Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane
Page 26
35: she had been miserable for weeks: BM May 5, 1871, 3.
35: on April 13, Jane abruptly left the Pooks and moved in with Emily Wolledge: OB, testimony of Elizabeth Trott; T May 3, 1871, 11.
35: Jane told Charlotte that she had left by choice: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
35: “Charlotte... you must not be surprised if I am missing for some weeks”: MEN May 5, 1871, 2.
36: The Trotts offered up one other scrap of information to the police: S May 2, 1871, 7. William Clark himself spoke with the police about meeting Mary Smith and Edmund Pook—but he gave that information after nine o’clock that night. Griffin and Mulvany must have been aware of Mary Smith before that, as they suggested to Ebenezer Pook that his son was sexually involved with her. Since William Trott spoke of Mary Smith to reporters that day, I conclude that the Trotts were aware of Clark’s story and shared it with Griffin and Mulvany. I have been unable to find in the 1871 England Census a clear candidate for a William Clark who lived in Deptford and who was roughly Jane Clouson’s age. I have, however, discovered a twenty-year-old waterman by the name of William Cleak, who lived with his mother and stepfather just two doors down from the Trotts. Phonetically, the names are far apart—but for a newspaper compositor, transcribing a reporter’s handwritten notes, the error is a simple one.
36: they arranged that Jane’s body would follow them: T May 9, 1871, 12.
37: William Trott made his way to the newspapers: S May 2, 1871, 7.
38: he immediately identified the body as his battered, murdered child: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
38: The police gathered at the end of London Street: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
38: while consulting, the police enjoyed at least one round of beer: T May 15, 1871, 2.
38: they chose to meet at this place purely for refreshment: T May 15, 1871, 13.
39: Mrs. Matilda Wolledge, in whose room Jane had stayed, knew nothing: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
39: that month she attended day and night to a woman and her newborn twins: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for Matilda A. Wolledge.
39: She knew that Jane had been depressed, often in tears: KM May 6, 1871, 5; S May 2, 1871, 7.
39: Jane received a letter in the post: KM May 6, 1871, 5; T May 5, 1871, 11.
39: Jane revealed both these things, however, to the Wolledges’ landlady: T May 5, 1871, 11; L May 14, 1871, 10; OB, testimony of Fanny Hamilton.
40: she was going to meet Edmund Pook at his request: S May 5, 1871, 7.
41: Inspector Mulvany swore that they had no intention of arresting Edmund Pook: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
41: Mulvany, as detective, would do most of the talking: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
42: Introductions were made, hands shaken: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
42: they could hear the chatter and laughter of the Pook family at their midday dinner: T July 14, 1871, 11.
42: Jane Clouson had not slept alone while working there: OB, testimony of Harriet Chaplin.
43: He was sorry to hear it was so, he said: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
43: “terms of intimacy”: T July 13, 1871, 11.
43: With both of them “he did as he liked”: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
43: “Ah, it is a very painful matter, but it is too true”: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
43: “a minute longer than we thought he should be”: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
43: Thomas Pook was married and had his own home in Greenwich: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871 for Thomas B. Pook.
43: his wife had left them with their daughter: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
43: “I am positive it is not the case”: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
44: Jane was a slovenly girl: OB, testimony of John Mulvany.
44: he and Griffin watched Mulvany go to work: OB, testimony of John Mulvany.
44: His inspection... was not as thorough as it could have been: T May 31, 1871, 12; KM June 3, 1871, 5.
44: He found no blood: KM May 19, 1871, 5.
44: He was slightly built: PIP May 6, 1871, 291, IPN May 20, 1871. Two sketch portraits of Edmund Pook appeared on the front pages of the Illustrated Police News of May 13 and May 27, 1871. The first, the newspaper later admitted, was not drawn from life and hardly looked like Edmund Pook. The second was much more accurate.
44: “Good Morning Mr. Griffin, I know you”: T July 15, 1871, 11; OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook. Later, Superintendent Griffin denied that he and Edmund shook hands: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
44: “We have come to inform you... Jane Clouson”: A number of accounts of the conversation between Edmund Pook and the police on May 1 exist, differing in small details but adding up to a coherent script. Most of the verbatim quotes are from James Griffin’s testimony at Edmund Pook’s trial at the Old Bailey.
45: “She was a dirty girl”: S July 13, 1871, 6; T May 3, 1871, 7.
45: “Do they? Have you the letter? If it is in my handwriting, that will prove it”: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
45: “...I saw her in the town, talking to a young gent...”: KM June 3, 1871, 5.
45: “Is it necessary to mention her name?” OB, testimony of James Griffin.
45: “That would bring you by Arthur’s House”: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
46: “By-the-bye, I saw our boy...”: OB, testimony of James Griffin, John Mulvany, and Ebenezer Pook; WDP July 13, 1871, 3.
46: “Call up my brother”: T July 11, 1871, 11; OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
46: “...I remember his coming home, and saying he had seen her with a swell”: OB, testimony of John Mulvany.
46: he had worn an overcoat that night: OB, testimony of John Mulvany.
47: On it Mulvany discerned minute spots: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
47: Edmund sarcastically asked them whether they wanted to see the waistcoat and tie: DN Oct. 7, 1871, 6.
47: He walked out and called her: OB, testimony of Ebenezer Pook.
47: Griffin... agreed it was blood: OB, testimony of James Griffin and John Mulvany.
47: “Yes, there is blood on his things”: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
47: “I shall have to take you into custody...”: OB, testimony of John Mulvany.
47: “Very well... I shall go anywhere you like with you”: OB, testimony of James Griffin.
48: they did not give him the usual caution against self-incrimination: MP May 12, 1871, 6; DN May 12, 1871, 2.
48: Edmund asked the police whether he could bring a book with him: DN May 12, 1871, 2.
48: At the station, Inspector Mulvany signed the sheet: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
CHAPTER THREE: TITTLE-TATTLE
52: The procedure that Griffin followed had been established long before: Beattie, 107–8, documents examples from as early as 1757 of Bow Street Runners setting suspects among other men and instructing witnesses to examine the group and touch the one they recognized upon the shoulder.
53: Their ages and their general appearance weren’t very important: Eric R. Watson, in his descriptions of the notorious identification parades for the woefully misidentified Adolf Beck in 1895 and 1904, makes it clear that at those times and before, the Metropolitan Police had little concern about choosing participants that looked like the suspect [34, 36].
53: A terrified Jane Thomas walked into the room: TE May 17, 1871, 3; L May 21, 1871, 4.
53: he, too, recognized no one: T May 17, 1871, 12.
53: Henry Pook, in spite of his name, was not related: T May 3, 1871, 11; TE May 3, 1871, 2.
53: The son of an innkeeper: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851 and 1861, for Henry Pook.
53: suffered bankruptcy at least twice: BC January 11, 1862, 5; RM April 9, 1864, 4.
53: He once pleaded for the life of a condemned man: SLC May 2, 1868, 2.
54: this “sensational drama”: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
54: “The prisoner was now before him, and that was sufficient”: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
55: with “utmost composure”: TE May 3, 1871, 2.
55: The state could intervene in cases of special importance: Mathew, 9–10. For a full description of the process in police court at this time, and particularly of private prosecutions, see Kurland and Waters.
55: a local solicitor by the name of John Lenton Pulling: Pulling resided in nearby Lee, according to the Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for John L. Pulling.
56: he was unprepared: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
56: Most of the testimony Pulling obtained from the witnesses that day: For reporters’ transcripts of Edmund Pook’s examination at Greenwich Police Court on May 2, see T May 3, 1871, 11; KM May 6, 1871, 5; TE May 3, 1871, 2; IPN May 6, 1871, 4; MP May 3, 1871, 6; S May 3, 1871, 3; DN May 3, 1871, 6.
56: Inspector Mulvany had shown him that clothing before the inquest: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
56: “She said she was going to Crooms Hill...”: KM May 6, 1871, 5.
56: a forty-eight-year-old charwoman and costermonger’s wife: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for Jane Prosser.
57: “There was no evidence whatever...”: MP May 3, 1871, 6.
57: “had power... no one would be safe”: KM May 5, 1871, 3.
58: They discovered Smith in Tottenham: SI May 4, 1871, 4; LTA May 5, 1871, 3; L May 14, 1871, 7.
59: the public filling whatever seats were not taken by the doctors of Guy’s: TE May 5, 1871, 5.
59: The inquest began at noon: For reporters’ transcripts of the first sitting of the inquest (May 4), see T May 5, 1871, 11; MP May 5, 1871, 8; TE May 5, 1871, 3; KM May 5, 1871, 3; DN May 5, 1871, 6; L May 14, 1871, 10.
59: they left Jane’s body in the hands of undertaker William Billington: GDC May 6, 1871, supplement; KM May 13, 1871, 5; TE May 9, 1871, 3.
60: he had a reputation for partisan combativeness: Atlay.
60: “I have heard her say that she was keeping company with her young master”: MP May 5, 1871, 8.
60: “I’m not going to work at the machine now”: MP May 5, 1871, 8.
60: “it is evidence”: MP May 5, 1871, 8.
61: he was cursed by a defect of the lip: S May 20, 1871, 6.
61: a “smirking sneer”: L May 7, 1871, 12.
61: “Don’t laugh. It’s not a laughing matter”: L May 7, 1871, 12.
61: “the most important evidence we have had”: L May 7, 1871, 12.
61: “You have the audacity to come here with this pretty tale”: MP May 5, 1871, 8.
61: “twice in a twelvemonth”: T May 5, 1871, 11.
62: “You seem rather warm”: MP May 5, 1871, 8.
63: numbers that... “overwhelmed” R Division: BM May 20, 1871, 9.
63: William Sparshott became one of the many: for Sparshott’s claims see his testimony in police court on May 19 (T May 20, 1871, 11; TE May 20, 1871, 3; KM May 20, 1871, 4) and also his testimony at trial.
64: James Conway... at Samuel Thomas’s shop: for Conway’s claims see his testimony at the second sitting of the inquest on May 11 (T May 12, 1871, 5; TE May 12, 1871, 3; KM May 13, 1871, 5).
64: “something like a gentleman”: T May 12, 1871, 5.
64: Mulvany had personally knocked on Letheby’s door bearing in a parcel Edmund’s trousers, shirt, hat, and coat: TE May 15, 1871, 6. Neither this account, nor any other, mentions the delivery of the coat. Letheby delivered all Edmund’s clothing on this day, however, and Letheby made clear in his testimony that he did indeed examine Edmund’s coat.
64: a highly reputed expert witness: a search for Henry Letheby as a witness, at The Proceedings of the Old Bailey website, reveals that between 1847 and 1871 Letheby appeared in thirty-one Old Bailey trials.
65: He had a surer test for blood than this: For Letheby’s procedure in examining bloodstains, see TE May 15, 1871, 6, and Letheby.
67: “Ah, now he is off to Calcraft”: T May 10, 1871, 11.
67: “I am most certainly astonished at the people”: T May 10, 1871, 11.
68: “I am not disposed to extend those thanks”: T May 10, 1871, 11.
68: In the courtroom... for nothing: MP May 8, 1871, 7; T May 8, 1871, 11.
68: “the sleuth-hound of the Treasury”: Bowen-Rowlands 57; PMG Sept. 16, 1877, 5.
69: “Ignorant constables”: TE May 8, 1871, 3.
69: “the tittle-tattle of one woman to another”: MP May 8, 1871, 3.
69: “not be running about in other directions merely to fix the guilt on this young man”: KM May 13, 1871, 5.
69: That man was older than Edmund, between twenty-six and thirty-four: MP May 9, 1871, 6, in which Yearsley is incorrectly identified as Ormond Earsley.
69: Henry Pook introduced... Henry Humphreys: OB, testimony of James Griffin; T May 8, 1871, 11; TE May 8, 1871, 3.
70: Henry Humphreys was thirty years old and married: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for Henry Humphreys; Board of Guardian Records, 1834–1906 and Church of England Parish Registers, 1754–1906, for Henry Humphreys.
70: “one link of the supposed chain of evidence...”: MEN May 8, 1871, 2.
70: inviting Superintendent Griffin to come to Tudor House: MP July 19, 1871, 7; KM July 22, 1871, 5. Henry Pook claimed that Griffin drank a second glass of whiskey on this night; Griffin, by the first account, states he could have—and by the second, denies it.
71: the coffin holding Jane Clouson’s body: For accounts of Jane Clouson’s funeral, see GDH May 13, 1871, 2; KM May 13, 1871, 5; T May 9, 1871, 12; TE May 9, 1871, 3.
71: magnificent funerals were the norm even among the working class: Curl 195, 209; Litten 165.
71: burial insurance—generally called “life insurance”: Strange 112, 115.
72: Having peers of the deceased hold the pall was the custom for Victorian funerals: Litten 14–15.
72: a service “of an unusually solemn and impressive nature”: KM May 13, 1871, 5.
73: They converged on London Street: T July 19, 1871, 11; KM July 22, 1871, 5.
73: he would “either go mad or do mischief to somebody”: DN July 19, 1871, 2.
73: Lucas was a rogue, a liar, and... a police snitch and spy: KM July 22, 1871, 5.
73: Deputy Coroner William John Payne considered himself greatly put upon: For reporters’ transcripts of the second sitting of the inquest (May 11), see KM May 13, 1871, 5; S May 12, 1871, 7; T May 12, 1871, 5; TE May 12, 1871, 3.
74: “I understand... about to take this case up...”: T May 12, 1871, 5.
74: “let me go, let me go”: T May 12, 1871, 5.
74: Norton served as coachman... and Putman a maid-of-all-work: Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871, for John Norton and Louisa Putman. In the census, Norton—coachman to John Gamble, as reported in the newspapers—is listed as John, not William. But in all of the many newspapers that named him in connection with the case, he is called William.
74: “of about my stamp”: T May 12, 1871, 5.
74: “I thought... some young woman there”: S May 12, 1871, 7.
75: “You know that when you have got a young girl out with you she often screams”: S May 12, 1871, 7.
75: “A great amount of difficulty might have been obviated had the witnesses been allowed to see the prisoner”: S May 12, 1871, 7.
76: Lazell replied, in confusion, “No,” then “I don’t—I don’t believe I did” and then “I think I did”: S May 12, 1871, 7.
77: They had obviously attempted to entrap Edmund Pook: KM May 13, 1871, 5.
77: “Do you interrogate prisoners then?”: T May 10, 1871, 11.
78: He hoped in the future that Mulvany and the police would remember Cockburn’s words: TE May 12, 1871, 3.
78: the Thomases, Samuel and Jane, once again pored over their sales ledger: The Thomases’s discoveries are largely reconstructed from their testimony at the third sitting of the inquest, May 16, 1871: KM May 20, 1871, 5; T May 17, 1871, 12; TE May 17, 1871, 3.
78: Thomas Wittard returned to remind them: In KM May 20, 1871
, 5, this customer’s name is transcribed as “Willan.” But the Census for 1871 is clear: the man living at the address stated in Samuel Thomas’s testimony is Thomas Wittard.
79: William Norton failed to recognize Pook: TE May 17, 1871, 3.
79: Louisa Putman failed as well: TE May 17, 1871, 3.
79: Thomas Lazell... touched him on the shoulder: TE May 17, 1871, 3.
80: James Conway, too, also touched Pook: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
80: Cronk then scrutinized the twenty men’s backs: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
80: Three of these witnesses testified in court that day: For reporters’ transcripts of the third police court examination (May 13) see T May 15, 1871, 13; TE May 15, 1871, 6; KM May 20, 1871, 5; MP May 15, 1871, 6.
80: “Can you say any person in court was the man you picked out from several others this morning”: T May 15, 1871, 13; TE May 15, 1871, 6.
80: “If that was all the learned counsel could produce...”: T May 15, 1871, 13.
81: that blood was “common to all animals”: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
81: “such a fallacy... examination of the spots...”: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
81: “wouldn’t you expect... saturated with blood?”: TE May 15, 1871, 6.
81: “that if the temple artery is cut through it does not bleed”: T May 15, 1871, 13.
82: “similar in quality to that found?”: T May 15, 1871, 13.
82: “blood from a self-inflicted wound...”: S May 15, 1871, 4.
82: His mood could not have been helped by the first two witnesses: For reporters’ transcripts of the third sitting of the inquest (May 16), see T May 17, 1871, 12; KM May 20, 1871, 5; TE May 17, 1871, 3; L May 21, 1871, 4; MP May 17, 1871, 7.
82: “I want some further particulars...”: KM May 20, 1871, 5.
83: “Is it not a fact that you would sell it twopence cheaper...”: L May 21, 1871, 4.
83: “If I could get a few pence to get away to the north...”: S May 17, 1871, 6.
84: “Because the learned counsel... browbeat the witness” MT May 20, 1871, 3.
84: Several members of the jury immediately concurred: FJ May 17, 1871, 7.
84: She began to receive anonymous, threatening letters: T July 14, 1871, 11; MP May 26, 1871, 7.