Reynolds Newspaper, October 8th, 1893.
The Bath Mystery
Accused again in the dock.
[exerpts]
It was generally considered that important disclosures would
probably be made on Tuesday, when, for the second time, Arthur Stevenson
Coombs, a smart young fellow, was brought before the Magistrates, charged with
the murder of Elsie Adeline Luke, or Wilkie, at Bath. Long before the hour for
the inquiry the little court-house at Weston was belonged by hundreds of
excited people, some of whom fastened on to the yard gates in hopes of being
the first in court. The crowd wrangled, shouted, and pushed, and when the
Magistrates’ carriages were driven up excitement was intensified by the
additional crush. When eventually the gates were thrown open, the scene was one
of wild excitement. Men and women yelled and roughly jostled one another in
endeavours to gain admission. The policemen exerted themselves to the utmost to
keep the crowd in order, but in spite of this people rushed wildly past and
crowded on to the staircases. When the doors were opened people tumbled over
one another into the space behind the bar, and then waited more patiently for
the appearance of the accused. A large crowd remained outside.
[…]
Detective –sergeant Smith, in cross-examination, said that
Miss Sheppard, the writer of the letters, had told him on Monday evening that
on August Bank Holiday, 1891, she was at Bath Theatre with the accused, and
gave the name of the piece they saw: but Mr Collins elicited that at an
interview with Sheppard on the evening of Coombs’s arrest she could not say
where she was on the night in question, although given time to consider.
[...]
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