Fifteen months ago—on 30th March, 1862--a little girl named Elizabeth
Hunter, seven years old, living in Ward's place, Islington, suddenly disappeared. The child's sister, aged twelve, says that a man took hold of her hand, saying, "Will you take a letter into William street, and I will give you 2d. ?" The elder child told her not to go, and followed her, but her bonnet came off, and in stooping to pick it up she lost sight of her, and never saw her again. Last Monday, a lad digging in the garden of Mr. George Rowe, a florist in William street, New North road, came upon the decapitated body of a child in a state of decomposition. It seems that the skull had been previously found in a greenhouse, buried under the flower-stands. A small boot and other clothing, identified as belonging to the missing child, were also found. Between the pipes of the greenhouse a quantity of bones, flesh, hair, -and portions of a cotton dress, all mixed, more or less' with quick-lime, were also found. The articles of clothing found are the only clue to the sex of the child, but the bones are certainly those of a child of that age. A lad of seventeen years of age' formerly in the employment of Mr. Rowe, who would have had access to the greenhouse, and whose dress at that time corresponded with the dress described by the elder girl, has been apprehended on suspicion of the murder. He has before been in custody, charged with indecent assaults on children ; but, as far as the evidence has yet been produced, there is exceedingly little against him. The elder girl declares that she had seen the prisoner before the child was lost, and that she has seen him since, but that she cannot say whether it was he or not who led her sister away. She declares that the man who did so wore a pork-pie hat with ribbons behind, and the florist states that such was at that time the costume of the pri- soner. This is all the evidence against him as yet produced.
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