Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette, Saturday 10 December 1836.
Desirable investment in the most eligible part of Margate.
To be sold by auction, by John Vaux, on Monday the 19th of day of
December, 1836, at the "Elephant and Castle Tavern," Margate, at 2
o'clock in the afternoon, (without reserve,) all that valuable freehold
messuage, being No. 1, Upper Marine Terrace, where a medical practice
has been recently carried on.
The residence is substantially built and contains six excellent bed
rooms, a large drawing-room, two parlours, communicating by folding
doors, surgery, kitchen, wash house, cellarage, and other domestic
offices; also, a walled-in garden, with right of way in the rear.
The situation is undeniably commanding both land and sea views, of great
extent and diversity. The landscape, in the rear, comprehends the Tivoli
gardens, Salmstone Grange, and adjacent country; in front, a partial
view of Margate Harbour, and an extensive prospect of the ocean.
Immediate possession may be had.
This property with the adjacent houses, is subject to a restrictive
covenant against offensive trades, &c. The fixtures are to be taken by
evaluation.
Further particulars may be known, and the premises viewed, on
application to the auctioneer, Margate; or, Messrs. Curteis and
Kingsford; solicitors, Canterbury; or to Messrs. Brooke and Co,
solicitors, Margate.
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From the Borough of Greenwich Free Press, 23
April, 1859.
THE RAMSGATE MURDER. RAMSGATE, Saturday.
By the exertions of the police sufficient light has been thrown
upon this sad occurrence to lead the belief that it is a case not of
murder but of deliberate suicide. It will seem from what follows,
that the object of the deceased was to conceal his identity, and
this would explain almost all the mysterious circumstances connected
with the case.
The deceased landed at Southampton at the end of March from
America, and went to the "Hotel de L'Europe," in that town. He there
gave a name which sounded like "Maitinger." He left Southampton for
London on the 31st of March, and there put up at "Hahn's Hotel,"
America-square. where he remained till the 7th of April. He wore his
left hand in a bondage, and said it had been injured on board ship.
On leaving the house he stated that he was a German, travelling for
pleasure, and that he intended to make the tour of Scotland before
returning to Germany, but must first go to Paris. The people of the
hotel believed him to be a native either of Baden or Wurtemberg.
During his stay he appeared perfectly rational, but on an occasion
when asked to write an address card he said he would do it at once,
as his memory had been very had since he suffered so severely from
brain fever in America. On the 7th of April he left by the South
Eastern Railway for Dover, and as has been already stated, in the
same carriage with Mr. S. Kidd. It has been said that Mr. Kidd
noticed two of the deceased’s finders to be wanting. The fact was,
however, that Mr. Kidd only observed that the fingers were bandaged
— that is to say, concealed, as they were at the hotel in London. On
the 8th, the deceased bought the hatchet at Mr. Green s shop at
Dover, as described, and stated himself to be a Russian. There is
now no doubt that he was a German.
On the same day he went from Dover to Deal by omnibus, and while
on the wav the deceased being the only inside passenger, a German
Bible was thrown or dropped outside the omnibus, and was picked up
by a travelling hawker, who sold it at the "Swingate
Inn" adjoining. The Bible has been examined by the police, and
contains no name or marks. The motive of deceased in getting rid of
it was probably because the possession of the book would have
pointed out the country to which he belonged, and thus have given a
clue to his Identity, for from this time the deceased always
declared himself to be a Russian.
On arriving at Deal the deceased went to the "Walmer
Castle Inn," stayed there on Friday night, and on Saturday came
from Deal to Ramsgate by train. On arriving At Ramsgate he had his
beard and moustaches shaved off. He then put up at the "Royal
Oak." While there, a gentleman in the coffee-room addressed him
in French and in German but he shook his head saying, "Me Russ, me
Russ." On Sunday he visited Margate, as already described, and after
dining at the "Elephant and
Castle" went to the house of Braiser. He then went for a walk
with his carpet-bag under his arm, and returned to the railway
without it. The bag was found near Westbrook empty, and near it two
shirts and a white handkerchief with the marks picked out. He
returned to Ramsgate the same afternoon, and at half-past five
o'clock entered an oyster shop, where he partook of some
refreshment. At a quarter to seven he was at the inn at Broadstairs,
and at a quarter past seven he was seen near Sir Moses Montefiore’s
wall upon the cliff. At a quarter past eight a man whose clothes and
hat (the latter of large size and peculiar shape) exactly resembled
those of the deceased, was seen by a young man named Jackson at the
eastern end of the Parade on Mount Albin. The man walked rapidly,
with his arms folded and his eyes fixed on the ground. Here all
trace of the deceased is lost till he was found at six o'clock next
morning, dead, under the East Cliff.
The following are among the circumstances which point most
directly to suicide. The spot where the body was found was
twenty-five feet from the cliff, and the tide had risen some feet
above it, high enough to have washed the body to the place where it
lay. About eighty yards lower down the beach in nearly a direct
line, cuts were found in one of the chalk rock exactly corresponding
with the blade of the hatchet found close by. The rock would be
covered as soon as the water rose above half flood. Now half flood
on Monday morning was about half-past one o'clock, and the death
consequently took place between a quarter-past eight and half-past
one. The rick is as high as a chair, so that a man might easily have
knelt beside it, placed his fingers upon it, and chopped them off.
The hatchet, fingers, boots, and umbrella (the articles moat likely
to sink) were found near this latter spot, while the clothes were
found among the seaweed near the body, It is stated by experienced
boatman that if the deceased add chopped off his fingers at the rock
alluded to, and had then stabbed himself to the heart and fallen
instantly dead, his body would have been washed by the regular set
of the rising tide right in shore, and a little to the northward, or
exactly to the place where, in point of fact, the body was found.
The knife, which has been searched for without success would
probably have been knocked out of the wound by the body washing
against the low rocks, and if the knife had a wooden handle, as many
sailors' knives have it might have floated and been carried out to
sea. The medical evidence was that that the skin was frayed, which
would have resulted from the body washing up the beach.
Why, It may be asked, did the deceased chop off his fingers? The
answer is, for the same reason that he had previously bandaged them,
viz., to conceal his identity. One joint of the first finger and two
joints of the second had been amputated some years age, and were
perfectly healed. By this mark the deceased would be recognised, and
therefore he determined to take all his fingers off. There was no
sign of disease or other injury upon his hand to requires a bandage.
The absence of his watch and ring is now easily accounted for. Both
being of peculiar appearance, and likely to lead to his
identification, he would destroy them. If there was a name written
inside his boots, to cut off the tops would effectually get rid of
it. The wristbands of the shirts were torn off and the marks picked
out with a similar object. The unfortunate man, however, forgot a
scrap of paper which was found near the body in the storehouse. and
which there is no reason to doubt belonged to the deceased. It
contained these words, written in pencil in indifferent German:—
"Dear Mother, here are five dollars — little, but from a good heart.
Henry Mattereigh.
The fact that the deceased's money was gone has led many persons
to believe that a murder had been committed. Now, when the body was
found the tide was two hours ebb, and long before that time country
carta may have gone down to the beach, as in frequently the case,
for gravel, or persons may have been, as one was known to be,
looking for shells. It is not improbable that the deceased was
robbed after death. The pockets of his coat were turned inside out
and two front pockets in his angola shirt were ripped open. We may
add that it is very doubtful whether the deceased had so much money
as has been represented. The few words addressed to his mother led
to the belief that be was poor. His cloth es were scanty, much worn,
and of the coarsest description. He never paid in gold, always in
silver and his watch was silver and not gold, as has been stated.
Had the unfortunate man been murdered there are three ways by
which the body must have been carried to the beach, viz., past the
harbour, where police are stationed all night, down Augusta stairs,
where a coastguard is stationed, or by Dumpton stairs, where there
is another guard. To suppose that the man was murdered on the beach
is contrary to all the evidence to suppose that he was carried down
past the guard is nearly incredible; or indeed that it should have
been attempted, when the body might so much more easily have been
dropped over the cliff.
The facts point, we think, clearly to the conclusion that the
deceased returned from America a disappointed man, reduced in means,
and that this circumstance, affecting a brain previously weakened by
disease, led him to determine on suicide. At first intending to send
his mother some little money, he changed his mind, and endeavoured
by the means we have described to do away with all trace of his
identity, and thus lead his family to the belief that he had
perished at sea or in a foreign land.
Melancholy as such a solution of the mystery is it in some
satisfaction to know that what at first appeared an atrocious murder
can be thus explained. No circumstance that has happened for many
years has created so deep a sensation in East Kent as this shocking
affair.
At the adjourned inquest held on Wednesday the jury found the
following verdict:- "That deceased died from a wound in the left
breast, but by whom it was inflicted there is not sufficient
evidence to show."
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