THE CRIME AND THE CASKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20387, 16 October 1929, Page 20

THE CRIME AND THE CASKET.

BY JOHN IRONSIDE.

CHAPTER XlX.—(Continued). Jerry hesitated for a moment. Then fetched out Mauds letter from iiis rioto'ca.sc, and handed it over. " It's rather unpleasant—and very unjust," ho said awkwardly. ",\s I should expect. Having met the ilady," Freeman remarked drily, read it •.through slowly and deliberately, and re-'tu|-ned it, open, indicating one passage TwitU his lean, tobacco-stained forefinger. '.The very passage that had most angered .J.'i'ry, alluding to his " previous conncc'ti'in with this girl." '• I take- it she means your voyage home India last winter—or was it early iMiiring, Mr. Hunter ? When Miss Graham •v.ns on board. You're surprised that I iknow all about that'' Why, it's been comjnon gossip round Mcdenham for months!" .''Common go&sip!" he echoed indignantly. " Why should peoplo—strangers -—gossip about me and my household V Almost tlie very words lie bad used indignantly tu Laura Gregory that summer ;xiight. Freeman's face relaxed in a slight indulgent smile. " Now that's rather a silly question, !'Mr. Hunter. It's only human nature, which is just the same all the world over, :and a pretty mean thing, too, when all's (.said and done. But. the gossip's a fact. [Who started it I can't say. It's generally servants, but not yours in my opinion. I've never met a nicer—or a closermouthed lot. And it wasn't the nurses—the elder one, anyhow, and I gather that lit was current long before the other came •to the. manor at all. But we can drop that :for the present. It's more important at rjho moment to decide what you're going to ■do about these? You've come to me, and I'll do my best, to track the sender. But there's more in it than that. You told Xady Ryder—or led her to believe—that ;you weren't going to do anything in the •way of calling in the police?" " Certainly. I shouldn't dream of doing so." " Will Sir George and Lady Ryder take action if you don't?" "Yes. So she said, as i told you." "Then you must get on to them at once, sir, and stop them. Now! 'lhere's 7101 a moment to lose. What s the exchange and number?" He laid his hand on the telephone. " I don't understand." There was a queer gleam as of compassion in Freeman's steady eyes as he ;spoke, very gravely. " Mr. Hunter, are you prepared to let your brother-in-law —and his lady—set the "forces of the law in action, get an inquest ■opened on the death of your late wife, a Home Office order for the exhumation of itho body, and, in all probability, the sequel of an arrest, and one of those sensational murder trials that thrill the public and fill—and sell—the newspapers?" " Murder trial ? Man, you're raving!" " I am not. I wish I were, for your sake, Mr. Hunter, though as far as the •actual fact is concerned, you were a thousand miles away at the time. But the person who sent these " —he touched the papers—" knew what he or she was about, .meant to set a ball rolling which it will he difficult or impossible to stop." " You mean—that my wife —Rose—was murdered ?" Jerry stammered. ■ " I do, sir. I've been pretty sure of it all along."-

CHAPTER XX. ' THE HUNTER. CASE. They got. through to Yorkshire, after ihe usual interval of wailing, only to learn lliat Sir George and Lady Ryder had left lor London by an early train. " So they do mean business, sir, as I expected," Freeman commented. _" Do you happen to know who their solicitors are?" i " No. I can't remember. Tlicy met jnino years ago, about the marriage settlement." "And your own?" " Spedding and Sons." " First-class, too. If I were you I'd £o straight along to them, Mr. Hunter, put the whole matter in their hands. I'd better come along with you, and we'll leave them one of these typed things. I must keep the other." That day brought forth the first public reference to what later became notorious jis *"The Hunter Case," a brief paragraph in the most wide-read of the London evening papers, to the effect that an inquest •was to be held on the death of the late I\trs. Gerald Hunter, of Mcdenham Manor, which had taken place several months ago, ancf adding that this belated inquiry was initiated by the deceased lady's brother, Sir George Ryder. Next, day that, announcement was common property, repeated broadcast throughout tho Press, amplified by such personal details as the horde of journalists, avidly scenting a first-class sensational "story, ' were able to gather. The imagination of the public was roused on the instant. Day by day the excitement increased, with every adjournment of the inquest, and there were several of these. The full reports that appeared. each bringing to light some new, perplexing and romantic element, were eagerly waited for, read and discussed. In every household, in every office, railway carriage, and omnibus; in fact, wherever men and women were gathered, tho Hunter case was the one topic, hotly argued, though, in the consensus of public opinion, there was no great mystery about it.

Every additional bit of evidence that was published pointed to the one conclusion, that, the hapless young woman had been deliberately murdered by the girl whom she had loved and trusted, who had supplanted her in her husband's affections, and whom he had now married. The fact of Gerald Hunter's absence in South America at the time exonerated him from any actual participation in the murder, but controversy raged as to the extent to which ho had been an accessory, before and after the crime. Exeopt for' those very few who knew him intimately, none believed him to be wholly innocent, as, again with the exception of those faithful few, all believed that his second wife, that wistful-looking young girl whose portraits had hccomo so familiar in the l'ress, was a callous murderess. That was the general and openly expressed opinion long before the day came when Jessie Hunter was actually arrested. In (lie minds of millions of her fellow creatures siie was already tried and condemned, and her formal trial was awaited with feverish expectation, and confident anticipation. How could it be otherwise, when every fresh point elicited seemed more damning than the last'!

Tlio exhumation of poor Rose Hunter's body, and the post-mortem and analysis conducted by a world-famous Home Office expert, had shown that, she died_ of orsetiic.il poison, with which the internal organs were absolutely impregnated. Moreover, some of the poison was actually discovered by the police, who, in due course, visited Modenham Manor armed with a search-warrant. Behind one of the drawers in the dressing chest, which had ■stood in Gerald Hunter's ground floor bedroom—now the smoke room—and that had been temporarily occupied bv Jessie Graham during his absence, and throughout Rose Hunter's last illness, an envelope had been found, still containing a small quantity of ordinary white arsenic. One of Roso Hunter's own envelopes, cmbossed in tho (lap with her monogram, that might have been, and in all probability was. taken from her writing case in the next room. J _ lrue, there was no_ evidence whatever of Jessie Graham having procured or endeavoured to procure the deadly powder, and where it came from in the first instance remained a mytsery. But this appeared of little importance, compared • with tiio indisputable facts that the ar- )| se ll!r ' ,ac ' PC ' n procured and administered. J here i\as no arsenic, nor any other poisonous drug in the medicines prescribed

A FASCINATING STORY OF LOVE AND MYSTERY.

(CQPI'MGHT.)

and dispensed by Dr. Watson. lie was able to prove that by producing his prescription book, and on each occasion bo had made the medicines up himself. The bottles which had contained them could riot be found, after this lapse of time. The pour man, terribly distressed, as was only natural, declared, in the many examinations and cross-examinations to which he was subjected, that ho never had the slightest suspicion that his patient was suffering from arsenical or any other form of poisoning. 110 had considered all the symptoms absolutely compatible with her general condition and tendency to gastritis, and stressed the fact- that she had suffered from a similar, though less _ severe attack, some months before Miss Graham ever came to the manor That was H point elaborated and emphasised at every opportunity by Cuni-niings-Browne, the famous K. 0., retained in the first instance to watch the case on behalf of Gerald Hunter, later in defence of Jessie. Nurse Hawkins also stressed this previous illness, but the circumstances created very little impression, either on successive juries or on the public atlargc. Nor was much interest evinced in the matter of the ivory casket that had contained Roso Hunter's private journal, though it and its mysterious disappearance were alluded to several times. There was so much more that was obvious above all the human and romantic element. All the world loathes a secret treacherous murderer, but also all the world loves a lover. Hence there was very considerable sympathy for Gerald lluntci. as the story 'of his disastrous first marriage was relentlessly revealed. Only the "unco, guid," who themselves had never experienced, or would never own that they had experienced such temptation, blamed him for falling in love with the. undoubtedly attractive girl whom he had met on hi.< travels. To most people it appeared so natural, almost inevitable under the circumstances, and very many who prided themselves on being broadminded," declared that they could even condone his action in installing his mistress in his home, as the companion of his impotent and invalid wife. That, alas, was the view taken by those who judgo bv superficial appearances, not by any real knowledge of character or circumstances, , But, though thev were ready to condone such an association as they were convinced had existed, these " broadminded " people had no pity for the girl whom they condemned beforehand. She was a female Judas, for whom hanging was too good. And if she were nut condemned and banged then no other murderess eve? should be! Thus the controversies raged round, and the slow, implacable processes of the lav.' moved upon these two, utterly innocent, adjudged guilty in greater or less degree, by nearly everyone who knew them only bv name. . . 'No words can describe the agonies ot mind they both endured through those awful weeks. . There were times when the mental and spiritual strain became almost intolerable and thev were only saved from utter despair bv their love and trust in each other, which waxed stronger witli every, slow dav of torture, and by tnc loyalty of the faithful few. Jack and Nancy Gardner, Margaret Macdonald, Dr. Watson and his good sister, Nurse Hawkins, and their own old servants, who, from first to last, never once doubted cither of them. . , '. . ~ The hour came when Jessie was formally arrested on the change of murder. She %vas prepared, had realised for da\s past that, unless some almost miraculous intervention should occur, this must be the inevitable cliruax. Palo as death, but quite steady and composed, she clung to her husband looked up at him with her honest, hazel C '" S Don't worrv more than you can help, mv poor Jerry. Wo must both be brave. I shall be all right. I haven t- any fear at all. I know my innocence will be made clear, sooner or later.. will never let me be judged guiltv. She will save me yet, from beyond the gme. I it! I know it!" - . The second day of the trial of Jessie. Hunter closed with an adjournment tilt next morning. , A thrilling day for the spectators and auditors who filled the gloomy old Shire Hall, although so far all the evidence heard had been a mere repetition of that given and so widely reported at previous hearings, at the inquest and before the magistrates—evidence for the prosecution so far, and sufficiently sensational and gruesome —including, as it dul, the detailed testimony of the medical men—to satisfy even those whose minds were most avid for horrors.

And always there was that great fonts of interest, the slim, little, grey-clad figure in the dock, with the small, white face and wide, grave, steady dark eyes, all that, could be seen of her above the rails when she was scaled, as she usually was, with two dignified, imposing women warders on guard beside her. Never once did she-regard the sea ot fares that filled the Court and gallery, seldom even turned her eyes toward the attentive jury, ten men and two women, but kept them fixed on whoever might ho speaking, counsel, "witness, the? lianasome, keen-featured Judge, when he occasionally interpolated a question or comment —and listened to everything that passed with an apparent composure that seemed marvellous. In the intervals, as witnesses went and came, she always looked at her husband, sitting at the solicitors' table, nearly opposite her. Then the wan little face would relax into a slifiht smile, a mute message of courage and comfort, but to most ot those who watched, further evidence of her callous shamelessness. (To be continued daily.) •