The Big Bow Mystery

lves have made excellent themes for reports and leaders. But the personality of the man arrested, and the Big Bow Mystery Battle-as it came to be ca

t too excited to take any notice of his demand to be arrested. But to do him justice, the official yielded as soon as he understood the situation. It seems inconceivable tha

s them. Not only had Wimp perpetrated a grotesque blunder, but the journalists to a man were down on his great sensation tableau, though their denunciations did not appear in the dramatic columns. The Liberal papers said that he had endangered Mr. Gladstone's life; the Conservative t

of the new evidence, fully committed for trial on the charge of murdering Arthur Constant. Then men's thoughts

ever be repeated; a drama which ladies of fashion would have given their earrings to witness, even with the central figure not a woman. And there was a woman in it anyhow, to judge by the little that had transpired at the magisterial examination, and the fact that the country was placarded with bills offering a reward for information concerning a Miss Jessie Dymond.

ead, but the more commonplace animosity engendered by the disturbing element of a woman having relations to both. If, before my case is complete, it will be my painful duty to show that the murdered man was not the saint the world has agreed to paint him, I shall not shrink from unveiling the truer picture, in the interests of justice, which cannot say nil nisi bonum even of the dead. I propose to show that the murder was committed by the prisoner shortly before half-past six on the morning of December 4th, and that the prisoner having, with the remarkable ingenuity which he has shown throughout, attempted to prepare an alibi by fe

rosecution. She was quite used to legal inquisitiven

ember 3d, you gave t

your l

behave when

gentleman's room, and I'm afraid he quarreled with him.

appened

n a passion, and came in

g away to Liverpool very

said he was going to D

you get up th

-past

ot your us

ways get

ount for the ex

unes wil

he dull, fog

should never get u

ething before

e it strong, without sugar.

when the prisoner told you

y tea in th

soner dropped something in

led): "He ough

it without your noti

er the poor gentleman, he was cl

n her replies must confin

r, and exactly illustrates the interdependence of the probabilities. Now, Mrs. Dra

How she became alarmed-how she found the street-door locked by the big lock-how she roused Grodman, and got him to burst open

passed to the witness)

key of my first-floor front. I am s

know a Mi

. But I knew he would never mar

y n

too grand for he

an anything m

ce once or twice. The last time I set

d she a

, but she wouldn't let

soner behaved si

ed very glum an

edroom of Mr. Constant, and give it up to him, so that

e didn't pa

edroom, did not the prisoner once

e was very

r and Mr. Constant spoke abou

couldn'

ou know they we

e talkin'

rply): "But I'm talking loudly to you

o make a quarre

of man who, in your opini

hould ha' gues

ck you as a tho

I knew he was

since the murder. Might not that have been

ikely be glad to

s if Mr. Constant took her

dog-in-th

rabdump. Had the prisoner cea

t a letter in her handwriting among his heap he use

hant ring in his voice): "Thank you

sed to care for Miss Dymond. Might not this have been in consequence of

hat is not a

at will do, thank

ever see anything-say when Miss Dymond came to your house-to make you

e when Mr. Mortlake w

id she m

out when she knocked and he

hear what

. They spoke friendly a

n to him much about her. He should not think she was much in prisoner's thoughts. Naturally the prisoner had been depressed by the death of his friend. Besides, he was overworked. Witness thought highly of Mortlake's character. It was incredible that C

me he was much more severely examined. He would not bind himself down to state the time within an hour or two. He thought life had been extinct two or three hours when he arrived, so that the deed had been committed

rejected by all. As a whole the medical evidence tended to fix the time of death, with a high degree of probability, between the hours of six and half-past eight. The efforts of the Prosecution were bent upon throwing back the time of death to as early as possible after about half-past five. The Defense spent all its strength upon pinning the experts to the conclusion that death could not have been earlier than seven. Evidently the Prosecution was going to fight hard for the hypothesis that Mortlake had commi

Edward

tamely enough with thrice-threshed-out

ed in your mind you took up your quarters,

ally gathered against the occupants of No. 11, Glover Street, an

l the jury wh

oom buried deeply in the side of prisoner's leather sofa. I found what I imagine to be the letter he rece

already been identified by Mrs. Drabdu

ted, and ra

r myself from you and all the sweetness of life. Darling, there is no other way. I feel you could never marry me now. I have felt it for months. Dear Tom, you will understand what I mean. We must look facts in the face. I hope you will always be friends with Mr. Constant. Good by, d

ssi

lemen, with wigs or without, were observed to be polis

ese discoveries

a pecuniary connection. I was allowed by the family to inspect Mr. Constant's check-book, and found a paid check made out for ￡25 in the name of

at the prisoner opened Mr. Constan

tain

cally): "And locked the door f

tain

odness to explain how

on this theory, be on the floor as the outside locking could not have been effected if it had been in the lock. The first persons to enter the room would naturally believe it had been thrown down in the burst

so explain how the prisoner could have

Constant's bedroom worked perpendicularly. When the staple was torn off, it would simply remain at rest on the pin of the bolt instead of supporting it or keeping it fixed. A person bursting open the door and finding the staple resting on the pin and torn away from the lintel of the door, would, of course, imagine he had to

e exact details. The damage had been repaired, so that it was all a question of precise past observation. The inspector and the sergeant testified that the key was in the lock when they saw it, though both the mortise and the bolt were broken. They were not prepared to say that Wimp's theory was impossible; they would even admit it was quite possible that the staple of the bolt had been torn off beforehand. Mrs. Drabdump

elded to your onslaught, that it is highly probable that the pin of the bolt was not i

id not yiel

must be a

dwork crumbling; the lock was new and sho

ope you will never appear at

wildly about the whereabouts of his sweetheart. He said he had just received a mysterious letter from Miss Dymond saying she was gone. She (the landlady) replied that she could have told him that weeks ago, as her ungrateful lodger was gone now some three weeks without leaving a hint behind her. In answer to his most ungentlemanly raging and raving, she told him it served him right, as he s

. He particularly remembered it, because he paid the money to a very pretty g

er denouncing Mr. Constant, he could not say. He had not actually heard the prisoner's denunciations; he might have given Mr. Wimp a false impression, but then Mr. Wimp was so p

ooked like wishing to-that the prisoner had at first been rather mistrustful of Mr. Constant, but he was certain that the feeling had quickly worn off. Yes, he was a great friend of the prisoner, but he didn't see why that shou

and bitter. The Prosecution also produced a poster announcing that the prisoner would preside at a great meeting of clerks on December 4th. He had not turned up at this meeting nor sent any

im to sacrifice himself to her; dreading also, perhaps, her own weakness, she made the parting absolute, and the place of her refuge a mystery. A theory has been suggested which drags an honored name in the mire-a theory so superfluous that I shall only allude to it. That Arthur Constant could have seduced, or had any improper relations with his friend's betrothed is a hypothesis to which the lives of both give the lie. Before leaving London-or England-Miss Dymond wrote to her aunt in Devonport-her only living relative in this country-asking her as a great favor to forward an addressed letter to the prisoner, a fortnight after receipt. The aunt obeyed implicitly. This was the letter which fell like a thunderbolt on the prisoner on the night of December 3d. All his old love returned-he was full of self-reproach and pity for the poor girl. The letter read ominously. Perhaps she was going to put an end to herself. His first thought was to rush up to his friend, Constant, to seek his advice. Perhaps Constant knew something of the affair. The prisoner knew the two were in not infrequent communication. It is possible-my lord and gentlemen of the jury, I do not wish to follow the methods of the prosecution and confuse theory with fact, so I say it is possible-that Mr. Constant had supplied her with the ￡25 to leave the country. He was like a brother to her, perhaps even acted imprudently in calling upon her, though neither dreamed of evil. It is possible that he may have encouraged her in her abnegation and in her altruistic aspirations, perhaps even without knowing their exact drift, for does he not speak in his very last letter of the fine female characters he was meeting, and the influence for good he had over individual human souls? Still, this we can now never know, unless the dead speak or the absent return. It is also not impossible that Miss Dymond was entrusted with the ￡25 for charitable purposes. But to come back to certainties. The prisoner consulted Mr. Constant about the letter. He then ran to Miss Dymond's lodgings in Stepney Green, knowing beforehand his trouble would be futile. The letter bore the postmark of Devonport. He knew the girl had an aunt there; possibly she might have gone to her. He could not telegraph, for he was ignorant of the address. He consulted his 'Bradshaw,' and resolved to

d been given of the various and complicated movements attributed to the prisoner on the morning of December 4th, between the hours of 5:25 and 7:15 a. m., and that the most important witness on the theory of the prosecution-he meant, of course, Miss Dymond-had not been produced. Even if she were dead, and her body were found, no countenance would be given to the theory of the prosecution, for the mere conviction that her lover had deserted her would be a sufficient explanation of her suicide. Beyond the ambiguous letter, no tittle of evidence of her dishonor-on which the bulk of the case against the prisoner rested-had been adduced. As for the motive of political jealousy that had be

' vigorous speech was greeted

he girl's lodgings, and, finding his worst fears confirmed, planned at once his diabolically ingenious scheme of revenge. He told his landlady he was going to Devonport, so that if he bungled, the police would be put temporarily off his track. His real destination was Liverpool, for he intended to leave the country. Lest, however, his plan should break down here, too, he arranged an ingenious alibi by being driven to Euston for the 5:15 train to Liverpool. The cabman would not know he did not intend to go by it, but meant to return to 11, Glover Street, t

re anything inherently impossible in Constant's yielding to the sudden temptation of a beautiful girl, nor in a working-girl deeming herself deserted, temporarily succumbing to the fascinations of a gentleman and regretting it bitterly afterward. What had become of the girl was a mystery. Hers might have been one of those nameless corpses which the tide swirls up on slimy river banks. The jury must remember, too, that the relation might not have actually passed into dishonor, it might have been just grave enough to smite the girl's conscience, and to induce her to behave as she had done. It was enough that her letter should have excited the jealousy of the prisoner. There was one other point which he would like to impress on the jury, and which the counsel for the prosecution had not sufficiently insisted upon. This was that the prisoner's guiltiness was the only plausible solution that had ever been advanced of the Bow Mystery. The medical evidence agreed that Mr. Constant did not die by his own hand. Someone must therefore have murdered him. The number of people who could have had any po

turn. The shadows of night fell across the reeking,

ilt

put on his

o; the evening banquet was indefinitely postpone