Read Samuel Boyd of Catchpole Square: A Mystery Page 32

  CHAPTER XXXI.

  SCENES IN CATCHPOLE SQUARE.

  From time to time there had been murders committed in London withdetails dismal and sordid enough to satisfy the most rabid appetites,but it was generally admitted that the great Catchpole Square Mysteryoutvied them all in just those elements of attraction which rendercrime so weirdly fascinating to the British public. Men and women inNorth Islington experienced a feeling akin to that which the bestowalof an unexpected dignity confers, and when they retired to bed weremore than ordinarily careful about the fastening of locks and bolts.Timid wives woke in the middle of the night, and tremblingly askedtheir husbands whether they did not hear somebody creeping in thepassages, and many a single woman shivered in her bed. Shopkeepersstanding behind their counters bristled with it; blue-apronedbutchers, knife in hand, called out their "Buy, buy, buy!" with abrisk and cheery ring; crossing sweepers touched their hats smartly totheir patrons, and preceding them with the unnecessary broom as theyswept nothing away, murmured the latest rumour; the lamplighters,usually a sad race, lighted the street lamps with unwonted alacrity;and the Saturday night beggars took their stands below the kerb inhopeful anticipation of a spurt in benevolence. Naturally it formedthe staple news in the newspapers on Sunday and Monday, and all agreedthat the excitement it had created was unparallelled in the records ofthe criminal calendar.

  "On Saturday evening," said "The Little Busy Bee" in its Monday'seditions, "numbers of people wended their way to Catchpole Square fromevery part of the metropolis. Up till late the usually quiet streetsresembled a Saturday night market, and there was an extraordinarydemand for the literature of crime, with which the vendors ofsecond-hand books had provided themselves. Towards midnight the humantide slackened, but even during the early hours of the morning therewere many fresh arrivals. On Sunday the excitement was renewed, and itis calculated that seven or eight thousand persons must have visitedthe Square in the course of the day, many of whom seemed to regard theoccasion as a picnic.

  "In our columns will be found picturesque accounts of incidents thatcame under the notice of our reporters, not the least amusing of whichis that of the mother and father who brought with them a large familyof children, and had come provided with food for a day's outing. Theyarrived at eleven in the morning, and at eleven at night were stillthere. They had been informed that when a murdered man was lying inhis own bed unburied on the Day of Rest he was ordered to get up anddress himself when the church bells rang, and go to church to pray forhis sins. If he disobeyed his soul was lost, and his ghost wouldappear on the roof at midnight, surrounded by flames and accompaniedby the Evil One. 'Did he go to church?' asked our reporter, who, in aconversation with the woman late on Sunday night, elicited thiscurious piece of information. 'No,' replied the woman, 'and it's a badday's work for him. I shouldn't like to be in his shoes.' The womanfurthermore said that she would give anything to see the ghost atmidnight on the roof, thus evincing small regard for Samuel Boyd'ssalvation. 'It would be a better show, wouldn't it?' she observed,with an eye to theatrical effect. 'I've never seen the Devil.' It isdeplorable that in this age such silly superstitions should obtaincredence, and that with numbers of people in different parts of thecountry the belief in witchcraft and in demoniacal demonstrationsshould still exist.

  "Secondary only in importance to the murder is the disappearance ofSamuel Boyd's clerk, Abel Death. To suggest anything in the shape ofcomplicity would be prejudging the case, but whatever may be the fateof Abel Death his poor family are to be commiserated. The theories andconjectures respecting the disappearance of this man are perfectlybewildering, and many are the excited discussions concerning it. Suchlicence of speech cannot be commended, and we suggest to those personsindulging in it the advisability of suspending their judgment.

  "A full report of the inquest held this morning appears in ourcolumns. In view of the burial of the body of the murdered man, whichwill take place to-morrow, it was deemed necessary to open the inquiryto-day, although it was anticipated that little progress would bemade; but although the Coroner stated that the proceedings would be ofa formal character, it will be seen that matters were introduced thedevelopment of which will be followed with the keenest interest. Theappearance of an eminent barrister for Lord and Lady Wharton, whosenames have not hitherto been associated with the mystery, arousedgeneral curiosity, which was intensified by the conduct of LadyWharton herself. The Court was crowded, and numbers of persons couldnot obtain admittance. Among the audience we noticed several famousactors and actresses."