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Manchester_s Sherlock Holmes _ Detectives Don_t Sleep · The Empire of Wealth

0:04
Speaker 1: It's the evening of February 26th, 1889. Two men come
0:10
out of the Three Arrows Pub in Deansgate, a rough,
0:12
working-class area of Manchester. The older of the two is
0:16
around 50. He's a big man, with a stout physique
0:20
of someone who appreciates the good life. He wears gold-framed
0:23
glasses on his plump face, and his bushy mutton chops
0:27
make him look like a character from a Dickens novel.
0:30
Judging by his expensively tailored clothes and the gold chain
0:33
visible in his waistcoat, he's a prosperous businessman. He's also
0:38
very drunk. There's a biting chill in the air, but
0:42
the cold does nothing to sober him up. He staggers
0:46
and lurches unsteadily. His companion is around 18 years old, fresh-faced, clean-shaven,
0:52
about 5 foot 5 inches tall, maybe shorter. It's hard
0:56
to tell because he's wearing a tall top hat. The
0:59
type known as a chimney pot. He doesn't seem drunk
1:02
at all. Or at least he's nowhere near as far
1:04
gone as the other man. His eyes dart warily about.
1:09
If you saw these two together, you'd notice them. And
1:12
maybe wonder what exactly is going on here. That's just
1:16
what the cab driver waiting nearby is thinking. The two
1:20
men had hailed him earlier on Catchiton Street, near the cathedral.
1:24
He brought them here to the Three Arrows, where they
1:26
told him to wait. while they went inside for a
1:29
swift drink. There are some parts of Manchester that a
1:32
respectable citizen would be well advised to stay clear of.
1:36
Speaker 2: Deansgate is one of them.
1:38
Speaker 1: It's the home of street gangs and thieves, the center
1:41
of the city's criminal underworld. Most of the pubs are
1:44
seedy dives. The Three Arrows is no exception. The younger
1:49
of the two doesn't look out of place, but just
1:52
what is the wealthy older man doing here? The younger
1:56
man gives the cab driver an address in Stretford, not
1:59
far from Old Trafford. He helps his companion into the cab,
2:03
then gets in himself. The cab pulls off, but it
2:08
hasn't gone far before it runs into an unexpected obstacle.
2:12
Mexican Joe's Wild West show is in town, and to
2:15
advertise the grand opening, there's a parade through the streets
2:18
of Manchester. The driver steers his cab to the side
2:22
of the road to let the long procession pass. Cowboys
2:26
on horseback crack whips and fire pistols into the air.
2:30
Native Americans on ponies brandish tomahawks. Stagecoaches and wagon trains
2:35
rumble by as a cavalry of officers bugle glares. The
2:39
crowd cheers appreciatively. It's not every day the American Wild
2:43
West comes to Manchester. The parade moves on. The cabbie's
2:48
getting ready to resume the journey when someone calls out
2:51
to him, Oi, a young fella just jumped out of
2:54
your cab! The cabman looks back. Sure enough, one of
2:58
the carriage doors is open, but the young man is
3:01
nowhere to be seen. The driver gets down off his
3:04
box seat to check on the remaining passenger. His main
3:07
concern is that he'll be able to pay the fare.
3:11
But this guy isn't good for anything much at all.
3:13
He's slumped forward, with his head resting on the seat opposite.
3:17
Looks like he's passed out. The cabbie lifts the hefty
3:21
gentleman back up into the seated position. The man's head
3:25
lolls forward so that his chin is resting on his chest.
3:30
His passenger isn't happy about being disturbed.
3:32
Speaker 2: Go away.
3:34
Speaker 1: Leave me alone, he mumbles, his breath smelling strongly of alcohol.
3:38
As the cab driver is deciding what to do, he
3:41
notices that the man's gold spectacles are gone. There's no
3:45
sign of the gold watch chain he spotted earlier. The
3:49
cabbie remembers seeing a police constable in Ketchington Street. So
3:53
he heads back there. Luckily, the same constable is still
3:57
on duty.
3:58
Speaker 2: P.C.
3:59
Speaker 1: William Jakeman remembers seeing the mismatched couple get into the cab.
4:04
He climbs in to take a closer look at the
4:06
unconscious man. Then he tells the driver to head straight
4:09
for the Royal Infirmary. But as the man's lifeless body
4:13
is thrown about by the jolting of the carriage, the
4:16
policeman fears they may be too late.
4:19
Speaker 2: At last, they reach the infirmary.
4:22
Speaker 1: The big man's feet drag along the ground as PC
4:25
Jakeman and a cab driver struggle to carry him inside.
4:29
A doctor rushes up to examine him and immediately declares
4:32
him dead. It's the end of a life, but the
4:36
beginning of an enthralling mystery. Who is the dead man,
4:43
and what did he die of? Who is the mysterious
4:46
young man seen with him earlier, and why did he
4:50
run away from the cab Is he just an innocent
4:53
bystander who got scared when his companion passed out?
4:57
Speaker 2: Or something more sinister? A murder, perhaps?
5:03
Speaker 1: These are the questions facing the man called to investigate,
5:06
Chief Inspector Jerome Kamenada of Manchester's Detective Division. Fortunately, Detective
5:13
Kamenada has a talent for finding answers. My name is
5:20
Mark Dodson, and welcome to to Detectives Don't Sleep. Each week,
5:25
we'll shadow the world's most remarkable sleuths, real detectives who
5:30
worked extraordinary cases. This week, we follow one of the
5:35
finest detectives of the Victorian era, Manchester's own detective Chief
5:40
Inspector Jerome Caminata, as he takes on the most baffling
5:44
case of his career.
5:46
Speaker 2: When a wealthy businessman.
5:48
Speaker 1: Is found dead in a handsome calf, there are plenty
5:51
of questions but very few clues to go on. Coming
5:55
in the wake of the notorious Whitechapel murders, it's a
5:58
shocking crime that strikes terror into the hearts of polite
6:02
Mancunian society. Can DCI Kamenada solve the mystery before the
6:07
perpetrator strikes again? From Noiser, this is the story of
6:13
Manchester's Sherlock Holmes. And this is Detectives Don't Sleep. With
6:27
his dark complexion, black hair, and beard, 45-year-old detective Caminata
6:32
takes after his Italian father. Though when he opens his mouth,
6:36
he speaks with a flat, vowel accent of a native Mancunian. Actually,
6:41
Caminata is of mixed Irish and Italian descent, which makes
6:45
him a double outsider. He's also a practicing Catholic, at
6:49
a time when that's often met with suspicion. It says
6:53
something about his skills as an investigator. that he's risen
6:56
to the top of Manchester's detective division despite facing prejudice.
7:02
His reputation has reached far beyond the city limits. He
7:06
often undertakes work for external police forces, even traveling as
7:10
far as America to track down suspects. And his exploits
7:15
have graced the pages of national newspapers. Just like the
7:19
fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, Kamenada is known for his unconventional methods.
7:25
In an operation to crack down on a gang of
7:28
pickpockets at the Grand National, he went undercover as a laborer.
7:33
His disguise was so effective, the chief constable called for
7:37
him to be arrested as one of the thieves. Manchester,
7:41
in the late Victorian period, stands at the threshold of
7:44
the world's industrial future. It has the feel of a
7:47
frontier city, a brutal and unforgiving place. Kamenada is not
7:53
averse to meeting violence with violence.
7:56
Speaker 2: Physically attacked as a beat cop.
7:58
Speaker 1: He quickly learned that the only way to survive was
8:01
to give as good as he got. He's not only survived,
8:05
he's earned the respect of the criminals he's policing, as
8:08
well as his fellow officers. Deansgate, where the Three Arrows
8:14
pub is located, is at the center of the world
8:17
of violent criminality. Kamenada knows the neighborhood well. After all,
8:24
he was born there. These were the streets he played
8:27
in as a child of the slums. In his memoirs,
8:31
he describes Deansgate as the rendezvous of thieves and a
8:36
very hotbed of social inequity and vice. But the criminals
8:40
who gave the area its bad rep were his neighbors
8:43
growing up. Now, Kamenot is known to have an extensive
8:47
network of informants working for him. He meets them in
8:51
secret on the back pew of St. Mary's, a Catholic
8:55
church in Deansgate it's tempting to speculate that many of
8:59
them may have been his childhood friends. His father died
9:03
at the age of 37, when Kamenada was just four
9:06
years old, leaving the family without their main breadwinner. Poverty
9:12
and hardship were the only certainties, but the difficulties he
9:16
faced growing up.
9:17
Speaker 2: Defined him as a man.
9:18
Speaker 1: In some ways, they gave him sympathy for the criminals
9:22
he was pitted against. He also has a unique insight
9:27
into criminal psychology. He understands what drives men and women
9:32
to commit crimes. He also has an inside knowledge of
9:36
the criminal world. With his encyclopedic memory, Kamenada is like
9:40
a one-man criminal records office. And if things had worked
9:44
out slightly differently for Kamenada, he might have been sucked
9:48
into a life of crime himself. With his intelligence and resourcefulness...
9:53
would have made a master criminal, a formidable opponent for
9:57
his fellow detectives. Instead, he chose the path of law
10:01
and order. That's good news for the people of Manchester. Now,
10:09
the first task facing Kamenada in the case of the
10:12
Manchester Cab Mystery is to identify the victim. He was
10:17
obviously a well-to-do gentleman. making him a fish out of
10:20
water in the decidedly rough neighborhood of Deansgate. What brought
10:25
him here? And what was he doing drinking in a
10:27
dive like the Three Arrows? When the poor and the
10:31
destitute turn up dead, it can take a long time
10:34
to identify their bodies.
10:36
Speaker 2: Sometimes, no one comes forward. But this man, this man's different.
10:41
Speaker 1: Given his apparently high status, Kamenada's hopeful that his family
10:45
and friends will soon report him missing. Sure enough, a
10:50
lead comes in concerning a missing man called John Robert Fletcher,
10:54
who matches the victim's description. Fletcher is, or was, a
10:59
semi-retired businessman with shares in a firm of paper manufacturers.
11:05
DCI Kamenada heads to the firm's offices to talk to
11:09
the man's nephew, who runs the business. The distraught nephew
11:14
fills Kamenada in on.
11:15
Speaker 2: His uncle's background.
11:17
Speaker 1: As well as being a wealthy businessman, the dead man
11:20
was a justice of the peace and a member of
11:23
Lancashire County Council. He was a pillar of the community,
11:26
in other words. On the day of his disappearance, John
11:30
Fletcher was wearing a pair of gold spectacles and a
11:33
gold watch chain. The watch alone was worth 120 pounds,
11:38
more than a labor would make in a year at
11:40
this time. He was also carrying a purse of gold
11:44
and silver sovereigns. In a place like Deansgate, he may
11:48
as well have put a target on his back. Kamenada
11:51
notes that none of these valuable items were found on
11:55
the body of the dead man. Looks like there's a
11:58
crime to investigate after all.
12:00
Speaker 2: Robbery.
12:02
Speaker 1: Though Kamenada doesn't rule out the possibility of murder. Fletcher's
12:08
nephew helps the detective piece together his uncle's movements on
12:12
the last day of his life. He came into the
12:15
office in the morning, but left around 1 p.m. to
12:19
go to a property auction being held near the cathedral.
12:22
A well-known figure in business circles, Fletcher was seen at
12:26
the auction by a number of associates, some of whom
12:29
described him as being under the influence of drink. It
12:34
seems that the respectable Mr. Fletcher had a weakness for alcohol.
12:39
After talking to Fletcher's nephew, Kamenada hits the streets. He
12:43
leads a team of detectives knocking on doors, going into
12:46
shops and pubs, calling anywhere the dead man might have
12:50
visited in an effort to retrace his steps.
12:54
Speaker 2: From talking to witnesses, Kamenada.
12:56
Speaker 1: Places Fletcher at a stall in Victoria Market just before
13:00
7 p.m. Significantly, those who see him said he was
13:06
with a much younger man, short in stature and dressed
13:09
in a brown checked suit. It's the same mismatched pair
13:13
seen by P.C. William Jakeman and the cab driver who
13:17
picked him up in Catchington Street. Kaminata's certain that John
13:21
Fletcher is the dead man lying in Manchester's Royal Infirmary.
13:26
The question now is what did he die of?
13:31
Speaker 2: And was it murder?
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Speaker 1: The doctor who examined Fletcher when he was taken into
13:40
the infirmary couldn't find signs of violence on his body.
13:44
His preliminary view is that Fletcher died from alcohol poisoning. Now,
13:50
given what Kamenada's learned about the dead man's fondness for
13:53
the bottle, it seems a reasonable hypothesis. But Kamenada's instincts
13:58
are telling him there's more to this. The coroner's inquest
14:02
begins on March 1st, but is adjourned to give the
14:05
city analyst, Charles Estcourt, Time to carry out tests on
14:09
three samples taken from the dead man's stomach and intestines. Meanwhile,
14:15
you can bet DCI Kamenada doesn't just sit back and
14:18
wait for the results. Not while he has a mysterious
14:21
short man in a brown check suit to track down.
14:26
The first lead to follow up is the address in
14:29
Stretford that Fletcher's companion gave to the cab driver before
14:33
running off. It turns out to be a tailor shop.
14:37
The owner claims to have no knowledge of John Fletcher
14:40
or anyone matching the description of the brown-suited young man.
14:44
He's mystified about being dragged into the affair and seems
14:48
to be telling the truth. Kamenada speculates that the address
14:52
had been chosen at random and the young man had
14:55
always intended to jump out of the cab at some
14:58
point along the way. Okay, let's try and get inside
15:03
Kamenada's mind as he works out his next move. The
15:07
only thing he knows for certain is that the young
15:09
man got out of the cab and ran off.
15:12
Speaker 2: But the question is, where'd he go?
15:15
Speaker 1: To get the answer, he tracks down the man in
15:18
the crowd who called out to the cab driver about
15:21
one of the passengers running off. Pretty incredible detective work, huh? Well,
15:26
they don't call him the real Sherlock Holmes for nothing.
15:30
This witness tells Kamenada that he saw the suspect disappear
15:34
down a footpath leading to the All Saints Church on
15:37
Oxford Road. It's now that Kamenada's understanding of criminal psychology
15:43
comes into play. If you were a man who had
15:46
just stolen a purse of gold.
15:49
Speaker 2: Where would you head?
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Speaker 1: Maybe you'd be sensible and lie low. But Kamenada knows
15:55
most criminals would head straight for the pub to celebrate
15:58
their windfall. Caminata concentrates his efforts on visiting the pubs
16:03
and cheap beer houses in the area where the young
16:06
man was last seen. It isn't long before he gets results.
16:11
The landlady of the Yorkminster Beer House remembers seeing a short,
16:16
youngish man with a fresh-faced complexion dressed in a brown
16:21
checked suit. When Caminata asks if there was anything else
16:27
about this individual that stood out, He strikes gold, literally.
16:33
The young man was wearing an expensive-looking gold watch and
16:37
chain in his waistcoat. The landlady also noticed that when
16:41
he pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket,
16:45
there were some gold sovereigns among the coppers. Now, this
16:49
stuck out to her because, well, let's just say, York
16:52
Minster is not the kind of place where people throw
16:55
gold coins around. If this was Fletcher's companion, then it
16:59
looks like He left the cab with the older man's possessions,
17:03
which makes him a thief.
17:06
Speaker 2: But is he also a murderer?
17:08
Speaker 1: Before he can answer that question, DCI Kamenada has to
17:12
find him. He learns from the landlady that after the
17:16
suspect had finished his drink, he paid another man six
17:19
pence to fetch a cab for him, leaving the beer
17:22
house at about 825. It's back to good old-fashioned police
17:27
work for Kamenada. stopping all the cabs in the area
17:31
until he finds one that picked up a short, clean-shaven
17:34
man wearing a brown suit from outside the York Minster
17:38
on the evening in question. Again, his approach pays off,
17:44
and he eventually speaks to a cab driver who remembers
17:47
taking someone answering the suspect's description to a pub called
17:51
The Locomotive. One thing caught the cabbie's eye. an expensive-looking
17:56
gold watch that the young man had chained to his waistcoat.
18:01
DCI Kamenada is closing in on his suspect. Kamenada knows
18:10
the locomotive pub well. It's a notorious haunt of the
18:13
boxing fraternity. The golden age of prize fighting is in
18:17
the past, but illegal bouts are still organized. And even
18:21
with legitimate contests, Match-fixing and betting scams are widespread. In
18:27
other words, boxing and criminality go together. So, Kamenada's not
18:32
surprised when his inquiries among the staff and regulars at
18:36
the locomotive draw a blank. Even if they knew the
18:40
identity of the flashy young man sporting a gold watch,
18:43
it's unlikely that they would tell a police detective. Chances are,
18:48
he's one of their own. And so, Kamenada meets a
18:51
wall of silence.
18:52
Speaker 2: He's not deterred. his powers of deduction come into play again.
18:56
Speaker 1: He's convinced that the suspect is in some way connected
19:00
to Manchester's shady boxing scene. This narrows the search down considerably.
19:06
Commonod is now available to tap into his own vast
19:09
knowledge of Manchester's underworld to come up.
19:12
Speaker 2: With a name.
19:13
Speaker 1: At some time now, Commonod has been hearing rumors about
19:18
a former prizefighter turned pub landlord and boxing promoter called
19:22
John Parton.
19:24
Speaker 2: Aka Pig Jack.
19:26
Speaker 1: The rumors are that Pig Jack has a habit of
19:30
drugging the mouthwash of boxers so they would lose bouts
19:33
against his own fighters, enabling Pig Jack to make a
19:37
killing from gambling. Some even go so far as to
19:40
hint that Parton drugs customers in his pub to facilitate
19:44
robbing them. With his broken nose and cauliflower ears, the
19:49
aging prizefighter parton doesn't match the description of the fresh-faced
19:53
young man seen in the company of john fletcher but
19:57
his 18 year old son charles does so maybe charlie
20:02
parton has learned a few tricks about drugging from his
20:06
old dad Kamenada's information is that Charlie Parton is still
20:14
living with his parents at an address not far from
20:18
the locomotive pub. But word must have reached the Partons
20:21
that the police.
20:23
Speaker 2: Are looking for their son.
20:24
Speaker 1: Because by the time Kamenada and his men swoop in,
20:28
the whole family has flown the roost. It's frustrating, but
20:31
DCI Kamenada is a persistent man. Don't forget his network
20:35
of informers. Someone, we don't know who, slips in beside Kamenada.
20:40
In the back pew of St. Mary's Church, the place
20:43
where he meets his informants, he gives him an address.
20:46
12 Moore Street, off Rochdale Road in North Manchester. The
20:52
Parton family's current whereabouts. This time, there'll be no slip-ups.
20:57
Kamenada puts together a crack team of trusted officers. It's 12.30
21:05
in the morning of March 2nd, just four days after
21:08
John Fletcher was found dead in the cab Icy mist
21:12
swirls around the gaslights in the street as DCI Kamenada
21:17
moves his men into position.
21:19
Speaker 2: Outside the suspect's house.
21:21
Speaker 1: Although Kamenada can't see the property clearly in the dark,
21:25
he knows the type well enough. It's one of a
21:28
row of identical red brick houses, all joined together in
21:32
a single soot-begrimed terrace. The locals call them two-up, two-downs,
21:38
as there are just two rooms on each floor. Kamenada
21:42
whispers his final orders, then gives the signal. Kamenada and
21:47
his team gain entry to the house and rush upstairs,
21:50
where they find Charlie Parton in bed. There are five
21:54
or six other people sleeping in the room, which is
21:56
typical in working-class families of the time. A bleary-eyed Parton
22:01
sits up, clearly stunned by the presence of uniformed bobbies
22:05
and plainclothes detectives in his bedroom. As Kamenada had hoped,
22:10
he doesn't know what's hit him. Cominata tells Parton to
22:13
get dressed and advises him of his rights. Parton is
22:18
taken away in a horse-drawn black Mariah to Manchester's Town Hall,
22:23
where the detective division is based. He's held in a
22:27
police cell overnight. DCI Cominata has his suspect where he
22:32
wants him, behind bars. But does he have enough to
22:37
prove the man is guilty of any crime? After all,
22:41
Kamenada has arrested Charlie Parton purely on a hunch. In
22:45
the morning, if his plan works out, he'll know for
22:48
sure whether his hunch is sound. Meanwhile, both men are
22:52
in for an anxious night. The next morning, Kamenada puts
22:59
Parton in a lineup with seven other men and parades
23:03
him in front of not one, but six witnesses.
23:08
Speaker 2: One, P.C. William Jacob.
23:10
Speaker 1: Two, the driver of the cab in which Fletcher was
23:13
found dead. Three, the landlady of the Yorkminster Beer House. Four,
23:19
the man from Yorkminster who was given six pence to
23:22
fetch a cab. Five, the second cabman who drove a
23:27
young man from the Yorkminster to the locomotive pub. Six,
23:31
a police sergeant who spoke with the second cabman on
23:35
the way to the locomotive. All of these witnesses identify
23:39
Charlie Parton as the person they saw. Caminata charges Parton
23:44
with the theft of a gold watch and an unknown
23:47
quantity of money.
23:48
Speaker 2: Parton seems unconcerned. He's got an alibi, or so he claims.
23:54
Speaker 1: He was at a Greyhound racing event in Liverpool on
23:57
the day of the crime and was home by six o'clock.
24:01
Caminata doesn't think much of his alibi, not when he's
24:04
got six witnesses saying Parton was somewhere else. In the meantime,
24:10
DCI Cominata received some information that could provide a vital
24:14
clue to how John Fletcher met his death. A report
24:24
comes in from Liverpool Police. A bottle of chloral hydrate
24:29
was stolen from a pharmacist's shop on the 19th of February,
24:33
five days before John Fletcher's death. The suspect is described
24:38
as a young man Could it be Charlie Parton, do
24:42
you think? DCI Kamenada does, for two reasons. First, there's
24:48
the location of the theft, Liverpool. That's where Parton claimed
24:52
to be when John Fletcher died. To Kamenada, this is
24:56
too much of a coincidence. Second, think about what he stole. Chlorohydrate.
25:03
Speaker 2: It's a sedative.
25:04
Speaker 1: Just what you need to knock out a drunkard if
25:07
you intend to rob him. Problem is, if taken in
25:10
high enough quantities, it can also be fatal. And it's
25:14
even more deadly if taken in combination with alcohol. Kamenada
25:19
travels to Liverpool to get the pharmacist's story. A young
25:23
man came into his shop asking for chloral hydrate for
25:27
his mother, who he said suffered from angina pectoris. While
25:32
the pharmacist was distracted, the customer reached over the counter,
25:36
grabbed a big bottle of chloral hydrate, and ran out.
25:40
Kamenada takes the pharmacist back to Manchester, where he puts
25:43
Charlie Parton in yet another lineup. The pharmacist IDs him
25:48
without a moment's hesitation. Things are looking bad for Charlie Parton,
25:53
especially when two more men, Samuel Oldfield and John Parkey,
25:58
come forward claiming that they too had been drugged and
26:02
robbed by Parton on two separate nights out. It looks
26:06
suspiciously like Parton has an M.O. On March 8, 1889,
26:15
Charlie Parton appears at the city police court, charged with
26:19
the willful murder of John Robert Fletcher. Other charges are
26:23
read out. The robbery of a gold watch and chain,
26:27
administering chloral hydrate for the purpose of committing robbery, and
26:32
drugging and robbing Samuel Oldfield and John Parkey. The courtroom
26:37
is packed with spectators, drawn by the offender's young age
26:41
and the shocking nature of his alleged crimes. The mood
26:44
is a mixture of sympathy and horror. The atmosphere, one
26:48
of excitement. Crucial medical evidence is presented by the city analyst,
26:54
Charles Estcourt. You may remember that samples from the dead
26:58
man's intestine and stomach were sent to him for analysis.
27:03
The court falls into a hushed silence as Estcourt takes
27:06
the stand. This is the first case of death by
27:11
chloral hydrate poisoning ever to be prosecuted in a British court.
27:15
So there's a lot riding on what he has to say.
27:19
Charlie Parton's life, for one thing. Estcourt explains that after
27:24
carrying out a very delicate chemical test, he discovered traces
27:29
of chloroform in one of the samples he had been sent.
27:32
Chloroform is what you get when chloral hydrate decomposes. It
27:37
proves John Fletcher had been given the drug. Unfortunately for
27:41
the prosecution, Estcourt is unable to say how much chloral
27:45
hydrate was present in the dead man's body and whether
27:48
it was enough to kill him. However, the fact is
27:52
that the substance is more deadly when combined with alcohol.
27:56
Administering it to a man who has consumed as much
27:59
ardent spirits as Fletcher had is an extremely reckless, not
28:03
to say dangerous, thing to do. Parton's defense barrister naturally
28:08
does his best to undermine the medical evidence. But the
28:12
presiding magistrate has heard enough to commit Parton to trial
28:16
for murder at Liverpool Assizes. DCI Cominata knows that this
28:23
case is far from proven. Given a sympathetic jury, there's
28:27
every chance that Charlie Parton could be acquitted. Kamenada's got
28:32
ten days to turn up something new. It's time for
28:38
some deductive thinking again. If Parton put chloral hydrate into
28:42
John Fletcher's drink, the chances are he did so at
28:46
the Three Arrows pub just before Fletcher died. Maybe there
28:51
was someone there who saw him do it. Someone who,
28:54
for whatever reason, hasn't come forward yet. Kamenada goes back
28:59
to his network of informants. They drink in pubs like
29:02
the Three Arrows all the time. They hear the gossip,
29:05
a word let slip here, a nod in the right direction.
29:09
Kamenada tells them to keep their ears open for anything
29:13
related to the case. It's pretty much the main topic
29:16
of conversation in every taproom across the city anyway. Before long,
29:22
one of his informants comes through for him with a name.
29:26
Edward Phillips, a bookkeeper from a firm not far from
29:29
the Three Arrows. Kamenada tracks down Phillips, who is at
29:33
first reluctant to talk to the detective, but eventually he
29:37
admits that he was in the pub that night.
29:40
Speaker 2: And saw Parton and Fletcher together. There's more.
29:43
Speaker 1: He says he saw Parton hold a small glass vial
29:47
over a glass of beer and pour the contents into
29:50
the drink. Phillips had assumed it was some kind of
29:54
medicine and that he'd poured it into his own drink.
29:57
Phillips hadn't come forward so far because he didn't want
30:00
to get mixed up with the case. At the time,
30:03
he couldn't be sure what he'd seen. Now, after reading
30:07
all about Fletcher's death in the papers, he's convinced he
30:11
saw Parton slip something into the other man's drink. Kamenada
30:16
spells it out for him in no uncertain terms. What
30:19
he saw was murder. He persuades Phillips that it's his
30:24
civic duty to give evidence at Parton's trial. The trial
30:33
begins in Liverpool on March 18, 1889. A huge crowd
30:39
is gathered on the steps outside the courthouse. The papers
30:43
observe that many of those attending are female. Parton pleads
30:48
not guilty. Outwardly, he appears calm, even cocky. Though DCI
30:54
Kamenada notes that the prisoner pays close attention to the proceedings.
31:00
Hardly surprising, If this doesn't go Parton's way, he could
31:03
end up on the scaffold with a noose around his neck.
31:08
The prosecution barrister, Mr.
31:10
Speaker 2: C.H.
31:11
Speaker 1: Hopwood, QC, lays out the case against Parton, citing the
31:15
number of witnesses who saw him in the company of
31:18
John Fletcher. He also mentions other witnesses who later saw
31:23
Parton showing off a valuable gold watch and splashing his
31:27
money about.
31:29
Speaker 2: Mr.
31:29
Speaker 1: Hopwood goes on to describe the theft of chloral hydrate
31:33
from the Liverpool pharmacist. An interesting detail comes to light.
31:38
Parton had told the pharmacist that he needed the drug
31:41
for his mother, who suffered from angina pectoris. It's now
31:45
revealed that it was in fact Parton's father, Pig Jack,
31:49
who had angina, for which he was being treated with
31:52
chloral hydrate. As Jerome Kamenada notes in his autobiography, Hence,
31:57
it might be that the prisoner had learned the term
32:01
and associated it with the administration of Chloral. Next comes
32:06
the evidence of Cominata's star witness, Edward Phillips, the man
32:10
who saw Parton put something in Fletcher's drink. The defense
32:15
barrister attempts to undermine his credibility. Why did it take
32:19
him so long to come forward, and why did he
32:22
only do so after DCI Cominata had spoken to him?
32:27
The suggestion is that Kamenada has put him up to it.
32:31
But Phillips holds his ground. He gives a simple but
32:34
very human explanation for his reluctance to get involved. He
32:38
didn't want anyone, particularly his employers, to know that he
32:42
had been enjoying a drink in the pub. He might
32:45
lose his job if they thought he was a drinker.
32:48
The medical evidence is bolstered by the testimony of Professor
32:51
of Pathology, Dr.
32:53
Speaker 2: Julius Dreshfield.
32:55
Speaker 1: Having examined the heart, kidneys, and liver of the deceased,
32:59
he's in no doubt that John Fletcher died from the
33:02
combined effect of alcohol and chlorohydrate on his system. Parton's
33:09
main defense is his alleged alibi. But given the number
33:13
of witnesses who say he was in Manchester with Fletcher
33:16
that evening, it doesn't carry much weight. The jury retires
33:21
and after only 20 minutes returns to deliver Fletcher. a
33:25
guilty verdict. But they also enter a strong recommendation to
33:31
mercy on account of the prisoner's youth. Despite that, the
33:35
judge dons his black cap and delivers the only sentence
33:39
he can, death by hanging. Loud sobs can be heard
33:46
from the public gallery. Parton tightly clutches the rail in
33:51
front of him. Apart from that, He shows no outward emotion.
34:02
We can never know what was going on inside Charlie
34:04
Parton's head when he heard the sentence. But the day
34:08
after the trial ends, an article is published in the
34:11
Lancaster Gazette, which casts light on Parton's version of events.
34:17
The paper doesn't say exactly when the incident, it reports,
34:20
takes place. but it must be sometime before Parton is
34:24
transferred to Liverpool for his trial, as he's being held
34:28
in a police cell in the Manchester Detective Division. Here's
34:31
what it says happened. The air in Parton's cell is
34:36
cold and stale. It smells of the criminals who've been
34:40
locked up in here before him. Their graffiti marks the walls.
34:45
Parton paces the floor restlessly. The investigation is taking its
34:49
toll on him. The strain of keeping up a confident
34:53
front while that copper commonada bombards him with questions is
34:58
beginning to wear him down. He does his best to
35:02
answer them, but the hard part is remembering what lies
35:05
you've told already.
35:07
Speaker 2: The young man shakes his head in frustration.
35:11
Speaker 1: He throws a few punches into the air, expanding energy,
35:14
trying to loosen his tense muscles.
35:17
Speaker 2: Maybe he should have stuck with boxing. He was a
35:20
handy contender.
35:22
Speaker 1: Parton had tried to make a go of the sport,
35:24
even traveling to America for a few bouts, but it
35:27
hadn't worked out. He'd come back to Manchester with his
35:31
tail between his legs. He didn't want to end up
35:34
like his dad, living off past glories, a broken man,
35:38
and more ways than one. No way, no way was
35:41
Charlie Parton going to let that happen to him. His
35:46
thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the hatch and
35:49
his door opening. The cop on duty tells him has
35:52
a visitor a well-dressed respectable looking gentleman strides into the
35:58
cell part and recognizes him as a friend of his
36:01
father's well friend might be going too far but he's
36:05
seen the man's face around the visitor smiles reassuringly at
36:10
part the two of them sit down next to each
36:13
other on partners bunk it feels like a long time
36:17
since part and seen a friendly face and there's something
36:21
about the man's sympathetic manner that makes him drop his guard.
36:26
It's been such an effort these last few days. Before long,
36:30
it all comes tumbling out. How he met Fletcher years ago,
36:34
when Parton had a job as a messenger at a
36:37
hotel Fletcher used to frequent. Then, out of the blue,
36:42
the two of them had bumped into each other that
36:44
day and decided to go for a drink, for old
36:47
time's sake. Parton suggested the three arrows. It was there
36:53
he slipped the drug into the other man's drink. I
36:58
gave him more than I intended, Parton confides. And when
37:02
we came out of the three arrows, I saw he
37:04
was a goner. So I put him in the cab
37:07
and got away as soon as I could. Parton feels
37:10
better for getting all this off his chest. It's not
37:13
so much a confession as a justification for why he's
37:17
pleading not guilty. It was a mistake, not a murder.
37:21
He never meant to kill the old man, just knock
37:24
him out for a while. He's not going to hang
37:27
for making a mistake, is he? But that's a question
37:30
the visitor can't or won't answer. The article in the
37:39
Lancaster Gazette succeeds in swaying public opinion, even though it's
37:43
basically a confession of guilt. The prevailing view is that
37:48
Parton is guilty of manslaughter rather than willful murder. A
37:53
petition is started to change his sentence, which is eventually
37:56
reduced from the death penalty to penal servitude for life.
38:02
In fact, Parton gets out after 11 years. For a time,
38:06
he makes a living trading off his notoriety, regaling audiences
38:10
with the story of how he killed John Fletcher. When
38:14
the First World War breaks out in 1914, he enlists
38:18
in the army and is sent to the Western Front.
38:21
After the war, he returns to his criminal ways and
38:24
spends the rest of his life in and out of prison.
38:28
For DCI Kamenada, Parton's conviction is a remarkable achievement. Not
38:34
only did he uncover a crime when no one else
38:36
could see one, he tracked down the perpetrator and brought
38:39
him to justice, all in record time. In fact, The
38:44
whole investigation took just a day over three weeks from
38:49
Fletcher being found dead in the cab to Parton being
38:52
found guilty. According to the Manchester Courier, Kamenada's handling of
38:57
the case placed him on the foremost rank of the
39:00
detectives in his day. Kamenada retires from policing ten years
39:09
later in 1899. Like many ex-detectives, he starts his own
39:14
private investigation business. Because of Kamenada's remarkable powers of deduction
39:20
and his use of disguise, the crime historian Angela Buckley
39:25
compares him to the world's most famous fictional detective. In
39:29
her book, The Real Sherlock Holmes, The Hidden Story of
39:33
Jerome Kamenada, Buckley points out that when the first Sherlock
39:37
Holmes story came out in 1886, Kamenada was at the
39:41
height of his powers and his fame.
39:45
Speaker 2: What do you think?
39:46
Speaker 1: Is it possible that the Mancunian policeman was the inspiration
39:50
for Conan Doyle's hero? Certainly, the case of the Manchester
39:55
cab is a baffling mystery that could have come straight
39:59
from the pages of a Sherlock Holmes story. Next time
40:08
on Detectives Don't Sleep. We're in Portland in 1955. An
40:15
explosion rips through a prominent department store in the heart
40:18
of the city. Aaron Frank, the owner of the store,
40:22
was handed an envelope moments before the blast. Inside is
40:26
an extortion letter. The author warns that there's another bomb
40:30
in the store, and it's rigged to go off the
40:33
next day. The bomber does offer one way out, though.
40:38
He will provide the location of the bomb and instructions
40:41
on how to dismantle it safely. All Aaron Frank has
40:45
to do is cough up $ 50, 000. Big Bill Brown is
40:51
the detective tasked with finding the culprit. With a bomb
40:54
threat looming, it's a tense race against the clock. Tracking
40:58
him down will take the cops on a bizarre scavenger
41:01
hunt across the city of Portland and beyond. Time magazine
41:06
will go on to call it one of the most
41:07
extraordinary extortion plots in criminal history.
41:11
Speaker 2: And that it is.
41:12
Speaker 1: So extraordinary, in fact, that it reads like the plot
41:16
of a blockbuster movie, except every single word of it
41:19
is true. Join us next time on Detectives Don't Sleep,
41:24
or The Blind Leading the Blind.