Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery

by B. L. Farjeon

  CHAPTER XLVIII.

  THE CORONER'S SUMMING-UP.

  "We have now," said the Coroner, addressing the jury, "arrived at theend of the inquiry, so far as the examination of witnesses isconcerned, and the duty devolves upon you of carefully considering theevidence, and of giving your verdict. At the opening of this inquiry Imade a strong appeal to you to keep an open mind, and not to beinfluenced by the rumours and theories which have been freely broachedby press and public. It is in this way that the interests of justicewill be best served. The case is one of the gravest import, and yourtask one of unusual difficulty. For this reason I feel it my duty toaddress you at greater length than is usual in inquiries of thisnature.

  "There are leading points in the case which we may take as establishedbeyond dispute. One is that a murder has been committed, a murder ofextreme brutality, and distinguished by features of extreme cunning.Another, that the man murdered is Mr. Samuel Boyd. Another, that themurder was committed on the night of the 1st or the 2nd of March.

  "That the crime should have remained undiscovered so long is due tothe peculiar domestic habits of the deceased, and to the facts that hekept no servants in his house, that he lived quite alone, and that onthe evening of the 1st of March he dismissed the only person whom hekept regularly employed. Had this dismissal not been given, and hadMr. Abel Death, his clerk, gone to his work as usual on the followingmorning, the discovery of the murder would have been made within a fewhours of its perpetration, and the task before you would have beenrendered far less difficult. I would not have you attach too muchimportance to the apparent connection between the perpetration of themurder and the disappearance of Mr. Abel Death. Coincidences asstrange are not uncommon in matters less serious, and it is notbecause this matter is serious that the coincidence should beconstrued to the disadvantage of a man who is absent. Up to Friday,the 1st of March, his relations with his employer were as fairlysatisfactory as could have been expected from the miserable stipend hereceived and from the character of the murdered man, and, unpleasantas those relations became on that last day, there was nothing in them,so far as we are aware, to supply a reason for the committal of adeliberate and dastardly murder, all the details of which must havebeen carefully planned. If Mr. Abel Death had been a party to thisplan he would hardly have asked his employer for a loan of ten pounds,a small sum for a rich man to grant to his confidential clerk.

  "For the purpose of arriving, as far as possible, at a clearcomprehension of this part of the mystery let us for a moment followthe probable movements of Mr. Death on that night.

  "He is dismissed from his employment, and he leaves the office, adisappointed and unhappy man; he relates to his wife all that passedbetween him and his employer, and subsequently informs her that he isgoing to Catchpole Square to make another appeal to his employer. Igather that the time of his arrival at the house would be about teno'clock, at which hour we may assume that Mr. Samuel Boyd had notretired to rest. At about nine o'clock Lady Wharton left Mr. SamuelBoyd at the door of his house, and from that moment all is mystery. Weknow, however, that he must have had matters to attend to which wouldkeep him up a couple of hours. Lady Wharton had deposited with him anumber of valuable jewels, to which, when she was gone, he wouldnaturally devote attention, appraising them, and probably taking alist of them. The dismissal of his clerk would most likely cause himto pay some attention to the state of the books and accounts, and thejewels had to be put in a place of safety.

  "All this would occupy him a couple of hours, and this brings us toeleven o'clock, when he would be ready to seek his bed. But beforethis hour Mr. Abel Death, according to the theory we are followingout, has paid his visit, or rather, has made his attempt to see hisemployer. He knocks at the door, and in response to the summons Mr.Boyd goes down to see who is there. A man living alone in a house sosafely removed from public observation would be scarcely likely toopen his street door to casual visitors at ten o'clock at night, nor,the business of the day being over, would he neglect to put the chainon the street door. His probable course of action would be to go down,and, opening the door as far as the chain would allow, inquire who isthere. He is answered by Mr. Death, who begs to be admitted to makehis appeal; is refused; while standing in the square implores to betaken back; is listened to, laughed at, ordered to go away, and thedoor shut in his face.

  "I do not see how we can carry the matter farther as regards Mr.Death. To assume that he is admitted to the house, and that Mr. Boydwent to bed in his presence, is so wildly improbable that we may atonce reject it. If anything can be said to be ridiculous in so awful atragedy it would be to suppose that Mr. Boyd thus placed himself inthe power and at the mercy of a man whom he knew to be embitteredagainst him, and who was in a sense desperate. As to Mr. Abel Death'ssubsequent movements we are left in mystery. His wife suggests foulplay. That a man left in the position to which my argument has carriedhim should deliberately conceal himself without a distinct motive isnot to be thought of, and for this reason I consider the suggestion offoul play tenable. From whom, or from what quarter, who shall say? Butwe are not here to inquire into this matter; it is not the fate of Mr.Death we have to deliberate upon, and I advise you therefore to narrowthe issue, which is sufficiently wide and perplexing, by setting himaside. There is nothing whatever to connect him with the crime beyondthe merest conjectures, and were he alone concerned the only verdictthat could be returned would be one of 'Murder by some person orpersons unknown.'

  "We will now turn to another branch of the subject. In reply to aquestion I put to Mrs. Death she expressed her belief that her husbandhad no enemies: but a man carrying on such a business as Mr. SamuelBoyd transacted must have had many. However harsh it may sound, thereis in my mind very little doubt that he must have inflicted greatwrongs upon a number of persons. The tactics pursued by moneylendersof his class are so tricky and unscrupulous--they are so entirelyoblivious of the claims of common humanity--that they must perforcebreed animosity and resentment in the breasts of those whom theyentrap. I am referring, understand, to that class of moneylenderswhose nefarious practices have made them a danger to society, and I amhappy to see that the strong arm of the law is being stretched forwardto protect the unwary and unsuspecting victims who fall into theirclutches. On the other hand, there are, of course, among such a man'scustomers some crafty borrowers who would trick the moneylender as hewould trick them, men with doubtful reputations whose characters areno better than his own. It is for your consideration whether Mr.Samuel Boyd has fallen a victim to a cunningly laid plot on the partof a band of these men; the abstraction of the books and papers inwhich their names would appear favours this presumption. We have noevidence presented to us that affords a clue to the discovery of sucha plot, but it will be as well not to lose sight of its probableexistence.

  "Returning to my argument concerning Mr. Samuel Boyd's movementswithin his house on the night in question, we behold him still aloneat about eleven o'clock, his office business finished, the visit ofMr. Abel Death disposed of, and he preparing for bed. And here Mr.Reginald Boyd comes into the picture.

  "We have heard from his lips his account of what took place during hisinterview with his father, and we have to accept or reject it. Theywere alone together, there were no witnesses, and we have only Mr.Reginald Boyd's word to go upon. You must not allow this to militateagainst him. In the circumstances of the case it is hardly possiblethat there could have been witnesses to corroborate the account hegave, and I have no hesitation in declaring that his bearing in thewitness box bore the impress of truth. It has been objected to that inthe course of this inquiry private domestic affairs have been draggedinto the light which seemingly had no connection with it, but painfulas this must have been to certain of the witnesses, it has establishedmore than one point which, in the opinion of some of you, may be ofimportance--such, for instance, as the nature of the relations whichexisted between Mr. Samuel Boyd and his son, and the fact that thelatter was
in extremely straitened circumstances. I do not think thatany blame is to be attached to the son for having renounced the nameof Boyd two years ago, when the strained relations between him and hisfather led to his leaving, or being turned from, his home in CatchpoleSquare. It is not an instance without parallel; men have changed theirnames for motives less powerful than this. Mr. Reginald Boyd's bearingwhile giving his evidence here, was that of a high-spirited,independent young gentleman, who held in abhorrence the businesstactics and practices of his father, and it is not unnatural, when theconnection was severed, that he should resolve to be quit of a namewhich carried with it a disreputable stigma.

  "Nor was it unnatural that Mr. Reginald Boyd should have believedhimself to have been tricked out of the fortune his mother left him,and that, being now a married man, anxious to provide a home for hiswife, he should have made an effort to obtain restitution. In myreference to these matters I am not wandering from the issue, for whatyou have to consider is, not one incident, circumstance, or act, apartfrom the others, but all the incidents, circumstances, and acts inrelation to each other. What in the former case may seem suspiciousmay, in the latter case, be robbed of its suspicious complexion.

  "And do not forget that there was not a single question put to Mr.Reginald Boyd, whether pertinent to this inquiry or not, which herefused to answer. He evinced, indeed, an anxiety to discloseeverything within his knowledge which cannot be regarded in any otherthan a praiseworthy light. He even went so far as to voluntarilymention small incidents leading to the asking of questions, hisanswers to which may be unfavourably construed. I observed himnarrowly while these questions were being asked and answered. Therewas no confusion in his manner; he answered unhesitatingly andfrankly. His demeanour was entirely that of a man who was giving hisevidence with honest intention."

  "Interrupting you here, Mr. Coroner," said the Juror, "was not theevidence of Dr. Pye given in a manner which invited entire belief inhis honesty and straightforwardness?"

  "I was coming to Dr. Pye," said the Coroner. "Yes, there was nothingin his conduct in the witness box that would warrant a belief that hewas not speaking truthfully. It cannot be denied that the evidence hegave threw a startling suspicion on Mr. Reginald Boyd, and were it notfor the evidence of Mrs. Abel Death which, in point of time, is indirect conflict with that of Dr. Pye, I should be addressing you indifferent terms, so far as Mr. Reginald Boyd is concerned. Here we areconfronted with a most singular discrepancy. Dr. Pye states that hesaw a man issue from Mr. Samuel Boyd's house at three o'clock in themorning. Mrs. Abel Death states that she was in Catchpole Square fromhalf past two till half past three on the same morning, and thatduring the whole of that time the door of Mr. Boyd's house was notopened. I do not see how these conflicting statements can be broughtinto reconcilement. The presumption that Mrs. Death may have beenmistaken as to the time of her visit to, and her departure from,Catchpole Square is disposed of by her further statement that, whileshe was in Catchpole Square, she heard the hour of three struck from aneighbouring church clock. And we have evidence that the chimes ofSaint Michael's Church can be heard in the Square."

  The Juror: "Might she not have been mistaken, Mr. Coroner? It may havestruck two. If Mrs. Death reached Catchpole Square at half past oneand remained till half past two, the discrepancy would vanish."

  The Coroner: "Just so; but it is not for us to alter the statements ofwitnesses in order to make them fit in with one another. We have totake the evidence as it is presented to us, and draw our conclusionsfrom them. I asked Mrs. Death if she was certain that the church clockstruck three, and she answered that she was, and that she counted thestrokes. However, gentlemen, there is the discrepancy, and you mustplace your own construction upon it.

  "With respect to the night on which the murder was committed we maysafely assume that it was Friday night. Mrs. Death's repeated knockingat the street door would surely have aroused the inmate had he beenliving. Mr. Boyd was in the habit of going out daily, but from thatfatal Friday night he was not seen alive.

  "So much of the morbid interest attaching to this case has beencentred upon Mr. Reginald Boyd and Mr. Abel Death, that there is adanger of matters being overlooked which have an important bearingupon the inquiry. The disposal of the body in bed and the composing ofthe limbs after a violent life and death struggle had taken place, theorderly condition of the rooms after the confusion into which thisviolent struggle must have thrown their contents, direct our minds toa consideration of the kind of men responsible for the murder and therobbery. That so much trouble should have been taken to remove andobliterate all signs of the struggle, and to make it appear that aruthlesss and brutal deed had not been committed, would seem to pointto the probability that the men are not experienced members of thecriminal classes; while the skill and cunning of the plot, and thecool and deliberate way in which it was carried out, denote that theyare men of infinite resource and daring. I use the plural because Ishare the belief that the deed and all that followed it were not thework of one hand. A master mind there certainly must be, and I canconceive no greater danger to society than that such a man should beat large, watching this case and guarding against its consequences.

  "Undoubtedly the leading motive was robbery, but behind this leadingmotive were others as to the nature of which we have no clue. For whatreason were the books of accounts and the private papers of themurdered man removed? Valueless in a commercial sense, why should therobbers have encumbered themselves with articles of considerable bulk,the carrying of which, by night or by day, would have drawn attentionupon them? Some ulterior motive there must have been. The close andsecret manner in which the deceased conducted his business, thecircumstance that he admitted no man into his confidence, serve, inthe present aspect of the case, as a stumbling block to justice. Thecriminals must have been familiar with the premises and with thehabits of the deceased. They must have known where the key of the safewas kept, they must have known that it contained property of value. Itis difficult to understand why a sum of money was left in the pocketsof Mr. Boyd, but it is only one of many circumstances which it isdifficult to understand.

  "And mark the hardihood, confidence, and patience with which the plotwas carried to issues not included in the original plan of the crime.On Saturday morning Mr. Boyd lies dead in his bed, and the criminals,if not still in the house, have free access to it. I am following thisout now because it is quite likely to have escaped you in themultitudinous incidents and circumstances of the mystery which it isnecessary for you to bear in mind. On Monday Lady Wharton recollectsthat Mr. Boyd, when he received the fresh acceptances signed by LordWharton and endorsed by Lord Fairfax, omitted to hand back the oldbills for which the new ones were given in exchange. She writes to Mr.Boyd, she being then in Bournemouth and he lying dead in London. Inher letter she requests him to bring the old bills to Bournemouth, andalso requests that the loan of AL1,000 already arranged between them,for which she had deposited jewels as security, should be increased toAL1,500, promising, for the additional AL500, to hand him other jewelsas security when they meet in Bournemouth. The letter written andposted, is left by the postman in the post box of Mr. Boyd's house inCatchpole Square. And here we are brought face to face with theunparallelled audacity of the criminals. Having access to the housethey obtain possession of the letter, and they conceive the idea ofpersonating the dead man for the purpose of getting hold of theseadditional jewels. No illiterate, uneducated criminals these;past-masters in forgery as well as in murder, who shall say whatundiscovered crimes may be laid at their door? I have no hesitation indeclaring that no parallel exists in criminal records to the expedientthey adopted and carried to a successful end. You have heard theastonishing story from Lady Wharton's own lips, you have heard itcorroborated by her brother, Lord Fairfax. It is an extraordinaryrevelation, more like a chapter from the dark pages of romance than achapter from real life. The closer the attention we devote to themany-sided aspects of this mystery, the longer we consider it and turnit this way and t
hat in the endeavour to grasp a tangible clue, themore bewildering does it become. One moment suspicion rests upon oneperson, the next moment upon another, the next our suspicions fadeaway; while behind those whom we already know as being connected--andbear in mind, as likely as not innocently connected--with the awfultragedy lurk others whose identity up to the present moment is asealed mystery.

  "It has been my desire to place the matter before you in as clear alight as possible, and I am fully sensible of the difficulty of yourtask. Justice demands that this mystery shall be cleared up, but becareful that you do not take a false step, for at the same timejustice demands that you do injustice to no man because of some theoryor prejudice you may have in your mind."