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003 - Story 3 The Man with the Watches · Four Noncanonical Sherlock Holmes Short Stories

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Speaker 1: Chapter three of four non canonical Sherlock Holmes short stories
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Speaker 1: by Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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Speaker 1: libervox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Chapter three,
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Speaker 1: The Man with the Watches. There are many who will
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Speaker 1: still bear in mind the singular circumstances which, under the
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Speaker 1: heading of the Rugby Mystery, filled many columns of the
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Speaker 1: Daily Press in the spring of the year eighteen ninety two.
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Speaker 1: Coming as it did at a period of exceptional dullness.
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Speaker 1: It attracted perhaps rather more attention than it deserved, but
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Speaker 1: it offered to the public that mixture of the whimsical
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Speaker 1: and the tragic which is most stimulating to the popular imagination.
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Speaker 1: Interest drooped, however, when after weeks of fruitless investigation, it
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Speaker 1: was found that no final explanation of the facts was forthcoming,
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Speaker 1: and the tragedy seemed, from that time to the present
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Speaker 1: to have finally taken its place in the dark catalog
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Speaker 1: of inexplicable and unexpiated crimes. A recent communication, the authenticity
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Speaker 1: of which appears to be above question, has however, thrown
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Speaker 1: some new and clear light upon the matter before laying
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Speaker 1: it before the public. It would be as well, perhaps
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Speaker 1: that I should refresh their memories as to the singular
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Speaker 1: facts upon which this commentary is founded. These facts were
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Speaker 1: briefly as follows. At five o'clock on the evening of
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Speaker 1: the eighteenth of March, in the year already mentioned, a
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Speaker 1: train left Euston Station for Manchester. It was a rainy,
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Speaker 1: squalid day, which grew wilder as it progressed. So it
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Speaker 1: was by no means the weather in which anyone would
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Speaker 1: travel who was not driven to do so by necessity.
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Speaker 1: The train, however, is a favorite one among Manchester businessmen
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Speaker 1: who are returning from town, for it does the journey
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Speaker 1: in four hours and twenty minutes, with only three stoppages
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Speaker 1: upon the way. In spite of the inclement evening, it
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Speaker 1: was therefore fairly well filled. Upon the occasion of which
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Speaker 1: I speak. The guard of the train was a tried
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Speaker 1: servant of the company, a man who had worked for
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Speaker 1: twenty two years without a blemish or complaint. His name
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Speaker 1: was John Palmer. The station clock was upon the stroke
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Speaker 1: of five, and the guard was about to give the
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Speaker 1: customary signal to the engine driver when he observed two
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Speaker 1: belated passengers hurrying down the platform. The one was an
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Speaker 1: exceptionally tall man dressed in a long black overcoat with
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Speaker 1: Astrakhan collar and cuffs. I have already said that the
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Speaker 1: evening was an inclement one, and the tall traveler had
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Speaker 1: the high warm collar turned up to protect his throat
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Speaker 1: against the bitter march wind. He appeared, as far as
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Speaker 1: the guard could judge by so hurried an inspection, to
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Speaker 1: be a man between fifty and sixty years of age,
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Speaker 1: who had retained a good deal of the vigor and
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Speaker 1: activity of his youth. In one hand, he carried a
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Speaker 1: brown leather gladstone bag. His companion was a lady, tall
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Speaker 1: and erect, walking with a vigorous step which outpaced the
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Speaker 1: gentleman beside her. She wore a long fawn colored dust cloak,
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Speaker 1: a black close fitting toque, and a dark veil which
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Speaker 1: concealed the greater part of her face. The two might
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Speaker 1: very well have passed as father and daughter. They walked
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Speaker 1: swiftly down the line of carriages, glancing in at the
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Speaker 1: windows until the guard, John Palmer, overtook them.
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Speaker 2: Now, then, sir, look sharp the trainer's going, said he
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Speaker 2: first claws.
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Speaker 1: The man answered, the guard turned the handle of the
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Speaker 1: nearest door in the carriage which he had opened. There
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Speaker 1: sat a small man with a cigar in his mouth.
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Speaker 1: His appearance seems to have impressed itself upon the guard's memory,
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Speaker 1: for he was prepared afterwards to describe or to identify him.
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Speaker 1: He was a man of thirty four or thirty five
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Speaker 1: years of age, dressed in some gray material, sharp nosed, alert,
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Speaker 1: with a ruddy, weather beaten face, and a small, closely
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Speaker 1: cropped black beard. He glanced up as the door was opened.
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Speaker 1: The tall man paused with his foot upon the step.
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Speaker 2: This is a smoking compartment. The lady disliked smoke.
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Speaker 1: Said he, looking round at the guard.
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Speaker 2: All right, who you are, sir.
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Speaker 1: Said John Palmer. He slammed the door of the smoking carriage,
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Speaker 1: opened that of the next one, which was empty, and
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Speaker 1: thrust the two travelers in. At the same moment, he
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Speaker 1: sounded his whistle, and the wheels of the train began
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Speaker 1: to move. The man with a cigar was at the
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Speaker 1: window of his carriage and said something to the guard
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Speaker 1: as he rolled past him, but the words were lost
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Speaker 1: in the bustle of the departure. Palmer stepped into the
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Speaker 1: guards van as it came up to him and thought
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Speaker 1: no more of the incident. Twelve minutes after its departure,
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Speaker 1: the train reached Wilsden Junction, where it stopped for a
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Speaker 1: very short interval. An examination of the tickets has made
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Speaker 1: it certain that no one either joined or left it
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Speaker 1: at this time, and no passenger was seen to alight
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Speaker 1: upon the platform. At five point fourteen, the journey to
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Speaker 1: Manchester was resumed and Rugby was reached at six point fifty,
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Speaker 1: the express being five minutes late. At Rugby, the attention
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Speaker 1: of the station officials were drawn to the fact that
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Speaker 1: the door of one of the first class carriages was open.
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Speaker 1: An examination of that compartment and of its neighbor disclosed
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Speaker 1: a remarkable state of affairs. The smoking carriage in which
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Speaker 1: the short, red faced man with the black beard had
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Speaker 1: been seen was now empty, save for a half smoked cigar.
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Speaker 1: There was no trace whatever of its recent occupant. The
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Speaker 1: door of this carriage was fastened. In the next compartment
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Speaker 1: to which attention had been originally drawn. There was no
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Speaker 1: sign either of the gentlemen with the Astrakhan collar or
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Speaker 1: of the young lady who accompanied him. All three passengers
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Speaker 1: had disappeared on the other hand, there was found upon
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Speaker 1: the floor of this carriage, the one in which the
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Speaker 1: tall traveler and the lady had been, a young man,
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Speaker 1: fashionably dressed and of elegant appearance. He lay, with his
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Speaker 1: knees drawn up and his head resting against the farther door,
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Speaker 1: an elbow upon either seat. A bullet had penetrated his heart,
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Speaker 1: and his death must have been instantaneous. No one had
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Speaker 1: seen such a man enter the train, and no railway
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Speaker 1: ticket was found in his pocket. Neither were there any
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Speaker 1: markings upon his linen, nor papers, nor personal property which
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Speaker 1: might help to identify him. Who he was, whence he
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Speaker 1: had come, and how he had met his end were
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Speaker 1: each as great a mystery as what had occurred to
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Speaker 1: the three people who had started an hour and a
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Speaker 1: half before from Wilsden. In those two compartments I have
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Speaker 1: said that there was no personal property which might help
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Speaker 1: to identify him. But it is true that there was
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Speaker 1: one peculiarity about this unknown young man, which was much
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Speaker 1: commented upon at the time. In his pockets were found
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Speaker 1: no fewer than six valuable gold watches, three in the
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Speaker 1: various pockets of his waistcoat, one in his ticket pocket,
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Speaker 1: one in his breast pocket, and one small one set
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Speaker 1: in a leather strap and fastened around his left wrist.
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Speaker 1: The obvious explanation that the man was a pickpocket and
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Speaker 1: that this was his plunder was discounted by the fact
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Speaker 1: that all six were of American mate and other type,
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Speaker 1: which is rare in England. Three of them bore the
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Speaker 1: mark of the Rochester watchmaking Company, one was by Mason
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Speaker 1: of el Mira, one was unmarked, and the small one,
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Speaker 1: which was highly dueled and ornamented, was from Tiffany of
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Speaker 1: New York. The other contents of his pocket consisted of
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Speaker 1: an ivory knife with a corkscrew by Rodgers of Sheffield,
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Speaker 1: a small circular mirror one inch in diameter, a readmission
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Speaker 1: slip to the Lyceum theater, a silver box full of
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Speaker 1: Vesta matches, and a brown leather cigar case containing two shroots,
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Speaker 1: also two pounds fourteen shillings in money. It was clear
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Speaker 1: then that whatever motives may have led to his death,
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Speaker 1: robbery was not among them. As already mentioned, there were
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Speaker 1: no markings upon the man's linen, which appeared to be new,
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Speaker 1: and no tailor's name upon his coat. In appearance, he
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Speaker 1: was young, short, smooth, cheeked and delicately featured. One of
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Speaker 1: his front teeth was conspicuously stocked with gold. On the
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Speaker 1: discovery of the tragedy, an examination was instantly made of
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Speaker 1: the tickets of all passengers, and the number of the
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Speaker 1: passengers themselves was counted. It was found that only three
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Speaker 1: tickets were unaccounted for, corresponding to the three travelers who
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Speaker 1: were missing. The express was then allowed to proceed, but
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Speaker 1: a new guard was sent with it, and John Palmer
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Speaker 1: was detained as a witness. At Rugby. The carriage, which
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Speaker 1: included the two compartments in question, was uncoupled and sidetracked. Then,
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Speaker 1: on the arrival of Inspector Vane of Scotland Yard and
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Speaker 1: of mister Henderson, a detective in the service of the
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Speaker 1: railway company, an exhaustive inquiry was made into all the
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Speaker 1: circumstances that crime had been committed. Was certain the bullet,
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Speaker 1: which appeared to have come from a small pistol or revolver,
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Speaker 1: had been fired from some little distance, as there was
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Speaker 1: no scorching of the clothes. No weapon was found in
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Speaker 1: the compartment, which finally disposed of the theory of suicide,
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Speaker 1: nor was there any sign of the brown leather bag
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Speaker 1: which the guard had seen in the hand of the
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Speaker 1: tall gentleman. A lady's parasol was found upon the rack,
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Speaker 1: but no other trace was to be seen of the
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Speaker 1: travelers in either of the sections. Apart from the crime,
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Speaker 1: the a question of how or why three passengers, one
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Speaker 1: of them a lady, could get out of the train
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Speaker 1: and one other get in during the unbroken run between
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Speaker 1: Wilsden and Rugby, was one which excited the utmost curiosity
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Speaker 1: among the general public, and gave rise to much speculation
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Speaker 1: in the London press. John Palmer, the Guard, was able
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Speaker 1: at the inquest to give some evidence which threw a
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Speaker 1: little light upon the matter. There was a spot between
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Speaker 1: Tring and Cheddington, according to his statement, where on account
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Speaker 1: of some repairs to the line, the train had for
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Speaker 1: a few minutes slowed down to a pace not exceeding
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Speaker 1: eight or ten miles an hour. At that place it
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Speaker 1: might be possible for a man, or even for an
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Speaker 1: exceptionally active woman, to have left the train without serious injury.
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Speaker 1: It was true that a gang of platelayers was there,
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Speaker 1: and that they had seen nothing, but it was their
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Speaker 1: custom to stand in the middle between the metal and
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Speaker 1: the open carriage door was upon the far side, so
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Speaker 1: that it was conceivable that someone might have alighted unseen,
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Speaker 1: as the darkness would by that time be drawing in
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Speaker 1: a steep embankment would instantly screen anyone who sprang out.
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Speaker 1: From the observation of the navvies. The guard also deposed
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Speaker 1: that there was a good deal of movement upon the
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Speaker 1: platform at Wilsden Junction, and that though it was certain
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Speaker 1: that no one had either joined or left the train there,
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Speaker 1: it was still quite possible that some of the passengers
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Speaker 1: might have changed unseen from one compartment to another. It
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Speaker 1: was by no means uncommon for a gentleman to finish
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Speaker 1: his cigar in a smoking carriage and then to change
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Speaker 1: to a clearer atmosphere. Supposing that the man with the
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Speaker 1: black beard had done so at Wilsden, and the half
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Speaker 1: smoked cigar upon the floor seemed to favor the supposition
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Speaker 1: he would naturally go into the nearest section, which would
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Speaker 1: bring him into the company of the two other acts
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Speaker 1: actors in this drama. Thus, the first stage of the
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Speaker 1: affair might be surmised without any great breach of probability.
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Speaker 1: But what the second stage had been, or how the
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Speaker 1: final one had been arrived at. Neither the garden nor
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Speaker 1: the experienced detective offices could suggest. A careful examination of
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Speaker 1: the line between Wilsden and Rugby resulted in one discovery
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Speaker 1: which might or might not have a bearing upon the tragedy.
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Speaker 1: Near Tring, at the very place where the train slowed down,
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Speaker 1: there was found, at the bottom of the embankment a
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Speaker 1: small pocket testament, very shabby and worn. It was printed
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Speaker 1: by the Bible Society of London and bore an inscription.
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Speaker 3: From John to Alice January thirteenth, eighteen fifty six.
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Speaker 1: Upon the fly leaf. Underneath was written James July fourth,
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Speaker 1: eighteen fifty nine, and beneath that again.
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Speaker 2: Edward November one, eighteen sixty nine.
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Speaker 1: All the entries being in the same handwriting. This was
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Speaker 1: the only clue, if it could be called a clue,
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Speaker 1: which the police obtained, and the coroner's verdict.
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Speaker 2: Of murder by a person or person's unknown was.
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Speaker 1: The unsatisfactory ending of a singular case. Advertisement rewards and
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Speaker 1: inquiries proved equally fruitless, and nothing could be found which
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Speaker 1: was solid enough to form the basis for a profitable investigation.
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Speaker 1: It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that no
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Speaker 1: theories were formed to account for the facts. On the contrary,
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Speaker 1: the press, both in England and in America, teemed with
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Speaker 1: suggestions and suppositions, most of which were obviously absurd. The
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Speaker 1: fact that the watches were of American make, and some
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Speaker 1: peculiarities in connection with the goal stopping of his front
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Speaker 1: tooth appeared to indicate that the deceased was a citizen
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Speaker 1: of the United States, though his linen, clothes and boots
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Speaker 1: were undoubtedly a British manufacture. It was surmised by some
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Speaker 1: that he was concealed under the seat, and that being discovered,
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Speaker 1: he was for some reason, possibly because he had overheard
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Speaker 1: their guilty secrets put to death by his fellow passengers.
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Speaker 1: When coupled with generalities as to the ferocity and cunning
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Speaker 1: of an article and other secret societies, this theory sounded
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Speaker 1: as plausible as any. The fact that he should be
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Speaker 1: without a ticket would be consistent with the idea of concealment,
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Speaker 1: and it was well known that women played a prominent
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Speaker 1: part in the nihilistic propaganda. On the other hand, it
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Speaker 1: was clear from the guard's statement that the man must
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Speaker 1: have been hidden there before the others arrived, and how
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Speaker 1: unlikely the coincidence that conspirators should stray exactly into the
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Speaker 1: very compartment in which a spy was already concealed. Besides,
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Speaker 1: this explanation ignored the man in the smoking carriage and
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Speaker 1: gave no reason at all for his simultaneous disappearance. The
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Speaker 1: police had little difficulty in showing that such a theory
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Speaker 1: would not cover the facts, but they were unprepared, in
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Speaker 1: the absence of evidence, to advance any alternative explanation. There
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Speaker 1: was a letter in the Daily Gazette over the signature
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Speaker 1: of a well known criminal investigator, which gave rise to
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Speaker 1: considerable discussion. At the time. He had formed a hypothesis
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Speaker 1: which had at least ingenuity to recommend it, and I
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Speaker 1: cannot do better than append it in his own words.
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Speaker 4: Whatever may be the truth, said he, it must depend
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Speaker 4: upon some bizarre and raar combination of events. So we
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Speaker 4: need have no hesitation in postulating such events in our explanation.
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Speaker 4: In the absence of data, we must abandon the analytic
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Speaker 4: or scientific method of investigation and must approach it in
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Speaker 4: the synthetic fashion. In a word, instead of taking known
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Speaker 4: events and deducing from them what has occurred, we must
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Speaker 4: build up a fanciful explanation, if it will only be
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Speaker 4: consistent with known events. We can then test this explanation
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Speaker 4: by any fresh facts which may arise. If they all
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Speaker 4: fit into their places, the probability is that we are
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Speaker 4: upon the right track, and with each fresh fact, this
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Speaker 4: probability increases in a geometrical progression, until the evidence becomes
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Speaker 4: final and convincing. Now there is one most remarkable and
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Speaker 4: suggestive fact which has not met with the attention which
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Speaker 4: it deserves. There is a local train running through Harrow
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Speaker 4: and King's Langley, which is timed in such a way
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Speaker 4: that the express must have overtaken it at or about
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Speaker 4: the period when it eased down its speed to eight
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Speaker 4: miles an hour. On account of the repairs of the line.
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Speaker 4: The two trains would at the that time be traveling
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Speaker 4: in the same direction, at a similar rate of speed,
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Speaker 4: and upon parallel lines. It is within every one's experience
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Speaker 4: how under such circumstances the occupant of each carriage can
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Speaker 4: see very plainly the passengers in the other carriages opposite
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Speaker 4: to him. The lamps of the express had been lit
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Speaker 4: at Willesden, so that each compartment was brightly illuminated and
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Speaker 4: most visible to an observer from outside. Now, the sequence
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Speaker 4: of events, as I reconstruct them, would be after this fashion.
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Speaker 4: This young man with the abnormal number of watches was
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Speaker 4: alone in the carriage of the slow train. His ticket,
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Speaker 4: with his papers and gloves and other things, was, we
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Speaker 4: will suppose, on the seat beside him. He was probably
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Speaker 4: an American, and also probably a man of weak intellect.
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Speaker 4: The excessive wearing of jewelry is an early symptom in
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Speaker 4: some forms of mania. As he sat watching the carriages
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Speaker 4: of the express, which were, on account of the state
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Speaker 4: of the line, going at the same pace as himself,
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Speaker 4: he suddenly saw some people in it whom he knew.
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Speaker 4: We will suppose, for the sake of our theory that
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Speaker 4: these people were a woman whom he loved and a
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Speaker 4: man whom he hated, and who in return hated him.
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Speaker 4: The young man was excitable and impulsive. He opened the
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Speaker 4: door of his carriage, stepped from the foot board of
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Speaker 4: the local train to the foot board of the express,
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Speaker 4: opened the other door, and made his way into the
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Speaker 4: presence of these two people. The feat on the supposition
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Speaker 4: that the trains were going at the same pace is
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Speaker 4: by no means, so perilous as it might appear. Having
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Speaker 4: now got our young man without his ticket, into the
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Speaker 4: carriage in which the elder man and the young woman
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Speaker 4: are traveling, it is not difficult to imagine that a
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Speaker 4: violen scene ensued. It is possible that the pair were
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Speaker 4: also Americans, which is the more probable, as the man
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Speaker 4: carried a weapon, an unusual thing in England. If our
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Speaker 4: supposition of incipient mania is correct, the young man is
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Speaker 4: likely to have assaulted the other as the upshot of
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Speaker 4: the quarrel. The elder man shot the intruder, and then
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Speaker 4: made his escape from the carriage, taking the young lady
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Speaker 4: with him. We will suppose that all this happened very rapidly,
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Speaker 4: and that the train was still going at so slow
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Speaker 4: a pace that it was not difficult for them to
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Speaker 4: leave it. A woman might leave a train going at
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Speaker 4: eight miles an hour. As a matter of fact, we
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Speaker 4: know that this woman did do so. And now we
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Speaker 4: have to fit in the man in the smoking carriage.
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Speaker 4: Presuming that we have up to this point reconstructed the
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Speaker 4: tragedy correctly, we shall find nothing in this other man
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Speaker 4: to cause us to reconsider our conclusions. According to my theory.
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Speaker 4: This man saw the young fellow cross from one train
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Speaker 4: to the other, saw him open the door, heard the
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Speaker 4: pistol shot, saw the two fugitives spring out on to
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Speaker 4: the line, realized that murder had been done, and sprang
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Speaker 4: out himself in pursuit. Why he has never been heard
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Speaker 4: of since. Whether he met his own death in the pursuit,
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Speaker 4: or whether, as is more likely, he was made to
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Speaker 4: realize that it was not a case for his interference
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Speaker 4: is a detail which we have at present no means
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Speaker 4: of explaining. I acknowledge that there are some difficulties in
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Speaker 4: the way. At first sight, it might seem improbable that
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Speaker 4: at such a moment a murderer would burden himself in
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Speaker 4: his flight with a brown leather bag. My answer is
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Speaker 4: that he was well aware that if the bag were found,
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Speaker 4: his identity would be established. It was absolutely necessary for
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Speaker 4: him to take it with him. My theory stands or
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Speaker 4: falls upon one point, and I call upon the railway
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Speaker 4: company to make stripped inquiry as to whether a ticket
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Speaker 4: was found unclaimed in the local train through Harrow and
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Speaker 4: King's Langley upon the eighteenth of March. If such a
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Speaker 4: ticket were found, my case is proved if not. My
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Speaker 4: theory may still be the correct one, for it is
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Speaker 4: conceivable either that he traveled without a ticket or that
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Speaker 4: his ticket was lost.
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Speaker 1: To this elaborate and plausible hypothesis. The answer of the
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Speaker 1: police and of the company was first that no such
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Speaker 1: ticket was found, secondly that the slow train would never
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Speaker 1: run parallel to the express, and thirdly that the local
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Speaker 1: train had been stationary in King's Langley station when the express,
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Speaker 1: going at fifty miles an hour, had flashed past.
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Speaker 2: It.
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Speaker 1: So perished the only satisfying explanation, and five years have
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Speaker 1: elapsed without supplying a new one. Now at last there
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Speaker 1: comes a statement which covers all the facts, and which
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Speaker 1: must be regarded as all authentic. It took the shape
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Speaker 1: of a letter, dated from New York and addressed to
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Speaker 1: the same criminal investigator whose theory I have quoted. It
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Speaker 1: is given here in extent, so with the exception of
22:13
Speaker 1: the two opening paragraphs, which are personal in their nature.
22:18
Speaker 3: You'll excuse me if I'm not very free with names.
22:21
Speaker 3: There's less reason now than there was five years ago
22:23
Speaker 3: when mother was still living. But for all that, I'd
22:25
Speaker 3: rather cover up our tracks all I can, But I
22:29
Speaker 3: owe you an explanation for if your idea of it
22:31
Speaker 3: was wrong, it was a mighty ingenious one all the same.
22:35
Speaker 3: I'll have to go back a little so as you
22:36
Speaker 3: may understand all about it. My people came from Bucks,
22:40
Speaker 3: England and emigrated to the States in the early fifties.
22:43
Speaker 3: They settled in Rochester, in the state of New York,
22:45
Speaker 3: where my father ran a large dry goods store. There
22:48
Speaker 3: were only two sons, myself, James, and my brother Edward.
22:53
Speaker 3: I was ten years older than my brother, and after
22:55
Speaker 3: my father died, I took the place of a father
22:58
Speaker 3: to him, as an elder brother would. He was a bright,
23:01
Speaker 3: spirited boy and just one of the most beautiful creatures
23:04
Speaker 3: that ever lived. But there was always a soft spot
23:07
Speaker 3: in him, and it was like mold and cheese, for
23:09
Speaker 3: it spread and spread, and nothing that you could do
23:12
Speaker 3: would stop it. Mother saw it just as clearly as
23:15
Speaker 3: I did, but she went on spoiling him all the same,
23:18
Speaker 3: for he had such a way with him that you
23:20
Speaker 3: could refuse him. Nothing. I did all I could to
23:22
Speaker 3: hold him in, and he hated me for my pains.
23:26
Speaker 3: At last, he fairly got his head, and nothing that
23:28
Speaker 3: we could do would stop him. He got off into
23:31
Speaker 3: New York and went rapidly from bad to worse. At
23:34
Speaker 3: first he was only fast, and then he was criminal,
23:37
Speaker 3: and then at the end of a year or two
23:38
Speaker 3: he was one of the most notorious young crooks in
23:41
Speaker 3: the city. He had formed a friendship with Sparrow mac coy,
23:44
Speaker 3: who was at the head of his profession as a
23:46
Speaker 3: bunco steer, green goodsman in general Rascal. They took to
23:50
Speaker 3: card sharping, frequented some of the best hotels in New York.
23:54
Speaker 3: My brother was an excellent actor. He might have made
23:56
Speaker 3: an honest name for himself if he had chosen, and
23:59
Speaker 3: he would take the parts of a young englishman of title,
24:01
Speaker 3: of a simple lad from the West, or of a
24:03
Speaker 3: college undergraduate, which ever suited Sparrow McCoy's purpose. And then
24:08
Speaker 3: one day he dressed himself as a girl, and he
24:11
Speaker 3: carried it off so well and made himself such a
24:13
Speaker 3: valuable decoy that it was their favorite game. Afterwards. They
24:17
Speaker 3: had made it right with Tammany and with the police,
24:20
Speaker 3: so it seemed as if nothing could ever stop them.
24:22
Speaker 3: For those were in the days before the Lexile Commission,
24:25
Speaker 3: and if you only had a pull, you could do
24:27
Speaker 3: pretty nearly everything. You wanted, and nothing would have stopped
24:30
Speaker 3: them if they had only stuck to cards in New York.
24:33
Speaker 3: But they must needs come up Rochester Way and forge
24:36
Speaker 3: a name upon a check. It was my brother that
24:39
Speaker 3: did it, though everyone knew that it was under the
24:41
Speaker 3: influence of Sparrow McCoy. I bought up that check and
24:44
Speaker 3: a pretty sum it cost me. Then I went to
24:46
Speaker 3: my brother, laid it before him on the table, and
24:49
Speaker 3: swore to him that I would prosecute if he did
24:52
Speaker 3: not clear out of the country. At first he simply laughed.
24:56
Speaker 3: I could not prosecute, he said, without breaking our mother's heart,
24:59
Speaker 3: and that I would not do that. I made him understand, however,
25:03
Speaker 3: that her mother's heart was being broken in any case,
25:05
Speaker 3: and that I had set firm on the point that
25:07
Speaker 3: I would rather see him in Rochester jail than in
25:10
Speaker 3: a New York hotel.
25:11
Speaker 5: So at last he gave in, and he made me
25:14
Speaker 5: a solemn promise that he would see Sparrow mac coy
25:16
Speaker 5: no more, that he would go to Europe, and that
25:18
Speaker 5: he would turn his hand to any honest trade that
25:20
Speaker 5: I helped him to get. I took him down right
25:23
Speaker 5: away to an old family friend, Joe Wilson, who was
25:26
Speaker 5: an exporter of American watches and clocks, and I got
25:29
Speaker 5: him to give Edward an agency in London with a
25:32
Speaker 5: small salary and a fifteen percent commission on all business.
25:35
Speaker 5: His manner and appearance were so good that he won
25:37
Speaker 5: the old man over at once, and within a week
25:40
Speaker 5: he was sent off to London with a case full
25:42
Speaker 5: of samples. It seemed to me that this business of
25:45
Speaker 5: the check had really given my brother a fright, and
25:47
Speaker 5: that there was some chance of him settling down into
25:50
Speaker 5: an honest line of life. My mother had spoken with him,
25:53
Speaker 5: and what she said had touched him, for she had
25:55
Speaker 5: always been the best of mothers to him, and he
25:57
Speaker 5: had been the great sorrow of her life. But I
26:00
Speaker 5: knew that this man Sparrow McCoy had a great influence
26:03
Speaker 5: over Edward, and my chance of keeping the lad straight
26:05
Speaker 5: lay in breaking the connection between them. I had a
26:08
Speaker 5: friend in the New York Detective Force, and through him
26:11
Speaker 5: I kept a watch upon McCoy. When within a fortnight
26:14
Speaker 5: of my brother's sailing, I heard that McCoy had taken
26:16
Speaker 5: a berth in the Achuria, I was as certain as
26:19
Speaker 5: if he had told me that he was going over
26:21
Speaker 5: to England for the purpose of coaxing Edward back again
26:23
Speaker 5: into the ways that he had left. In an instant
26:26
Speaker 5: I had resolved to go also, and to pit my
26:28
Speaker 5: influence against McCoy's. I knew it was a losing fight,
26:32
Speaker 5: but I thought, and my mother thought, that it was
26:35
Speaker 5: my duty. We passed the last night together in prayer
26:38
Speaker 5: for my success, and she gave me her own testament
26:41
Speaker 5: that my father had given her on the day of
26:42
Speaker 5: their marriage in the old Country, so that I might
26:45
Speaker 5: always wear it next my heart. I was a fellow
26:48
Speaker 5: traveler on the steamship with Sparrow McCoy, and at least
26:51
Speaker 5: I had the satisfaction of spoiling his little game for
26:53
Speaker 5: the voyage. The very first night I went into the
26:56
Speaker 5: smoking room found him at the head of a card
26:58
Speaker 5: table with a half dozen young fellows who were carrying
27:01
Speaker 5: their full purses and their empty skulls over to Europe.
27:05
Speaker 5: He was settling down for his harvest, and a rich
27:08
Speaker 5: one it would have been. But I soon changed all that, gentlemen,
27:12
Speaker 5: said I are you aware whom you are playing with?
27:15
Speaker 2: What's that to you? You mind your own business, said.
27:18
Speaker 5: He, with an oath.
27:20
Speaker 3: Who is it anyway, asked one.
27:22
Speaker 5: Of the dudes. He's Sparrow McCoy, the most notorious card
27:25
Speaker 5: sharper in the States. Up he jumped with a bottle
27:28
Speaker 5: in his hand, but he remembered that he was under
27:31
Speaker 5: the flag of the defeat old country, where law and
27:34
Speaker 5: order run and tammany has no pull jail and the
27:37
Speaker 5: gallows wait for violence and murder, and there's no slipping
27:40
Speaker 5: out by the back door on board an ocean liner.
27:43
Speaker 2: Prove your words, you said he.
27:46
Speaker 5: I will, said I, if you will turn up your
27:48
Speaker 5: right sleeve to the shoulder, I will either prove my
27:51
Speaker 5: words or I will eat them. He turned white and
27:53
Speaker 5: said not a word. You see, I knew something of
27:56
Speaker 5: his ways, and I was aware of that part of
27:57
Speaker 5: the mechanism which he and all such charge for us,
28:01
Speaker 5: consists of an elastic down the arm with a cliff
28:03
Speaker 5: just above the wrist. It is by means of this
28:06
Speaker 5: clip that they withdraw from their hands the cards which
28:08
Speaker 5: they do not want, while they substitute other cards from
28:11
Speaker 5: another hiding place. I reckoned on it being there, and
28:14
Speaker 5: it was. He cursed me, slunk out of the saloon
28:18
Speaker 5: and was hardly seen again during the voyage for once.
28:21
Speaker 5: At any rate, I got level with mister Sparrow mc coy,
28:25
Speaker 5: but he soon had his revenge upon me, for when
28:28
Speaker 5: it came to influencing my brother, he outweighed me every time.
28:31
Speaker 5: Edward had kept himself straight in London for the first
28:34
Speaker 5: few weeks and had done some business with his American
28:36
Speaker 5: watches until this villain came across his path. Once more,
28:40
Speaker 5: I did my best, but the best was little enough.
28:43
Speaker 5: The next thing I heard there had been a scandal
28:45
Speaker 5: at one of the Northumberland Avenue hotels. A traveler had
28:48
Speaker 5: been fleeced of a large sum by two Confederate card sharpers,
28:51
Speaker 5: and the matter was in the hands of Scotland Yard.
28:54
Speaker 5: The first I learned of it was in the evening paper,
28:56
Speaker 5: and I was at once certain that my brother and
28:59
Speaker 5: mc coy were back at their old games. I hurried
29:01
Speaker 5: at once to Edward's lodgings. They told me that he
29:04
Speaker 5: and a tall gentleman whom I recognized as McCoy, had
29:07
Speaker 5: gone off together, and that he had left the lodgings
29:09
Speaker 5: and taken his things with him. The landlady had heard
29:12
Speaker 5: them give several directions to the cabman, ending with Euston station,
29:16
Speaker 5: and she had accidentally overheard the tall gentleman saying something
29:19
Speaker 5: about Manchester. She believed that that was their destination. A
29:23
Speaker 5: glance at the timetable showed me that the most likely
29:26
Speaker 5: train was at five, though there was another at four
29:28
Speaker 5: thirty five, which they might have caught. I had only
29:31
Speaker 5: time to get the later one, but found no sign
29:33
Speaker 5: of either of them at the depot or on the train.
29:36
Speaker 5: They must have gone on by the earlier one, so
29:39
Speaker 5: I determined to follow them to Manchester and search for
29:41
Speaker 5: them in the hotels there. One last appeal to my brother,
29:44
Speaker 5: by all that he owed to my mother, might even
29:46
Speaker 5: now be the salvation of him. My nerves were overstrung,
29:50
Speaker 5: and I lit a cigar to study them. At that moment,
29:53
Speaker 5: just as the train was moving off, the door of
29:55
Speaker 5: my compartment was flung open, and there were McCoy and
29:57
Speaker 5: my brother on the platform. They were both disguised, with
30:00
Speaker 5: good reason, for they knew that the London police were
30:02
Speaker 5: after them. McCoy had a great Astrakhan collar drawn up
30:06
Speaker 5: so that only his eyes and his nose were showing.
30:08
Speaker 5: My brother was dressed like a woman, with a black
30:10
Speaker 5: veil half down his face. But of course It did
30:12
Speaker 5: not deceive me for an instant, nor would it have
30:14
Speaker 5: done so even if I had not known that he
30:16
Speaker 5: had often used such a dress before I started up,
30:19
Speaker 5: and as I did so, McCoy recognized me. He said something.
30:23
Speaker 5: The conductor slammed the door, and they were shown into
30:25
Speaker 5: the next compartment. I tried to stop the train so
30:28
Speaker 5: as to follow them, but the wheels were already moving,
30:31
Speaker 5: and it was too late. When we stopped at Williston,
30:34
Speaker 5: I instantly changed my carriage. It appears that I was
30:37
Speaker 5: not seen to do so, which is not surprising, as
30:39
Speaker 5: the station was crowded with people. McCoy, of course, was
30:42
Speaker 5: expecting me, and he had spent the time between Euston
30:45
Speaker 5: and Williston in saying all he could to harden my
30:48
Speaker 5: brother's heart and set him against me. That is what
30:50
Speaker 5: I fancy, for I had never found him so impossible
30:53
Speaker 5: to soften or to move. I tried this way, and
30:56
Speaker 5: I tried that. I pictured his future in an English jail.
30:59
Speaker 5: I described this sorrow of his mother.
31:00
Speaker 3: When I came back with the news, I said everything
31:03
Speaker 3: to touch his heart, but all to no purpose. He
31:05
Speaker 3: sat there with a fixed sneer upon his handsome face,
31:08
Speaker 3: while every now and then Sparrow McCoy would throw in
31:10
Speaker 3: a taunt at me or some word of encouragement to
31:13
Speaker 3: hold my brother to his resolutions.
31:15
Speaker 2: Why don't you run a Sunday school.
31:18
Speaker 5: He would say to me. And then in the same
31:20
Speaker 5: breath he.
31:20
Speaker 2: Thinks you have no will of your own. He thinks
31:23
Speaker 2: you're just the baby brother, and that he can lead
31:26
Speaker 2: you where he likes. He's only just finding out that
31:29
Speaker 2: you are a man as well as he.
31:31
Speaker 5: It was those words of his which set me talking bitterly.
31:34
Speaker 5: We had left Williston, you understand, for all this took
31:37
Speaker 5: some time, my temper got the better of me, and
31:39
Speaker 5: for the first time in my life, I let my
31:41
Speaker 5: brother see the rough side of me. Perhaps it would
31:43
Speaker 5: have been better had I done so earlier and more often.
31:47
Speaker 5: A man said, I, well, I'm glad to have your
31:49
Speaker 5: friend's assurance of it, for no one would suspect it
31:52
Speaker 5: to see you like a boarding school, missy. I don't
31:55
Speaker 5: suppose in all this country there is a more contemptible
31:57
Speaker 5: looking creature than you are, as you sit there with
31:59
Speaker 5: that Dolly pinafore upon you. He colored up at that,
32:03
Speaker 5: for he was a vain man, and he winced for ridicule.
32:06
Speaker 4: It's certainly a dust cloak.
32:07
Speaker 5: Said he, and he slipped it off when I.
32:09
Speaker 1: Ask to throw the cop was off, one said, and
32:12
Speaker 1: I had no other way to do it.
32:14
Speaker 5: He took his tucoff with a veil attached, and he
32:16
Speaker 5: put both it and the cloak into his brown bag.
32:19
Speaker 2: Anyway, I don't need to wear it until the conductor
32:21
Speaker 2: comes round.
32:22
Speaker 5: Said he, Nor then either, said I, And taking the bag,
32:25
Speaker 5: I slung it with all my force out of the window. Now,
32:28
Speaker 5: said I. You'll never make a merry jane of yourself
32:31
Speaker 5: while I can help it. If nothing but that disguise
32:33
Speaker 5: stands between you and a jail, then the jail you
32:36
Speaker 5: shall go. That was the way to manage. I felt
32:39
Speaker 5: my advantage at once. His supple nature was one which
32:42
Speaker 5: yielded to roughness far more readily than to intreat. He
32:45
Speaker 5: flushed with shame, and his eyes filled with tears. But
32:48
Speaker 5: McCoy saw my advantage also, and was determined that I
32:51
Speaker 5: should not pursue it.
32:52
Speaker 2: He's my pard, and you shall not bully him.
32:55
Speaker 3: He cried.
32:57
Speaker 5: He's my brother, and you shall not ruin him. Said
32:59
Speaker 5: I believe a spell of prison as the very best
33:02
Speaker 5: way of keeping you apart, and you shall have it,
33:04
Speaker 5: or it will be no fault of mine.
33:07
Speaker 2: Oh he would squeal, would Yet.
33:09
Speaker 5: He cried, and in an instant he whipped out his revolver.
33:12
Speaker 5: I sprang for his hand, but saw that I was
33:14
Speaker 5: too late, and jumped aside. At the same instant he fired,
33:17
Speaker 5: and the bullet which would have struck me, passed through
33:19
Speaker 5: the heart of my unfortunate brother. He dropped without a groan,
33:23
Speaker 5: upon the floor of the compartment, and mc coy and I,
33:25
Speaker 5: equally horrified, knelt at each side of him, trying to
33:28
Speaker 5: bring back some signs of life. McCoy still held the
33:32
Speaker 5: loaded revolver in his hand, but his anger against me
33:35
Speaker 5: and my resentment towards him had both for the moment
33:37
Speaker 5: been swallowed up in this sudden tragedy. It was he
33:41
Speaker 5: who first realized the situation. The train was for some
33:44
Speaker 5: reason going very slowly at the moment, and he saw
33:46
Speaker 5: his opportunity to escape. In an instant he had the
33:49
Speaker 5: door opened, but I was as quick as he, and
33:51
Speaker 5: jumping upon him, the two of us fell off the
33:53
Speaker 5: footboard and rolled in each other's arms down a steep embankment.
33:57
Speaker 5: At the bottom, I struck my head against a stone,
34:00
Speaker 5: and I remembered nothing more. When I came to myself,
34:03
Speaker 5: I was lying among some low bushes, not far from
34:06
Speaker 5: the railroad track, and somebody was bathing my head with
34:09
Speaker 5: a wet handkerchief. It was Sparrow McCoy.
34:12
Speaker 2: I guess I couldn't leave you, said he. I didn't
34:15
Speaker 2: want to have the blood of two of you on
34:17
Speaker 2: my hands in one day. You loved your brother, I've
34:21
Speaker 2: no doubt, but you didn't love him a cent more
34:23
Speaker 2: than I loved him, So you'll say that I took
34:26
Speaker 2: a queer way to show it. Anyhow, it seems a
34:29
Speaker 2: mighty empty world now that he is gone, and I
34:32
Speaker 2: don't care a continental whether you give me over to
34:35
Speaker 2: the angman or not.
34:38
Speaker 5: He had turned his ankle in the fall, and there
34:40
Speaker 5: we sat, he with his useless foot, and I with
34:42
Speaker 5: my throbbing head, and we topped and talked, until gradually
34:45
Speaker 5: my bitterness began to soften and turn into something like sympathy.
34:49
Speaker 5: What was the use of revenging his death upon a
34:51
Speaker 5: man who was as much stricken by that death as
34:53
Speaker 5: I was? And then, as my wits gradually returned, I
34:56
Speaker 5: began to realize also that I could do nothing against
34:59
Speaker 5: McCoy which would not recoil upon my mother and myself.
35:03
Speaker 5: How could we convict him without a full account of
35:05
Speaker 5: my brother's career being made public, the very thing which,
35:08
Speaker 5: of all others we wished to avoid. It was really
35:10
Speaker 5: as much our interest as his to cover the matter up,
35:14
Speaker 5: And from being an avenger of crime, I found myself
35:16
Speaker 5: changed to a conspirator against justice. The place in which
35:20
Speaker 5: we found ourselves was one of those pheasant preserves which
35:23
Speaker 5: are so common in the old Country, and as we
35:25
Speaker 5: groped our way through it, I found myself consulting the
35:28
Speaker 5: slayer of my brother as to how far it would
35:30
Speaker 5: be possible to hush it up. I soon realized from
35:34
Speaker 5: what he said that unless there were some papers of
35:36
Speaker 5: which we knew nothing in my brother's pockets, there was
35:39
Speaker 5: really no possible means by which the police could identify
35:42
Speaker 5: him or learn how he had got there. His ticket
35:45
Speaker 5: was in McCoy's pocket, and so was the ticket for
35:47
Speaker 5: some baggage which they had left at the depot. Like
35:50
Speaker 5: most Americans, he had found it cheaper and easier to
35:53
Speaker 5: buy an outfit in London than to bring one from New.
35:55
Speaker 3: York, so that all his linen and clothes were new
35:58
Speaker 3: and unmarked. The bag caning the dust cloak which I
36:01
Speaker 3: had thrown out of the window may have fallen among
36:03
Speaker 3: some bramble patch where it is still concealed, or may
36:06
Speaker 3: have been carried off by some tramp, or may have
36:08
Speaker 3: come into the possession of the police, who kept the
36:11
Speaker 3: incident to themselves. Anyhow, I have seen nothing about it
36:14
Speaker 3: in the London papers. As to the watches, they were
36:17
Speaker 3: a selection from those which had been entrusted to him
36:19
Speaker 3: for business purposes. It may have been for the same
36:22
Speaker 3: business purposes that he was taking unto Manchester. But well,
36:25
Speaker 3: it's too late to enter into that. I don't blame
36:28
Speaker 3: the police for being at fault. I don't see how
36:30
Speaker 3: it could have been otherwise. There was just one little
36:33
Speaker 3: clue that they might have followed up. But it was
36:35
Speaker 3: a small one. I mean that small circular mirror which
36:38
Speaker 3: was found in my brother's pocket. It isn't a very
36:41
Speaker 3: common thing for a young man to carry about with him,
36:43
Speaker 3: is it. But a gambler might have told you what
36:45
Speaker 3: such a mirror may mean to a card sharker. If
36:48
Speaker 3: you sit back a little from the table and lay
36:50
Speaker 3: the mirror face upwards upon your lap. You can see
36:53
Speaker 3: as you deal every card that you give to your adversary.
36:56
Speaker 3: It's not hard to say whether you see a man
36:58
Speaker 3: or raise him when you know his card words as
37:00
Speaker 3: well as your own. It was as much a part
37:02
Speaker 3: of a sharper's outfit as the elastic clip upon Sparrow
37:05
Speaker 3: McCoy's arm. Taking that in connection with the recent frauds
37:09
Speaker 3: at the hotels, the police might have got hold of
37:11
Speaker 3: one end of the string. I don't think there's much
37:14
Speaker 3: more for me to explain. We got to a village
37:16
Speaker 3: called Amersham that night in the character of two gentlemen
37:19
Speaker 3: upon a walking to her, and afterwards we made our
37:22
Speaker 3: way quietly to London, whence McCoy went on to Cairo
37:26
Speaker 3: and I returned to New York. Her mother died six
37:29
Speaker 3: months afterwards, and I am glad to say that to
37:31
Speaker 3: the day of her death she.
37:32
Speaker 5: Never knew what happened.
37:33
Speaker 3: She was always under the delusion that Edward was earning
37:36
Speaker 3: an honest living in London, and I never had the
37:39
Speaker 3: heart to tell her the truth. He never wrote, but
37:41
Speaker 3: then he never did write at any time, so that
37:43
Speaker 3: made no difference. His name was the last upon her lips.
37:47
Speaker 3: There's just one other thing that I have to ask you, sir,
37:49
Speaker 3: and I should take it as a kind return for
37:51
Speaker 3: all this explanation.
37:52
Speaker 5: If you could do it for me. You remember that
37:55
Speaker 5: testament that was picked up. I always carried it my
37:57
Speaker 5: inside pocket and it must have come out in my fall.
38:00
Speaker 5: I value it highly, for it was the family book
38:03
Speaker 5: with my birth and my brothers marked by my father
38:05
Speaker 5: at the beginning of it. I wish you would apply
38:08
Speaker 5: at the proper place and have it sent to me.
38:09
Speaker 5: It can be of no possible value to any one else.
38:12
Speaker 5: If you address it to x Basano's Library, Broadway, New York,
38:17
Speaker 5: it is sure to come to hand.
38:20
Speaker 1: End of chapter three