Hongkong, August 10.
The first notice received by the police of the murder, of which some details are now known in Shanghai, was from the officers of the R. M. 8.
Monteagle. On Wednesday " carpenter on board the steamer was attracted by an unpleasant smell in the luggage room, and on inspection found that one. of the trunks was the source thereof.
At the same time a dark fluid was oozing from the trunk. The trank—not a large one—was prised open, and in it was found the dead body of woman in s state of decomposition. There was a piece of calico round the woman's neck, which was tightened by an improvised tourniquet, a having been used in order to increase the tension. Tt was obvious, therefore, that the woman had been strangled. This discovery,—gruesome to the last extreme—was at once notified to the police, and then began the fevered search for details in order to discover the murderer, and bring him to ju It was found that on Saturday, August aman anda woman known s Mr. and Mrs. Jones came to Hongkong from Manila in the steamer Eastern, They took rooms in the Hongkong Hotel under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Davis. The murder must have been committed that night, for on the followo. ing day, Sunday, efforts were made te ispose of the trunk at the officer of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire. has ultimately transpired that the woman was one of the unfortunate class and was a native of America. She was, it appears, well known in Manila. The man, as far as can be known, who has indeed many aliases, is believed to be named Adsett, and is also an American. For some reason, though at! first he proposed to send the trank to Hoihow by a B.& 8. steamer, he changed his mind, and took the box on board the Monteagle, saying that be was going in her to Canada as a passenger, and asked them to take the Tuggage in advance and place it in the placed. hold. The luggage master took the trank in, thinking that all was right, but, instead of placing it in the hold, put it in the luggage room, and from that cause the tragedy was discovered. The man witist have used great skill to have perpetrated the crime in the hotel, and then mat to get away without anyone suspecting that anything was wrong. The hotel is generally fall of visitors, and the rooms are quite close to each other, and not only visitors, but Chinese boys are constantly going to and fro in the cor-Fidors at all times, both by night and day. Apparently the deed was done on the Saturday night, and evidently advantage was taken of the victim when she was asleep. On no other assumption can the extreme secrecy be accounted for in such a place. As soon as the deed was discovered, the police were all upon the track, and every clue was seized upon in order to discover whither the murderer had gone, if indeed he had left the Colony. It was thought that he had gone go Shanghai in the Hongkong Maru, from the description given of one of the passengers, and Hongkong was in a state of feverish anxiety all Friday afternoon for information from Shanghai telling us that he bad been captored. Farther advice discovered the fact that, although a man had gone on board the Hongkong Maru at the last moment and offered some jewellery in liew of Passage money, his offer was not accepted. Apparently, up to Saturday evening nothing substantial was known of the man's whereabouts.
It is not known whether robbery was the motive of the crime or not. From advices from Manila, where the woman was known, it is stated that, she was possessed of jewellery worth tore than" thousand dollars Bol. Nothing, naturally, was found upon her person when the body was discovered. It is known too that jewellery was offered by © man for passage money to Shanghai, and some of the jewellery has been since discovered i
From all the facts known then it op though here, not great deal would appear that the pair came from Manila on the Saturday, that they took rooms in the Hongkong Hotel, that the murder occurred on.the same night, that efforts were at once made to get rid of the body as described above, and that the man has three days start.
The funeral of the deceased was one of the saddest known, as, indeed, coffin lay at the bottom, he read such of the funeral service as he thought fit, whilst no other person was within sight or hearing.
The following particulars are from "The Hongkong Daily Press"
When the police visited the room in which the murdered woman and her! companion were stay discovered three trunks which of been left brown lot-botind box, about two feet six by one foot eight, and has 8 depth of about two feet. To /sqietz the body of a woman about five feet nine inches high into this, it will realized, must have been " difficult task.
The items which Adsett appropriated naged were one pair of diamond earrings; ope ring, pink pearl, set with diamonds one solitaire diamond ring} obe ring, set with two small j one ring, set with two pearls; one ring, four diamonds and" pearl; one ball-trug pendant, green enamel and diamonds one breast pin, set with diamonds; one Chinese neck chain, cash pattern," dis-mond in centre; gold watch set with diamonds, monogram "M. G. M."; one long chain, cable pattern; diamond and ruby bracelet; one eagle pin with pearl in mouth; one small pearl brooch with turquoise drop; small gold chain bracelet; one chain and lock medallion, head set in diamonds.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.