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OLD LADY’S MYSTERIOUS DEATH.An inquest has been held at Manchester into thedeath of Lavinia Farrar, a blind lady of independentmeans, seventy-two years of age, who for the lastthree weeks had lived alone. Mr. W. S. Jones,whose wife was a relative of Lavinia Farrar, saidthe lady seldom kept servants in her employment owing to'her queer temper, mod probably she had been unable to replace her last attendant. The witness called on her on Thursday, and, failing to obtain any response to his knocking, summoned Dr. Yeats and forcibly entered the bouse. The old lady was discovered lying dead on the kitchen floor. Near her feet was an open knife. There was no appearance of a struggle, and nothing to point to foul play. The witness knew of no one who could have entertained a grudge against the woman, or of any motive that could have induced anyone to injure* her. Dr. Yeats said that, though at first no injury was found to account for death, closer investigation resulted in the discovery of a wound near the heart. She had probably been dead since the previous day. Dr. Heslop, who had made a postmortem examination, said the wound referred to by Dr. Yeats was the one which had caused death. It bad penetrated to the heart. The knife corresponded to the wound exactly. From the way the woman was dressed, however, it seemed impossible that it could have been self-inflicted. The blood from the wound had only smeared one of her inner garments, and he could not find where eight drqps of blood which were found on the door could have come from. Bfrs. Sprickley, a neighbour, who had examined the old lady’s clothing and had seen bow it was fixed on the body, declared that the clothes were so stitched up that it seemed impossible for the woman to have got, the knife to where the wound was.—The jury returned an open verdict.
Newspaper Details
London Mid Surrey Times and General Advertiser
London, Middlesex, GB
Sat, Mar 23, 1901
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
R P.
USA 15 Nov 2024
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