Delphi Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated)

by SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

  COURT. Q. Has that piece of tape been examined so as to ascertain the number of threads it contains? A. It was examined by several gentlemen on the coroner’s jury who were drapers; I have not counted the number of threads in it — Inspector Thornton was originally a draper — the piece of tape at the extreme end of the parcel, I thought corresponded with this piece — they appear to me to be the same tape — I think the short piece at the end of the parcel, and this piece, correspond; they appear to be exactly the same kind of tape.

  MR. SERJEANT PARRY. Q. I believe you also produce a piece of wax that you found on the chimney piece in the prisoner’s room? A. Thomas found that in my presence — I saw him take it from the chimney- piece — I was also with Mr. Thornton when he found the hammer.

  Cross-examined, Q. If understand you rightly, you had been in communication with the prisoner as early as 28th August? A. I think about that time — a reward had been offered then; 300l. — the whole of the reward had been offered then — it was offered on the 24th.

  COURT. Q. The 300l. had been offered before you had any communication with the prisoner? A. Yes.

  MR. BEST. Q. You have told us that you left him outside the field while you went to search the shed. A. Yes; I supposed him during that time to be where I had directed him to wait, outside the field — when I afterward? saw him coming towards the shed, he was about fifty or sixty yards from it; he could not from where he was, have seen what we had done inside the shed — he could see us enter the shed — we remained there two minutes probably, then he came up to us — he did not first call our attention to the bricks which were lying about — he did not mention anything about searching some bricks previous to telling us about the slab — I am sure he did not, or about searching some wood — he afterwards said “Turn up those bricks” — that was before we had found the parcel — Emm is by trade a shoemaker — I found his tools in his house; his daughter was at work — I examined his tools; I believe a shoemaker’s hammer was amongst them; I am not quite sure — I believe shoemakers use a hammer in their trade — Sergeant Thomas searched that portion of the house.

  WILLIAM THOMAS. I am a sergeant of the detective police — On Sunday morning, 9th September, in consequence of instructions from Inspector Thornton, I went to 17, Oakum-street, Chelsea, between 10 and 11 in the day; I found the prisoner there — he came out of the house; I was just behind him — I took a turn and met him, and beckoned to him when he saw me, and he followed me into the Brompton-road — he spoke first to me, he said “Thomas, I took you to be Tanner” — he said “You know that I am very elever in these matters, I have been working hard, day and night to discover the murderer of Mrs. Emsley, and I have found him out” — I said, “Who do you suspect?” — he said, “The man Emm, who gave evidence on the coroner’s inquest; he was suspected; no one had better opportunity, as he was in the habit of taking small sums of money, and would be admitted by Mrs. Emsley at any time” — I said, “Mullins, would she admit you V — he said, “Oh, no, she would answer me from the window, and up the area” — he said nothing more at that time — I had seen him before and spoken to him before — I had not know him for any number of years — I went with him to Scotland-yard, and then went with him, Inspector Thornton, and Tanner, to Bethnal-green — as we were going along in the cab, the prisoner and Thornton were in conversation, and after they had stopped, I said, “Mullins, what sort of a parcel did you see Emm place in the shed?” — he jumped up, put his hand into his coat pocket, and withdrew a handkerchief, and rolled it up to about the same size as the parcel, and said, “That is about the size.”

  COURT. Q. And was that the size? A. Yes; I afterwards found that to be the size.

  MR. CLERK. Q. Was he telling Thornton in the cab what he had seen Emm do? A. Thornton and the prisoner were in conversation, but I did not bear all they said — When we got to the brick-field we went into the brickfield — I went to the shed that had been spoken of, adjoining the house — I looked into the shed, but did not disturb anything; I merely looked into it — after that I went into the house and searched there; I saw some papers relating to some property between the deceased and Emm — I then returned to Inspector Thornton, and at that time Mullins made his appearance in the field — I had taken him up Bonner’s-lane, out of sight of Emm’s place altogether, and said, “Mullins, remain here till we send for you” — that was about 150 yards from the place where I next saw him — he had some conversation with Tanner in the field — I did not hear what passed — Tanner then spoke to me, and from what he said I went again to the shed, and removed a flagstone that was just inside the door, and there I found a parcel, tied round with tape — it was behind the stone, between the stone and the wall — at the bottom there were some bricks and rubbish — the stone was buried about three or four inches outside and inside — the parcel was on the top of the bricks, between the wall and the stone — the bricks were not visible from outside, in the field, until I had removed the stone, not what was behind the stone, not in the middle, where the parcel was — the stone was two inches from the wall at the bottom part — it was standing nearly against the wall, it leant towards the wall — the brick rubbish was between the bottom of the stone and the wall — the brick rubbish was not visible when I was outside in the field — when I took the parcel I brought it to where Thornton was standing in the field — I spoked to Emm first, before I untied the parcel — Mullins was not near enough to hear what was said — I opened the parcel in Tanner’s presence — it contained some spoons, a cheque for 10l. and two lenses — I afterwards went to 33, Barnsley-street, I went to the back room on the ground floor in that house — I had been in that room before — the prisoner lived there; I had seen him there — I there found a small bit of shoemaker’s wax and a small bit of twine, together on the mantelpiece — I produce them — the street door of the house opens by a small bit of twine; anybody can open it from the outside — the door of the prisoner’s room was locked — I had not the key with me; I broke it open — I afterwards went to the house, 17, Oakum-street, from which I had seen the prisoner come — a person named Kelly is the landlady of that house — I went into a back room there where I found the prisoner’s wife, and in that room I found a spoon, which I produce, it has on the back of it the letters W. P.

  Cross-examined. Q. That is the ordinary trade mark, is it not? A. I believe so — I believe it is the maker’s mark — the spoons are ordinary sort of German metal spoons, generally in use — there is a slight difference between the appearance of the spoon found at the prisoner’s house, and the spoons found in the parcel — I should say the one found in the house was worn more than those found in the parcel — two of those in the parcel are alike, and one of those in the parcel and the one found in the house are just the same pattern — when I come to look at the bowls they are a different shape (examining them) — three are alike; the one found in the house is similar to this — they are German silver — I first went to the house in Barnsley-street, on Tuesday, 28th August — it is a very small backroom where the prisoner lived, not very clean — I saw no one there besides himself — there was a person living up stairs, an invalid, whose name I do not know — there was no one down stairs — I do not know how many rooms there are upstairs, there are three down — the prisoner occupied one, no one occupied the others — that was the only room occupied down stairs.

  DR. GILL (re-examined). I have examined the ends of the two pieces of tape produced — I have carefully counted the number of strands in them — Tanner was present — he counted them before me, not letting me know the number he counted; there are thirty-three strands in each.

  COURT. Q. So that those two pieces are pieces of the same sort of tape? A. They are in my opinion — that is all I can say.

  MR. BEST. Q. You are not engaged in the manufacture of tape, I suppose? A. No; I have been in the habit of examining all fabrics, I examine all things that I feel an interest in, under the microscope — I am in the habit of examining cotton, silk,
or anything, for my own private investigation.

  MR. SERJEANT PARRY. Q. It is a very beautiful investigation sometimes, is it not, to examine fabrics? A. It is exceedingly beautiful.

  STEPHEN THORNTON. I am an inspector of the detective police — On Saturday, 8th September, the prisoner called at my house — on the following morning I went with Tanner, Thomas, and the prisoner, to Bethnal-green — as we went along, the prisoner said he had been watching Emm, who had been living in Mr. Emsley’s brick-field, Bethnal-green, for some time, and on Saturday, about half-past 8 in the morning, he saw him come out of his house, go to a ruin or shed, about fifty yards from his house, bring out a parcel, and, looking about him, go into his own house, that he was there a few minutes, then came out with a smaller parcel, and went to a shed or lean-to adjoining his own house, and was there about a minute, and then came out without the parcel — he said the parcel that he fetched from his own house was a small parcel about the size of a pint pot — I went to that brickfield — directions were given to Thomas to search in the shed and the house — the parcel was afterwards brought to me — Emm was not in good health at that time; he seemed to be labouring from illness, and suffering — had given instructions to Mullins as to where he was to remain — I told him to remain outside the brick-field, and if we wanted him we would send for him — I saw him in the brick-field at the extreme or northeast end of the brick-field shortly after — some ten minutes afterwards he came up to within twenty-five yards of where I was standing, and I sent Tanner to take him away — I saw the parcel opened, and the contents have been produced here — I afterwards went to the house in Barnsley-street, and found this plasterer’s hammer, which has been produced — I found it lying with other tools, I believe, on the floor in the room.

  Cross-examined. Q. The hammer was quite open, I believe, not concealed? A. It was lying on the floor — there was no concealment about it — I examined it directly, and found it nearly in the same state as it is now — there was some plaster on it — it was not so clean as it is now — it appeared to me as if it had been used — I have been engaged in giving directions about this case the whole time, but part of the time I have been on leave — I have not received any communication that a person was seen to come out of the deceased’s house on the Tuesday morning — in consequence of something I have made inquiries about one or two persons besides Mullins, previous to his being apprehended.

  MR. SERJEANT PARRY. Q. Since his apprehension, have you made inquiry about any other person? A. No; I have not.

  JOHN JOSHUA CARRIER. I am one of the firm of Pickering and Co. 4, Suffolk- street, Cambridge-road — I knew the deceased Mrs. Emsley — I last saw her alive on Monday, 13th August last — I drew this cheque, and paid it to her — I gave it to her — it is dated 14th August; it should have been the 13th — it is an error in the date — it is a mistake I made in drawing it.

  COURT. Q. Are you quite sure you drew it on the 13th? A. Quite sure, and gave it her myself on the same morning.

  Cross-examined. Q. What time did you give it her? A. About 12 o’clock; it might have been a little before 12.

  COURT. Q. How long had you been a tenant of Mrs. Emsley’s? A. About eighteen years, the old and new firm together — I am not aware that she kept a banker — I do not know anything about that; I did not know that she did — I paid her on other occasions, sometimes by cheque, and sometimes money; more frequently by cheque — I do not know what became of the cheques after she had them — we never crossed the cheques; it was always an open cheque that I gave her — I cannot say now whether in looking over our accounts I ever ascertained when the cheques came into our bankers as paid — I know nothing about it.

  MR. SERJEANT PARRY. Q. This cheque has never been through your bankers; it has never been paid? A. Never.

  JOSEPH BIGGS. I live at Connaught-row, Bethnal-green. I was well acquainted with Mrs. Mary Emsley during the last four years, I think this is the fourth summer — I knew her husband before, from about the year 1820 — I was in the habit of calling upon her in general once a week, since she lived in Grove-road — I used to call there on Sunday evening mostly — I called there on Sunday, 12th August, the day before this calamitous affair — I was to have gone there on the Tuesday to see Mr. Cook, he being an acquaintance of mine — I did not go at the time appointed; instead of going at 11, it was about half-past 1 — I could not get in — I have seen some plate which the deceased deposited with me; I did not see it from the time of her depositing it with me, until the time she wanted to take something out of it, I had not any farther knowledge of it — I kept it secured as she tied it up — she took back some of that; a few articles to sell, such as a silver snuff-box, a lady’s pencil-case, and a silver watch, and gold pins with coloured stones — she took away a silver pencil-case with her about four months ago, I think, somewhere early in the summer; I cannot call to mind the time exactly; it was about four months, it might have been more or less — I did not see that pencil-case afterwards until I saw it at the police court, or rather until Tanner showed it to me — I believe that this (produced) was the pencil-case which she took away with her, and for this reason; when she took it out of the parcel, (indeed I did not know it was there before,) she said “Here is a pencil-case, seeming to say, “Would you like to have it?” — that was how I understood her — I took hold of it and said, “Oh, it is an old-fashioned concern” — the point was thin, very much bent, more so than it is now — that has been put in order — I said I did not think I should—”I don’t think it is of much use, it appears to be very much broke” — she said, “I don’t suppose it is;” and consequently took it back again with her — I observed the head of the pencil-case at the time; it was a round head like this; I believe this to be the very pencil-case — I saw some lenses of a telescope in her possession, something like four weeks before her decease, when she gave them to me to look at, saying, “Here are two glasses, which do you think magnifies the most?” and so on — these appear to me to be the very two glasses; I remember one was much better than the other — I believe they are the same.