The Warwickshire Herald. — 1891-03-12 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

THE MURDER OF AN ENGLISH DOCTOR. An independent investigation made by a correspondent at Nice and at San Remo has placed him in possession of all that is known up to the present of, the mysterious death of Dr. Leidermann. The doctor was of German origin, but he had resided for a long time at Manchester, in which city he was well known. Last December he went to San Remo, and took rooms at the National Hotel there. Be paid frequent visits to the Casino at Monte Carlo, and generally took an active part in the play. Towards the end of December Dr. Leidermann returned one day from the gambling metropolis with a man and • woman, whom the servants took to be Germans. They conversed with the doctor in German, and seemed to be very familiar with him. The party stayed at the hotel until the morning of December nth, when all three took train in the direction of Nice. In the evening the Germans returned to San Remo without the doctor, and when someone coin. merited upon his absence they explained that they had put him in an asylum at Nice as he was going crazy. The people about the hotel took the story In good faith, and the two Germans, hastily packing up their luggage and paying their bill, departed at 9 o'clock the same night. The manager of the hotel thought nothing more of the matter until he beard that some gendarmes had discovered a man's corpse in a cave near Ospedaletti, about two miles from San Remo. His suspicions being aroused, he Dent down one of his employes, who recognised the body as that of Dr. Leidermann. The gendarmes found that the deceased's pockets had been rifled, and that no money or papers were remaining; the body had been punctured by a peculiar kind of pin, such as is sometimes employed for pricking cards at the Monte Carlo gambling tables. Of the Germans who had given out that Dr. Leidermann was in an asylum no trace was to be found. The police of San Remo made unceasing inquiries, but for a long time without success. Last week, however, the happy thought struck them that as the pin had probably come from Monaco, something might be learnt in that direction. Accordingly, they sent a photograph of the victim to the Monte Carlo police, and these recognised it as that of a man who had last December been in the company of a reported Polish countess and her alleged paramour, a German. The Monte Carlo police were aware that on December 29th the man Whose photograph they now saw had won a large sum of money in the Casino at a time when the socalled countess was with him. The woman had been described to them as very beautiful and about 30 years of age. The mysterious German was tall and powerfully built, and seemed to be about the same age as the woman. The upshot of this discovery was that on Thursday the Monaco police errested a man and a woman answering the description and sent them to San Remo on suspicion of being concerned in the murder of Dr. Leidermann. The police of the Principality and those of San Remo have an idea that the "countess" enticed Dr. Leide mann to Ospedaletti, and walked with him an the Sin Remo road, that a man followed, and that when the cave was neared the strange man seised the doctor from behind, gave his body a violent wrench which disjointed the spine, and then, having robbed the victim, threw the body Into the cave. The murderer or murderers manifestly had a good knowledge of the locality. The Colla• road, along which the deceased must have walked, is cut out of the rock. On one side is a precipice shadowing the railway and the sea, and on the ether side are abrupt rocks, in which the cave—large enough for shelter—is cut. The criminals—for more than one person must have been concerned directly or indirectly in the crime—had probably chosen this spot beforehand as the best scene for operations. It is thought that the pin was stuck Into the deceased's body so as to suggest that Dr. I Inidermann had lost his money at Monte Carlo and had committed suicide in consequence. The "countess" became prostrated after her arrest. She tainted when she was beihg transferred to an 1 Italian train at the frontier. The man walked along , Use platform in a defiatit attitude. In justice to him, however, it should be stated that the police have doubts as to whether he actually committed the murder. They incline rather to the theory that the man and woman simply acted as decoys. The mime has created an extraordinary sensation along this part of the Mediterranean Littoral.