The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1839-04-05 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE MURDER OF ELIZA GRIMWOOD.  (From the Observer.) On Friday a letter, of which the following is a copy, was received at Union-hall Police-office, on the subject of the murder of the above-mentioned female :  " Thursday Evening, March 28, 1839. " Gentlemen,—Before you receive this hurried note the body of the murderer of Eliza Grimwood will be in the Thames. Yes, I, and I alone, am the guilty villain who perpetrated the hellish deed, and in a few hours will receive my deserts. Stricken in conscience, and shunning all mankind, I add to my character the name of a suicide, rather than meet with an ignominious death on the scaffold. With my death will all the particulars be in eternal oblivion, as no human eye saw the poignard pierce her. The assassin's name, to shield the worthy family from irreproachable disgrace, will be for ever a secret. Do not imagine the writer to be some brainstruck man. lam wretched. I can go on no further." The above letter, which was addressed to the magistrates, was written in good handwriting, and on looking at the post mark it was found to have been forwarded from the twopenny postoffice, City-road. _  Soon after the receipt of the above epistle, information was given at the office that the body of a respectably-dressed man was found in the river, within a short distance of Brokenwharf, Upper Thames-street, but that memorandum or document was found in his possession by which to ascertain his name or the residence of his friends. On Saturday Inspector Field, of the L division, attended at Union Hall on other busines, when Mr. Edwin, the chief-clerk, handed him the above letter. Inspector Field, having been made acquainted with the finding of the body of a gentleman in the Thames on-Friday morning, proceeded to the station-house in Watling-street, and from subsequent inquiries ascertained that the name of the deceased was George Green, that he had been formerly a captain of a ship, but had latterly led a very dissipated life. The inspector had no opportunity, however, of seeing a specimen of the deceased's handwriting, to compare it with the letter. At all events, it is rather a remarkable coincidence, that the body of a well-dressed man was found in the river on the morning the letter was received by the magistrates. _ _  On Saturday night an inquest was held on the body, when It appeared that about seven o'clock on Friday morning the deceased was found lying on his face in the mud, about four feet from the shore, between some barges, and that on searching him a silver hunting watch, marked Marshall, 213, Oxford-street, and 2s. and a halfpenny were found upon his person. He had also a half-pint bottle of sherry in one of his pockets. - On stripping him, his shirt was discovered to be quite dry. It had been subsequently ascertained that the deceased had been captain's steward on board the Victory, East India trader, but that for the last three years, being in bad health from a liver complaint, he had been without an engagement, and had been living on what money he had saved ; that he had, nevertheless, led a dissipated life, and had had his head-quarters at 151, High-street, Wapping. On examining his lodgings, a large quantity of Indian copper money, as well as a singularly extensive wardrobe of linen and general clothing, were found. There were not, however, any papers which could lead to further discoveries. The deceased quitted his lodgings on Thursday morning, and had not since been home. He frequently drank to excess ; but it was stated by, the waiter of the Bengal Arms, Birchin-lane, where he had been in the habit of going for the last twelve months, that he left that house quite sober on Thursday. The enquiry was adjourned to Wednesday.