CHAPTER I.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 24, 26 February 1881, Page 245

CHAPTER I.

When I Avas a young man of five ancl twenty, I became a member of the London Police Force. After nearly tAvo years' ordinary experience of the responsible and ill-paid duties of that vocation, I found- myself employed on my first serious ancl terrible case of crime, being nothingless than the crime of murder. The circumstances Avere these : I was then attached to a station in the northern district of London, Avhich I beg permission not to mention more particularly. On a certain Monday in the Aveek, I took my turn of night duty. Up to four in the morning, nothingoccurred at the station-house out of the ordinary way. It Avas then spring time, ancl, between the gas ancl the fire, the room becoming rather hot, I Avent to the door to get a breath of fresh air — much to the surprise "of our inspector on duty, aa'lio Avas constitutionally a chilly man. There Avas a fine rain falling, and a nasty damp in the air, Avhich soon sent me back to the fireside. I don't suppose I had sat iloavii for more than a minute, Avhen the SAvinging door Avas violently pushed open. A frantic Avonian ran in, with a scream, ancl said : "Is this the •station-house ?" Our inspector (otherwise an excellent officer) had, by some perversity of Nature, a hot temper in his chilly constitution. "Why, bless the Avoman, can't you see it is !" he says. " What's the matter iioav?" "Murder's the matter !" she burst out. " For God's sake, come back AA'ith me ! It's at Mrs. Crosscapel's lodging-house, No. 14 Lefroystreet. A young- Avoman has murdered her husband in the night ! With a knife, sir. She says she thinks she did it in her sleep." I confess I Avas startled by this; ancl the third man on duty (a sergeant) seemed to feel it too. She AA'as a nice looking Avoman, even in her terrified condition, just out of bed, witli her clothes huddled on anyhoAv. I Avas partial, in those clays, to a tall, slim figure — and she Avas, as they say, my style. I put a chair for her ; ancl the sergeant poked the fire. As for the inspector, nothing ever upset him. He questioned her as cooly as if it had been a case of petty larceny. "HaA-e you seen the murdered man?" he .-asked. "No, sir." " Or the Avife ?" "No, sir. I didn't dare go into the room ; I only heard about it." "Oh! And avlio are you ? One of the lodgers !" "No, sir. I'm the cook." "Isn't there a master in the house?" "Yes, sir. He's frightened out of his Avits. Ancl the housemaid's gone for the doctor. It all falls on the poor servants, of course. Oh, why did I ever set foot in that horrible house !" The poor soul burst out crying, and shivered from head to foot. The inspector made a note of her statement, and then asked her to read it, ancl sign it with her name. The object of this proceeding Avas to get her to come near enough to give him the opportunity of smelling \i er breath. "When people make extraordinary statements," he afterwards said to me : " it sometimes saA'es trouble to satisfy yourself that they are not drunk. I've knoAvn them to be mad— but not. You will generally find that in their- eyes." She roused herself, ancl signed her name • "Priscilla Varley." The inspector's oavii test proved her to be sober ; and her eyes-— of a nice light blue colour, mild and pleasant, no doubt, Avhen they Avere not staring Avith fear, ancl red with crying— and her eyes satisfied him that she Avas not mad. He turned the case over to me. in the first instance. I saAV that he didn't believe in it, even yet. "Go back Avith her to the house," he says. " This may be a stupid hoax, or a quarrel exaggerated. See to it yourself, and hear AA-hat the doctor says. If it is serious, send Avord here directly, ancl let nobody enter the place or leave it till Aye come. Stop. You knoAv the form, if -any statement is volunteered ?" "Yes, sir, I am to caution the persons that whatever they say Avili be taken doAvn, ancl may he used against them." * ' Quite right !" You'll be an inspector yourself, one of these clays clays. Noav, miss !" With that he dismissed her. under my care. Lefroy Street A\'as not very far off— about tAventy minutes' Avalk from the station. I confess I thought the inspector had been rather hard on Priscilla. She Avas herself naturally angiy Avith him. "What does he mean," she says, "by talking ofa hoax? I wish he Avas as tnghtened as I am. This is the first time I have been out at service, sir— and I did think I had found a respectable place." I said very little to her ; feeling, if the truth must be told, rather anxious about the duty committed to me. On reaching the house, the door Avas opened from Avithin before I could knock. A gentleman stepped out, avlio proved to be the doctor. He stoppod the moment he saAvme. "You must be careful, policeman," he says. " The mau is dead— and there is knife through his heart." Hearing this, I felt the necessity of "sending to the station. Where could I find a trustworthy messenger ? I took the liberty of askinothe doctor if he Avould repeat at the station AA-hat he had already said to me. It Avas not much out of his Avay home. He kindly granted my request. Mrs. Crbsscapel, the landlady, had opened the door for him. She Avas still a youn«Avoman ; not easily frightened, as far as t could see, even by a murder in the house. Her husband AA'as in the passage behind her. He looked old enough to be her father • ancl he so trembled with terror that some people might have taken him for the guilty person. I removed the key from the street door, after locking it * and I said

the front room, a Mr. John Zebedee, the murdered man, and his Avife. In the back room, Mr. Deluc ; described as a cigar agent, and supposed to be a Creole gentleman from Martinique. In the front garret, Mr. and Mrs. Crosscapcl. In the back garret, the cook and the housemaid. These Avere tlie inhabitants, regularly accounted for ! I asked about the servants. "Both excellent characters," says the landlady, "or they Avould not be in my service. " We reached the second floor, and found the housemaid on the watch, outside the door of the front room. Not as nice a Avoman personally as the cook, ancl sadly frightened, of course. Her mistress had posted her, to give the alarm in case of any outbreak on the part of Mrs. Zebedee, kept locked up in the room. My arrival relieved the housemaid of further responsibility. She hastened doAvnstairs to her felloAV -servants in the kitchen. Before Aye Avent in, I asked Mrs. Crosscapel lioav ancl Avhen the alarm of the murder had been given. "Soon after three this morning," says she, "I was Avoke by the screams of Mrs. Zebedee. I found hei- out here on the landing, and Mr. Deluc, in great alarm, trying to quiet her. Sleeping in the next room, lie had only to open his door AA'hen her screams Avoke him.. 'My dear John's murdered ! I am the miserable Avretch — I did it in my sleep ! She repeated those Avords over and over again, until she dropped into a savooii. "Mr. Deluc ancl I carried her back into the bedroom. We both thought the poor creature had been drived distracted by some dreadful dream. But Avhen Aye got to the bedside — there ! you heard Avhat the doctor said, ancl you knoAv Avhat Aye saAV. I Avas once a nurse in a hospital, and accustomed as such to horrid sights .It turned me cold and giddy, notAvithstancling.

to the landlady, "Nobody must leaA'e the house, or enter the house, till tlie inspector conies. I must examine the premises to see if anybody has broken in." She understood me. ' ' There is the key of the area gate," she said. "It's ahvays kept locked. Come down-stairs, and see for yourself." Priscilla Avent Avith us. Her mistress set her to Avork to light the kitchen fire. "Some of us," says Mrs. Crosscapal, "may be the better for a cup of tea. " I remarked that she took things easy under the circumstances. She ansAvered that the landlady of a London lodginghouse couldn't afford to lose her Avits, no matter Avhat might happen. I found the gate locked ancl the kitchen Avincloav shutters fastened. The back kitchen and back door Avere secured in the same Avay. No person Avas concealed anywhere. Returning upstairs, I examined the front parlor AvintloAv. There again, the barred shutters answered for the security of that room. A cracked A'oice sjioke through the door of the back parlor. "The policeman can come iv," it said, "if he Avili promise not to look at me." I turned to the landlady for information. "It's my parlor lodger, Miss Mybus," she explained. "A most respectable lady." Going into tbe back room, I saAV something rolled up in the bed curtains. Miss Mybus had made herself modestly iinisible in that Avay. Having iioav satisfied my mind about the security of the loAver part of the house, and having the keys safe in my pocket, I was ready to go up-stairs. On our Avay to tlie upper regions, I asked if there had been any visitors on the previous day. There had been ouly two visitors, friends of the lodgers — and Mrs. Crosscapcl herself had let them both out. My next enquiry related to the lodgers. On the ground fioor there Avas Miss Mybus ; on the first fioor (occupying both rooms), Mr. Bariield, an old bachelor, employed in a merchant's ofiice. On the second floor, in

As for Mr. Deluc, I thought he would have had a fainting lit next." Hearing this, I enquired if Mrs. Zebedee had said or done any strange things since she had been Mrs. Crosscapel's lodger. " You think she's mad ?" says the landlady. ' And anybody would be of your mind Avhen'a Avoman accuses herself of murdering her husband in her sleep. All I can say is that, up to tlus morning, a more quiet, sensible, Avellbehaved little person than Mrs. Zebedee I never met with. Only just married, mind, ancl as fond of her unfortunate husband asaAA'oman could be. I should have called them a pattern couple, in their oavii line of life." There Avas no more to be said on the landing. We unlocked the door and Avent in. °