, lunatic ikiylum, prison—everywhere, indeed, from which there might be the slightest hope of obtaining a clue. Mr. Williams, as the chief detective who has charge of the case, has hail a vast number of visitors, and received many hundreds of suggestions, all of which, as far as desirable and practicable, have been promptly acted upon. Only those which were absolutely useless, on account of their outrageous absurdity, have been rejected.  The disappearance of Mr. Speke involves a question of serious importance to the public. Every reasonable argument, therefore, that may possibly lead to its solution is worthy of attention—writes a correspondent of the Daily Telegraph—who then proceeds to discuss the case as follows:  Assuming the case to have been one of murder, and taking the facts already known as a basis for further opinion, the following seems to Inc the most probable interpretation of the mystery. The known facts are as follow: let. Mr. Speke when last seen was on his way to Westminster. :2ii4. He had scarcely sufficient time to go there on foot, and keep his appointment at 6.30 in Eccleston-roinare. :W. His bat was picked up Itirdvage-walk, near to the re,hirnen of his sister.  What, then, is the inference to be drawn from these facts? The hat being found near to the residence of Mr. Spike's sister may be taken as evidence of the direction in which he WWI going. At any rate, it disposes of the supposition that it v.-as designedly placed there "as a blind," for unless the missing gehtleman had placed it there himself with this object, it is highly improbable that any other person would aecidentally have produced this singular coincidence. Thus I think we may fairly infer that, notwithstanding Mr. Speke's knowledge of his sister's absence, he was on his way to her house. Now we come to the next point. We have evidence that he was pressed for tine., and the tuned course with gentlemen in such a case is to bail the first hansom. NVhether Mr. Spoke did this can, of course, only he surmised ; but certainly it is highly probable, and, seeing what has happened, it is equally improbablethat he took a "four-wheeler," for, in the latter case, the driver must have had a confederate inside, an arrangement which no gentleman taking a cab would submit to. Upon the supposition, therefore, that Mr. Speke took a hansom, let IN consider what way pomibly have occurred. Ile would olonoire the driver to put him down at the nearest point to hjneen-square, which from Pimlico would be in Ifird-eage-walk. Now the evening was foggy, and it wns getting dark. Upon reaching the place where the bat was found circumstances may have been favourable to crime, and it may have been Mr. Speke's misfortune to have fallen in with a driver not only contemplating such, but prepared LO take advantage of the opportunity. Thin being the supposed position of Mr. Speke, we come now to the question—t !mild a murder be committed under these conditions? NOW it occurs to me that the trap-door on the roof of a hansom might assist such evil purpose, the Iliad of • the victim being immediately beneath it. The aetual ihalramient or method employed, whether a life-preserver, air-gun, pistol, or other weapon, can only he guessed at, neither is it very material to the inquiry, lint it is highly probable that as short struggle would ensue—the hat of the sufferer would be knocked off, and roll fmt of a 'Janson. . . .  All this may appear to you very visionary, but I submit that it is not an impossible counie of events. It explains the finding of the hat, and it accounts for the entire disappearance of the body. Of course, if it can be shown that by no known means could 'louder, or even stupefaction, be thus produced, that part of my theory falls to the ground ; but let it be remembered that the only part of the .1,41 attended with chance of failure, and consequently risk of detection, would be the work of a minute. The after proceeding would present very little difficulty. For instance, the murderer would let down the glass front of his cab, take up a confederate upon the step behind, and proceed, unsuspected WO unchallenged, to the nearest and moist favourable suburb of London, there completing Iris diabolical detil, plundering his victim, and disposing of the body.