Mr.Rook having completed his evidence,the police authorities were the next witnesses examined.
They had not found the slightest trace of any attempt to break into the house in the night.The murdered man's gold watch and chain were discovered under his pillow.On examining his clothes the money was found in his purse,and the gold studs and sleeve buttons were left in his shirt.But his pocketbook (seen by witnesses who had not yet been examined)was missing.The search for visiting cards and letters had proved to be fruitless.Only the initials,"J.B.,"were marked on his linen.He had brought no luggage with him to the inn.Nothing could be found which led to the discovery of his name or of the purpose which had taken him into that part of the country.
The police examined the outhouse next,in search of circumstantial evidence against the missing man.
He must have carried away his knapsack,when he took to flight,but he had been (probably)in too great a hurry to look for his razor--or perhaps too terrified to touch it,if it had attracted his notice.The leather roll,and the other articles used for his toilet,had been taken away.Mr.Rook identified the blood-stained razor.He had noticed overnight the name of the Belgian city,"Liege,"engraved on it.
The yard was the next place inspected.Foot-steps were found on the muddy earth up to the wall.But the road on the other side had been recently mended with stones,and the trace of the fugitive was lost.Casts had been taken of the footsteps;and no other means of discovery had been left untried.The authorities in London had also been communicated with by telegraph.
The doctor being called,described a personal peculiarity,which he had noticed at the post-mortem examination,and which might lead to the identification of the murdered man.
As to the cause of death,the witness said it could be stated in two words.The internal jugular vein had been cut through,with such violence,judging by the appearances,that the wound could not have been inflicted,in the act of suicide,by the hand of the deceased person.No other injuries,and no sign of disease,was found on the body.The one cause of death had been Hemorrhage;and the one peculiarity which called for notice had been discovered in the mouth.Two of the front teeth,in the upper jaw,were false.They had been so admirably made to resemble the natural teeth on either side of them,in form and color,that the witness had only hit on the discovery by accidentally touching the inner side of the gum with one of his fingers.
The landlady was examined,when the doctor had retired.Mrs.Rook was able,in answering questions put to her,to give important information,in reference to the missing pocketbook.
Before retiring to rest,the two gentlemen had paid the bill--intending to leave the inn the first thing in the morning.
The traveler with the knapsack paid his share in money.The other unfortunate gentleman looked into his purse,and found only a shilling and a sixpence in it.He asked Mrs.Rook if she could change a bank-note.She told him it could be done,provided the note was for no considerable sum of money.Upon that he opened his pocketbook (which the witness described minutely)and turned out the contents on the table.After searching among many Bank of England notes,some in one pocket of the book and some in another,he found a note of the value of five pounds.He thereupon settled his bill,and received the change from Mrs.
Rook--her husband being in another part of the room,attending to the guests.She noticed a letter in an envelope,and a few cards which looked (to her judgment)like visiting cards,among the bank-notes which he had turned out on the table.When she returned to him with the change,he had just put them back,and was closing the pocketbook.She saw him place it in one of the breast pockets of his coat.
The fellow-traveler who had accompanied him to the inn was present all the time,sitting on the opposite side of the table.
He made a remark when he saw the notes produced.He said,"Put all that money back--don't tempt a poor man like me!"It was said laughing,as if by way of a joke.
Mrs.Rook had observed nothing more that night;had slept as soundly as usual;and had been awakened when her husband knocked at the outhouse door,according to instructions received from the gentlemen,overnight.
Three of the guests in the public room corroborated Mrs.Rook's evidence.They were respectable persons,well and widely known in that part of Hampshire.Besides these,there were two strangers staying in the house.They referred the coroner to their employers--eminent manufacturers at Sheffield and Wolverhampton--whose testimony spoke for itself.
The last witness called was a grocer in the village,who kept the post-office.
On the evening of the 30th,a dark gentleman,wearing his beard,knocked at the door,and asked for a letter addressed to "J.B.,Post-office,Zeeland."The letter had arrived by that morning's post;but,being Sunday evening,the grocer requested that application might be made for it the next morning.The stranger said the letter contained news,which it was of importance to him to receive without delay.Upon this,the grocer made an exception to customary rules and gave him the letter.He read it by the light of the lamp in the passage.It must have been short,for the reading was done in a moment.He seemed to think over it for a while;and then he turned round to go out.There was nothing to notice in his look or in his manner.The witness offered a remark on the weather;and the gentleman said,"Yes,it looks like a bad night"--and so went away.
The postmaster's evidence was of importance in one respect:it suggested the motive which had brought the deceased to Zeeland.
The letter addressed to "J.B."was,in all probability,the letter seen by Mrs.Rook among the contents of the pocketbook,spread out on the table.
