BETRAYAL OF JOHN FORDHAM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10139, 23 May 1896, Page 3 (Supplement)

BETRAYAL OF JOHN FORDHAM.

NOW FIRST PUBLISHED.

BY B. L. FAKJKON, Author of "No. 119, Great Porter Square," " Grlf," "The March of Fate," "For the Defence," " Aaron the Jew," etc.

(all Rights Reserved.]

PART 111.

CHAPTER XXXL-f Continued.) Before I left Jaolo I questioned him upon various matters, testing him, as it were, and putting him in the witness-box, There was one statement especially which emphatically needed confirmation or refutation, and this 1 did nob introduce till the end. There was no prevarication in his answers; bis description of Louis' personal appearance, with the scar on his forehead which flushed and reddened when he was excited, tallied with that given by Fordham, and he adhered unflinchingly to his aooount of the last scene of the tragedy. A few of my questions were such as would be put to him in the witness-box under the fire of cross* examination. " You say yonr back was turned daring the altercation between Louis and Maxwell r "Yes." "And Morgan's also!" " Yes." 11 You heard them threaten each other?" "Yes." "Then you heard a scream?" " Yes." . "And, turning, saw Louis fall to the ground with a knife sticking in him!" " Yes."

" But you did nob see the blow struck!" "No."

" It might hare been done by himself ?" "Mow, lock 'ere, guv'nor," said Jack, slipping out of the imaginary witness-box, " is that likely ?" " Why not, Jack! I will put it in this way. They quarrel and threaten each other. 'You lowbred thief,'cries Louis, 'you shall die in the hulks!' 'You fool,' cries Maxwell,' take that for your pains I' And he lets drive with his fiat ab Louis' face. At that precise moment Louis, with a knife in his hand, makes a drive at Maxwell. The collision diverts his aim, and the knife is jammed into his own breast instead of Maxwell's. How does that strike you ?" "It won't wash," answered Jack," 'cause I say it wos the other way," " Because yeu say! You're a creditable kind of witness, you are—such a respectable character—you can show suoh a clean record, you can—and as for telling a dozen or two lies, who would believe you capable of such a thing, Jack ?" "All very true, guv'nor, wus look—but it don't make black white 'cause I'm a wrong 'un."

" Doosn'b it! There's no telling what a smart lawyer can do with a witness like you in the box. You'd twist and squirm like a skinned eel. But we'll pass that for tho present, and come to something more important. You say that ab the commencement of the quarrel Louis cried,' I've done With you, and my mother shall be done with you.' Are you positive he said just those words! Be very careful about this, Jack."

"If 'e didn't say jest them words," Jack replied, "'e sed somethink so near to 'em that yer couldn't tell tho difference. But I don't see wot's that got to do with it." "lb isn't for you to see. Make up your mind to one thing— I know a good deal moro about the affair than you do. Yon are positive he said,' My mother shall be done with you ?'" "I'll swear to it, guv'nor. Wob should I 'aro knowed about 'is mother if 'e 'adn't spoke about 'er 'isself ? 'Ow wos Ito guess 'e 'ad a mother when I didn't know who 'e wos or where 'e come from ?"

"That seems conclusive,"l said. "By the way, did you happen to hear Maxwell or Louis mention the name of Annette?" "Not as I remember." "Annette Loubert," I said, to jog his memory. "AFrenchwoman." " No, euv'nor, I never 'eerd the name." " Thank you. What are you doing for a living just now!" "I can't say I'm doin' any think perbic'lar. Pickin' it up any'ow." " Well, look here, I can pub something in your way. I want you to keep your eyes open and to go about London—especially afioub the suburbs." " Wot's the little game, guv'nor ?" " Don'b be a' dull boy, Jack. You might com® across Maxwell or Morgan. I'd like particularly to have a little chat with Maxwell. '

" I shouldn't mind ib myself," said Jack, with'a kind of growl. "Do I understand you have seen either of them since you left Liverpool !" " Never sob eyes on 'em." *' As to the best chance of coming across them, now ! Can you suggest anything ?" " To keep on the trot, in course," he said, reflectively. 41 But it ain't to be done by a man like me without a object. If I wenb about) without) a object the coppers'd say, "Alio! Wot's'o up to?'" " Naturally. Bub if you kept on the trot with an object they wouldn't think of following you. Eh ?" " No, they'd let me alone. There's one way it's to bo done, guv'nor." " Name it." " A barrer, with or without a moke" "And on tho barrow V "Flowers in pots, all a'blowin' and a'growin'.'' "Capital/ I said admiringly. "How much would the stock-in-tAde cost V

' "The barrer and moke could be 'ired by the day. Yer'd go as fur as a moke, guvnor, wouldn't ver? It's killin' work draggln' a barrer full o 1 flower pots up and down 'ill. There's 'Ampstead way, now. Think o" wob ib means, from Coven' Garden to'Amßtead Eath.*' " I'd go as far as a moke, Jaok.'* His face brightened. "And the flowers would cost!"

"A thick 'un'd do it, guv'nor, and I don't know but wot it wouldn't pay." ''! Let us hope it will. Here's twenty-fire shillings to set you up." I gave him the money and ray address, and telling him to call upon me at the end of the week, or earlier it he had anything, to communicate, I bade him good day— with an .Impression that he was really, pleased at the proapecb of earning an honest livelihood. As he f himself, had pathetically said, such a life as his wasn't all beer and skittles. \

Let me.state hero why I. was so anxious with respecb' to his allusion to his mother which, according to , Jaok, was wade by Louis, during his quarrel with Maxwell. The apparently, unimportant words, " My mother shall be done with you," assumed intense significance when placed side by side with the information volunteered by Maxwell a fortnight afterwards that John Fordham's stepmother, was dead. Jack, being- unacquainted .with Louis' family connections, could not have invented Louis' mother—therefore the words were certainly spoken by Louis, establishing without) a shadow of a doubt, that at that 1 time his mother was living. Only a fortnight inters vened before Maxwell declared that she was dead.' I dismiss the .hypothesis that the woman— will nob call ner a lady— during the interval.' Setting that oeido, I dome face to face with the question, "For 'what reason did Maxwell wish John Ford-1 ham to believe that his stepmother was dead?! "" V 1

I was fairly; puzzled } ,1 could find no answer to the question. , 1 , v

!* Next, I turned my attention to a consideration of .' the - state ; and > progress of affairs when Jaok, in a frenzy of fear, rashCd from the house inwhloh the murder was committed., The fight, between him and Fordham is going on in the street; the street door ,is dashed,< open, and ' the comsavage conflict is' continued. •?n the room above Lotiis lies dead, and Morgan and Maxwell stand in : .terror, listening to' the. sounds of the struggle below. What does 1 it portend— except that'they are in deadly peril? They are too terrified Jo move. 'If they open the door,, they will be pounced upon ' and arrested for the crime, for they do not doubt that the police have been watching their' movements, and have obtained entrance to the house. Suddenly the sounds cease. Fordham lies senseless on the stairs, and Jack is speeding to the railway station, All is quiet without and within for the partners in crime are too frightened to move._ At length they venture to speak*' but in a whisper, for they still fear that officers are lurking outside to secure them. After a long interval of time they pluck up sufficient courage to open the door. ' No one moleßts them. They creep out into the passage, and down the stairs, and are stopped by the body of Fordham. Maxwell recognises him, and a devilish plot suggests itself. John Fordham and Louis areola enemieshow easy to fasten the murder upon John ! He and Morgan carry the body of the unconscious man into the room, arid place it near the dead body of Louis. They find a knife upon him— dip it in Louis' blood. Maxwell takes Fordham's watch, and finds his matchbox on the stairs. He has an idea that they may come in useful to fix the murder upon Fordham, He loaves the knifo. Then ne and Morgan steal from the bouse.

Thus far did I trace the probable course of action. If it were anywhere near the truth, it established a binding link between Maxwell and Morgan, each of Whom, from that night, held the other in his power. I asked myself whether Maxwell confided to Morgan the existence of the family connections which existed between him and John Fordham. To this question I found an answer. No. It was not in Maxwell's nature to impart to anyone a confidence which might result in his disadvantage. Without having met the man, I seemed to see him, so graphically was he portrayed by Fordham ana Jack. Ho woe 0119 who kept his own secrets.

What followed on their departure is related by Fordham up to the moment of his own departure, when he fled from the house, leaving the dead body of Louis as its only occupant. Possibly ho was watched ana «eon by bis enemies, who re entered the house after ho was gone. They feel in Louis' pocket for his watch. "He has stolen it," they Bay. They look round for Louis' overcoat. "He has run off with it," they say. And then their eyes fall upon Fordham's blood-stained knife, which he foolishly left behind him. I can imagine their fiendish plea at these discoveries. "He has convicted himself," they say. Bub there is still a possible danger. Louis might have been seen in their company. If his features were mutilated so that it would be difficult to establish his identity, it would afford them an additional element of safety. The heavy oak table is dashed upon his face, and their work is complete. Onoe more the house of death is left in possession of its ghastly oooupant.

While I was following out these conjectures (for of course they were nothing more, and ib will be seen in time whether they were correct) I received a report from the Liverpool experb to whom I had entrusted the two letters. It confirmed my suspicions, and furnished me with another link to the ohain I was weaving. Although an attempt had been made to disguise the writing of the letter sent by "Mr. Lambert" to the house agent, the expert stated that both letters were written by the same hand. Sooundrel as Maxwell was, he would have -boen more careful had he imagined that the plot to fleece Louis would have ended so tragically.

Now, of what legal value was all this evidence ? A skilful lawyer might do something with it, but I doubted whether, unsupported and uncorroborated, it would establish John Fordham'a innocence. In this view Fordham himself concurred; indeed, it was he who first laid emphasis upon it. I have seldom seen a man more agitated when ho learned from me that there was no guilt of blood upon his soul. For several minutes ,he could nob speak. He sab with his face burled in bis hands, and when he raised his head the tears wore still running down his cheeks.

"I can bear tho worst now," he said and I knew, from the remarks he made, that he was more grateful for Ellen's sake than for his own. I shall call her Ellen; surely I have the right, working as I was for her and for the man who had, in a sort of way, supplanted me. Had she seen me first— of what use is it to speculate upon what might have been ?

As I have said, it wag Fordham who laid stress upon t|io evidence against himself, evidence of his own supplying. His silence, his long concealment in London under an assumed name, the incriminating articles in hit possession, which he had given up to the police, were strong points against him.

" If my innocence is not clearly proved,'' he said, 11 I shall not care to bo released.'' " You can't compel a jury to declaro you guilty," I urged, and I confess to being angry with him." "No," he replied, " but the doubt would remain, and would darken my days.*' • " Well," I said, "anyway, the police are not likely to let you go without a searching inquiry. For the present we must fa? silent, and bend all our energies to the disoovery of Maxwell and Morgan.' 1 It was a hard matter to convince Ellen of the wisdom of this , course, and indeed we did not succeed in convincing her : but she was compelled to yield in the end, though she protested against the injustice of Fordham being kept in prison. There is a reason of the heart and a reason of the head, and when we are dealing with stern facts we know which is likely to como out the winner.

The position, you see, was one of great difficulty. I was pledged to Jack, and to break my word would be to bring him j immediately into danger; This I determined not to do until every other chance failed me. Ib was a prudent as well as a just resolve. If Jack found himself betrayed and brought to bay, it was m likely as not that he would deny everything, or that he would commit himself to statements which would place Fordham in jeopardy. I met ray cardsharping friend before the end of the week, when ib had been decided that he was to pay me a visit. I was on my way to Highgate Cemetery, and I came across him in the N.W. district. He had hired a donkey, and there was a gay show of flowers on his barrow. - Seeing me approach, he gave me a wink and an almost imperceptible shake of the head. I inferred from the wink that business was prospering, and from the nod that he did not wish to be spoken to. ' 1 returned his wink and passed on. My object in going to Highgate Cemetery was to ascertain if a lady of the. nume of Fordham was buried there, as would certainly have been the ease if. as had been .stated by Maxwell, Louis mother was dead. As I have already said, I did not believe he had spoken the truth, but if 1 was mistaken I should be able to learn the address from which the coffin was taken.

I was not mistaken. Tlier.e was ft family grave in the cemetery purchased by Johu Fordham's father, bub since his death no one, had been buried there. Undoubtedly Maxwell had lied,; and Louis' mother was alive.

(To be continued on Wednesday next. J