From the News

Dated: February 1, 1918

Canadian Soldier Sent For Trial
At Hackney yesterday, Dr. Wynn Westcott opened his inquiry into the death of Frances Elizabeth Earl, 28, the wife of a soldier, whose body was found under a railway arch between Hackney Downs and Rectory-road stations a week ago. A Canadian soldier named George Harman, 37, is in custody charged with the murder of the woman, and he attended the inquest.

Clara Harrison, of Goodall-road, Leyton, the wife of a fitter, said that the dead woman was her daughter, and that she married Douglas Henry Earl 12 years ago. Earl was then a clerk, but was now in the Army. They had three children. On January 11 a telegram came to her house for her daughter. She opened it, and found that it contained a message signed "George," stating that the sender was coming home on leave. On the next day another telegram arrived, also signed "George." When her daughter visited the house she exclaimed; "Oh, lor, I shall know where to find him." On the following day she brought a soldier to the house with her and introduced him as "George." They left the house on January 13, and she (the witness) did not see them again until January 22. They left again the same day, after which she did not see her daughter alive. She had picked Harman out from among a number of other soldiers at Hackney police station.

When Dr. Turtle was giving evidence regarding the disease from which he found the accused suffering, Harman declared that he hold the witness that the dead woman was the cause of his condition.

The jury found that Harman killed the woman by cutting her throat, and he was committed for trial on the coroner's warrant.