MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2401, 16 January 1909, Page 5

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE.

SUPPOSED, SUICIDE AT SEA

[Press Association.]

CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 15

A young woman Mary Donovan joined the Mokoia at Auckland last week as a steerage passenger booked lor Lyttelton, from where she was to be conveyed to the- Magdalen Asylum at Mount Magdalen. From inquiries made by the police,, the woman was semi by a police officer at each port of call down the East Coast, and was ■or. board the Mokoia when tliat vessel left Wellington last Friday night. When the Mokoia arrived at Lyttelton on Saturday morning tlie police went- on board to take charge of the woman, but were unable to find any trace of her, and Ft was at the time supposed that she must have got ashore unobserved or was in biding somewhere on board. The Mokoia proceeded on her voyage to Dunedin on Saturday night, and returned to Lyttelton on Wednesday morning, btu in the interval nothing was seen of tho missing woman either on board the steamer or ashore. From inquiries made on board concerning the lost woman, the police at Lyttelton ascertained that one of the fore-cabin .stewards saw her walking about the decks on Friday night shortly before midnight, when the steamer was between Wellington and Lyttelton. Some of her wearing apparel was found on board, and is in the custody of the police, who incline to the belief that the woman committed suicide by jumping overboard early on Saturday morning. Further inquiries arc being made., but it seems Jiardlv probable that- any other solution of the mystery will be. forthcoming.