6.—Statement of Miles Thompson.
‘I am a police-constable. In August 1856, I used to be on night duty in Russell Place. I remember Baron R** speaking to me one night, and asking me to keep a look out as often as I could of a night to keep the street quiet. He gave me five shillings for my extra trouble. I was on the beat one night, about twelve o’clock, when I saw some one lying on the Baron’s door-step. It was a young gentleman, and at first I thought he was dead; but found he was only insensible. I set him up against the railings, and was going to ring the bell, when I saw a latch-key in his hand. I tried it in the door, and it opened it directly, and I took him into the hall. I then knocked and rang till somebody came. The bell rang quite well. The Baron came down in his dressing-gown, and two or three other people. I offered to go for a doctor, but the Baron said he was only drunk. I helped to carry him up-stairs, and get him into bed. The Baron gave me half-a-crown for my trouble. He seemed very much annoyed, as was natural, and said he wished I had taken the young man to the station. I think he was drunk myself. He smelt a little of beer, but not much. I helped to put him to bed, and went away. That is all I know.’
[N.B.—By letters from Messrs. Simpson and Mr. Wells, Mr. Aldridge’s assertion that he was sober is borne out up to the time of the latter’s leaving him at the corner of Tottenham Court Road, certainly not more than half-an-hour before he was found as above stated by Police-constable Thompson.—R. H.]
‘I could see her as she came through the door, because
there was some sort of light in the hall. She came
right down-stairs and passed where we were.’
7.—Statement of John Johnson.
‘to
‘mister endusson sir obeadent to yore Comands i hev eksammd tha belwir in russle please wich in my humbel Hopinnium it hev ben Templd wit by sum Hunperfeshnl And wich tha Wir it hev ben tuk hof tha Kranke & putt bak hall nohowlik wich hany Purfeshnl And wud be a Shammd fur 2 du It i am sur yore hobeadnt survnt too Comand
‘jon jonsun
‘Plommr hand belanger
‘totunmcort rode
‘lundon’
8.—Statement of Susan Turner.
‘My name is Susan Turner. In August 1856, I was general servant to Mrs. Brown in Russell Place. I remember the night that Madame R** came down-stairs. I had sat up to let Mr. Aldridge in because the latch was broken. Mistress broke it that afternoon. I don’t suppose the Baron knew anything about it. Mr. Aldridge came in rather late. I cannot justly say the time. He was quite right. I mean quite sober. He went straight up to bed. I did not go up to bed. My young man was in the kitchen. He is a very respectable young man, upon a railway. I don’t know what railway. I know he goes to Scotland sometimes with his engine, that is all. He is what they call a fireman. He was going down with a luggage-train somewhere that night very late, and came to see me. Mistress didn’t know he was there. He came in after she was gone to bed. He was to start at two, and we sat till about one. He was just going away, and we were standing at the kitchen-door, when we heard somebody in the hall. I said, “Oh, Lor! that’s missis.” He said, “She’ll be coming to look for you,” and wanted me to go and meet her while he cut out by the area. I said, No, that wouldn’t do, by reason of its being all glass, and a gas-lamp at top of the area-steps.32 I pulled him along to the lumber-room. The lumberroom is behind the kitchen and the cellar. There are some old boxes and things there, but nobody ever goes into it. I thought my mistress would not think of looking there. Just as we got to the door, we saw somebody come from the hall and down the stairs. I whispered to John, “Why, that’s not missis—that’s Madame.” My mistress was very tall and stout, and Madame R** was small and thin. I could see her as she came through the door, because there was some sort of light in the hall. She came right down-stairs and passed where we were. She went right on into the little place at the end where the Baron kept all his bottles and stuff. She did not go into the kitchen. Not at all. I will swear to that. She went into the Baron’s place. The laboratory, I dare say it is; I don’t know. It was where the bottles are. John and me crept to the window and looked out. The window of the lumber-room looks right into the window of the back-room where the bottles are. You could see in quite plain. It was a bright moonlight night, and there is a sort of tin looking-glass over the back-room window to make more light like. We saw Madame go into the room and take a bottle from a shelf. She poured out a glassful and drank it. Then she put the bottle back in its place. It was the last on the second shelf. Then she went out again; and when we turned round we saw a light shining into the room from the kitchen-stairs. It stayed there till Madame had gone past our door again, and then it went up again. Just as it got to the top of the stairs I peeped out, and saw it was the Baron. Madame was close behind him. I said to John, “Why, John, there’s the Baron.” He said he supposed he had come to look after his wife. After they had gone, John and me went into the bottle-place. We found the glass on the table. There were a few drops of stuff in it. John and me smelt it, and it was just like wine. It tasted just like wine, too. Then we looked for the bottle. It was at the end of the second shelf. It was about half-full of stuff that looked like wine. There was something in gold letters on the bottle. I can’t tell what it was. It was “vin” something. I know that, because John and me settled it must mean wine. I think I should know the rest if I saw it’—[being here shown several labels, witness here picked out the following: ‘Vin. Ant. Pot. Tart.’—designating antimonial wine, a mixture of sherry and tartar-emetic]—‘I am pretty sure that was the one. I remember it because they were such funny words. I remember John and me joking about “pots and pies.” The stuff in the bottle smelt just like wine. It was just like sherry wine. I did not taste that. John wouldn’t let me. He said I might go and poison myself for aught I knew. We put the bottle back, and then John went away. I said nothing about it to anybody. Not even when Madame was taken ill that night. I was afraid, by reason of John. I have never said a word about it to any living soul till I was asked to-day. Certainly not to Mr. Aldridge, nor he to me. I will swear to the truth of all I have said. I am quite positive that Madame never went near the kitchen. I am quite positive that the Baron must have seen her come out of the bottle-place. He was standing with the candle in his hand waiting for her. That I can swear.’
[N.B.—The statement of the ‘young man’ referred to fully corroborates the above statement. The accompanying plan (see frontispiece) will make this witness’s evidence more clear.—R. H.]
9.—Copy of a Letter from a leading Mesmerist to the compiler, with reference to the power claimed by mesmeric operators over those subjected to their influence.
‘Dorset Square.
‘My dear Sir,—
……Many times after throwing Sarah Parsons into the mesmeric state, I have willed her to go into a dark room and pick up a pin or other article equally minute, and however powerless she might be at the time out of the state was quite immaterial. My will and power being employed was sufficient. Then, Mr. L——, a paralytic, under my influence, without losing conciousness or undergoing any recognisable change, has many times, with the lame leg, stepped up on to and down again from an ordinary dining-room chair. This, of course, was a master-piece of mesmeric manipulation. I wish I could write more and better, but my eyes forbid ***
‘With kindest regards,
‘Yours most truly,
‘D. Hands.’
10.—Fragment of a Letter found in the Baron’s room after the death of Madame R**.
[facsimile.]
[the writing on the fragment.]
…. pendrait n’e ………………………………………
…. auvre philippe? E. …………………………………
…. t enfant, ce pauvre …………………………………
…ui nous regarde du …………………………………
…. est ce pas
philipp …………………………………
…. . us ne reverrons ja …………………………………
…. t enfant je te le j ……………………………………
…. . is bien capable j …………………………………
…. . core une fois, aujo …………………………………
…. 13, le 15, de grand …………………………………
…rai chez toi; il fa ……………………………………
…e trouve seul, tu I …………………………………
…. ul au monde! n’ …………………………………
…. . pas bien le moy …………………………………
…. h! philippe je t‘ai …………………………………
…. is tu ce qu ………………………………………
…emme ja …………………………………………
[the writing completed.]
… ….On (?)
te…pendrait n’e…st ce pas mon p…auvre philippe? E…h bien par ce…t enfant, ce pauvre…petit ange(?) q…ui nous regarde du…haut du ciel, n’…est ce pas philipp…e et que no…us ne reverrons ja…mais, par ce…t enfant je te le j…ure. Tu m’en sa…is bien capable j…e crois. En…core une fois, aujo…urd’hui c’est le…13, le 15, de grand…matin je se…rai chez toi; il fa…ut que je t…e trouve seul, tu 1…ne comprends; se…ul au monde! n’…en sais tu…pas bien le moy…en? O…h! philippe je t’ai…me (je t’aime?) sa…is tu ce qu…e c’est qu’ une f…emme ja…louse?—
Translation.
(They) would hang thee, would they not, my poor Philip? Well, by that child—that poor (little angel) who is now—is it not so, Philip?—looking down on us from heaven, and whom we shall never see again: by that child I swear it to you. Once more. Today is the 13th. On the 15th, very early in the morning, I shall be at your house. I must find you alone—you understand me, alone in the world! Do you not well know the means? Oh, Philip, I love thee (I love thee?). Knowest thou what a jealous woman is?
11.—Extracts from the Zoïst Magazine, No. XLVII., for October 1854.
‘Mesmeric Cure of a Lady who had been Twelve Years in the Horizontal Position, with Extreme Suffering. By the Rev. R. A. F. Barrett, B.D., Senior Fellow of the King’s College, Cambridge.
***
‘In January 1852, I was calling upon——, when she happened to tell me that she had been in considerable pain for a fortnight past; that the only thing that relieved her was mesmerism; but the friend who used to mesmerise her was gone……I continued to mesmerise her occasionally for some months.…
‘April 21st.—I kept her asleep an hour and a quarter in the morning and the same in the evening. She said33 her throat looked parched and feverish; at her request, I ate some black currant paste, which she said moistened it.…She said, “Before you ate, my stomach was contracted and had a queer-looking sort of moisture in it; now the stomach is its full size and does not look shrunk, and part of the moisture is gone.”
‘I. “But you could not get nourishment so?”
‘A. “Yes: I could get all my system wants.”
***
‘April 26th.—In the evening I kept her asleep one hour, and took tea for her.
‘April 27th…. I ate dinner, and she felt much stronger.
***
‘I kept her asleep two hours and a quarter in the morning and one hour in the evening, eating for her as usual.’
29 Section II., 2.
The Notting Hill Mystery Page 13
