THE INCENDIARY GANG
In the year 1833 I was engaged to investigate the circumstancesattending a fire--one of a series--which had ended in claims uponseveral of the great London offices, and which fires were believed tohave arisen out of wilful fraud.
The present fire broke out on a Monday afternoon between one and twoo'clock, in a warehouse belonging to an extensive bonnet manufactorynear Dunstable, in Bedfordshire.
Among the peculiar circumstances of this case was the somewhatremarkable fact, that the business of the manufactory had just beentransferred from one proprietor to another, and that the policy ofinsurance was in the hands of the company's officers, at itsheadquarters in London, for the purpose of having a transfer of thecontract endorsed thereon.
The new proprietor informed the fire-office that he had resolved uponenlarging his premises, in order to extend his business.
In a letter to the company he indeed stated, in precise terms, that hethen had on hand several large export orders to complete. The policy,which had covered an insurance of 3000_l._ hitherto, was now increasedto 4500_l._
Shortly after this another letter was received by the office, in whichthe writer stated that 4500_l._ would, he found, not cover the value ofall his improvements, machinery, and stock-in-trade, so that he proposedto still further increase the insurance to 6000_l._
As this was an unusually heavy risk on a country policy, and as thepremises were only about thirty miles from town, the board determinedthat the surveyor for the office should go down and report upon the casebefore the last proposal was accepted.
Mr. Phillimore, the surveyor, accordingly went down. He arrived abouteleven o'clock in the forenoon, and was very politely received by thefirm--Newton Brothers--who showed him over the premises, which heexamined with his usual critical minuteness, and was subsequentlyinvited up-stairs into the manager's residence on the works, where heconsented to partake of a glass of sherry and a sandwich while heawaited a return train to Town.
It was now a few minutes after one o'clock, and the people employed inthe manufactory had all quitted the premises for dinner.
The younger member of the firm, Mr. Albert Newton, left the room for thesherry, returned in a few minutes, and had been chatting with thesurveyor about half or three-quarters of an hour, when the workpeoplebegan to return.
Before many of the hands had arrived, a cry of "Fire!" was raised. Itwas discovered that a portion of the old building, which adjoined thenew, was in a blaze, and that a large quantity of straw hats and bonnetshad been ignited. With immense rapidity the flames extended up thesides of the warehouse, in which there was, it appeared, stored a largequantity of manufactured goods. Appearances were, however, a littledeceptive in this respect. The stock had been so distributed in racks(it might have been for convenience of classification) that the bulkappeared greater than it really was. Perhaps this circumstance, however,rather aided than retarded the progress of devastation; for the flamesdiffused themselves with more ease through the interstices or spaces inwhich the parcels were stored, than might have been possible had theybeen more densely packed.
A confusion and panic seized the few persons in the lower part of thebuilding, and terror paralysed their efforts for a while. Moreover, theydid not know that any persons were in the rooms above; and, if theypaused in their alarm to consider at all about this matter, theyprobably thought that they alone, and the new arrivals from dinner, werethe only persons within scope of the fire. They accordingly rushed outinto the town, and, with commendable prudence--that is, as soon ascalmness and reason were restored--sought to procure assistance inquenching the flames. The rest of the work-people, as they arrived,either went off on similar errands, or clustered round the outside ofthe building.
Meanwhile the devouring element pursued its unchecked course, andspreading with the rapidity already indicated, it soon enveloped thewhole of the ground-floor. The flames had, indeed, begun to consume thestaircase, and had singed the rafters, before notice of their perilreached the few occupants of the upper story.
Mr. Newton and the surveyor of the office were first alarmed by asubdued murmur or buzz produced by the conversation of the mass ofpeople who were below looking on at the spectacle.
The attitude and conduct of the crowd was afterwards the subject of muchinquiry and no little suspicion, but there really was no ground foreither doubt or astonishment. If the fire had broken out at night, thereis every reason to believe that the natural tones of alarm would havetaken a louder form of demonstration. If such a fire had broken out inLondon, where persons are customarily to be found at all times on everyfloor of a large warehouse, and where the comparative familiarity ofpeople with such incidents leads them to take wiser steps thanprovincials, the shout of "Fire! fire!" would probably have been at onceraised even in broad daylight. But that people unaccustomed to suchthings, paralysed by terror to a large extent, and in a still greaterdegree stupefied by wonderment, made no shouts loud enough to arrest theconversation of the endangered little party above, is not, it appears tome, very remarkable.
The sounds which first greeted the ears of Mr. Albert Newton and hisguest caused them to listen, and simultaneously one man in the mob (fora mob had by this time formed) did shout "Fire!" A smell of singedmaterial also greeted the nostrils of the little party.
It is needless to say, that these persons immediately rushed to thewindow with the view of ascertaining what was the matter, anddetermining the course to be pursued if, as they had already almostascertained, their own lives were in jeopardy.
The appearance of Mr. Albert Newton at the window elicited a shriek fromthe women and girls, and a corresponding cry of alarm from the menbelow.
"My God!" exclaimed Mr. Albert Newton, "our place is on fire."
As he spoke, the flames burst through the lower windows in a dense mass;and although the part of the building in which the manufacturer and hisguest were standing was considerably to the east of that part on whichthe fire had taken its principal hold, there was sufficient palpablecause of danger to whiten the cheeks of both men, and to cause theproprietor--who had, of course, far less experience in such matters thanthe surveyor, Mr. Phillimore--to betray a degree of confusion which gavethat worthy gentleman perhaps more anxiety than the fire alone couldhave done.
With a degree of calmness and self-possession worthy of the crisis, Mr.Phillimore asked Mr. Newton what means of escape they had, and imploredhim to be calm, as it might need all their self-possession as well astheir courage to extricate themselves.
"Shall we leap out of the window?" exclaimed the embarrassed man.
"No," was the firm reply.
"Do you think we can safely descend the staircase?"
"Let us try."
The party then descended one flight of stairs, but found a dense vapourissuing up the staircase,--an impassable difficulty.
"We are lost!" exclaimed Mr. Newton.
The surveyor's countenance betrayed intense anxiety as he apprehendedthat the terrified man's ejaculation involved an awful truth.
"Let us seek the roof. Have you any rope at hand?"
"Yes," returned Mr. Newton.
Silently and rapidly they flew rather than ran up the stairs, Newtonleading the way to where a quantity of stout hempen rope, of a quarterof an inch diameter, was lying in a corner of a room devoted to emptypackages and waste.
The surveyor's experienced eye measured the extent and capacity of thismedium of escape with considerable accuracy, and saw that it wouldsuffice for the purpose of liberating them, if they had the discretionto wisely use the means at their disposal.
Scarcely a word was exchanged between the two men. In almost totalsilence Mr. Phillimore drew out the first piece of rope and fastened itadroitly round the waist and under the arms of the proprietor of theestablishment, and then fastened another length of the cord to the onewhich encircled his terrified companion. The third end was joined in thesame manner.
"That will, I think, serve our purpose," were th
e first words uttered,and these were spoken by the surveyor.
Mr. Newton may be excused for the selfishness which allowed him to availhimself of this means of escape, without much thought about hissaviour. Few men under the like circumstances would have acted otherwisethan he did. It is only in such cases as a ship on fire at sea thatheroism, which is ordinarily slow in its manifestations, rises to theheight of that generosity which seeks the preservation of another ratherthan oneself. Trade does not, perhaps, tend to bring out the finestqualities of our nature. Domestic affections are the most rapid ingenerating a spirit of self-denial or self-sacrifice. Brother may yieldthe boon or privilege of life to his brother, the husband to his wife,or the mother to her child; but strangers, or casual acquaintances, arenot given to the manifestation of those sublime virtues, self-abnegationand self-sacrifice.
Perhaps, however, Mr. Phillimore might not have parted with the firstchance of extrication from the now rapidly consuming flames, if he hadnot been enabled, by professional sagacity and long training, toascertain that his own best means of self-preservation really liethrough the preservation, in the first instance, of his companion. Hehad a better chance of extrication when Mr. Newton had reached the coolearth below, than while he remained in the upper story dreading everymoment that most horrible of all fates--death by fire. When the one manmost liable to panic had been removed from peril, the other would haveentire command, as he saw, of such agencies as were then within theequal control of both.
Mr. Phillimore converted one of the sashes into a sort of windlass, ormade it at least serve the purpose of a pulley, and by a process thatrequires no description he lowered the frightened man to within a yardor two of the ground, the rope being not quite long enough to permit ofhis feet touching.
While dangling in this position, the crowd below shrieked and shouted,and were palsied and confused. One or two, however, had sufficientpresence of mind to understand the crisis, and they instantly flew to aneighbouring builder's yard, from which a ladder was procured tallenough to reach the height at which Mr. Albert Newton was suspended.
The flames at this moment were just beginning to shed their vivid lightthrough an adjacent window on the ground-floor at this angle of thebuilding when the last means of escape arrived. It was the work of amoment to plant the ladder against the wall. One cool-headed fellowascended the steps, placed his arm round the waist of his suspended andnow almost lifeless master, disengaged him from the rope, and broughthim down in safety amid the shouts of the crowd beneath.
Meanwhile second thoughts had entered the head of Mr. Phillimore, whosedanger had been of course greatly increased during the space of timecovered by the incidents I have just narrated. He ran about the floor insearch of further rope, perceiving for the first time, perhaps, that hewould require a greater length to effect his own deliverance. Happily,in a packing-case he discovered some other pieces of cord, not soreliable in quality as that which had completed a work of mercy in hishands; but of course he had to use such material as he could, and totrust the contingencies of its strength and tension. He had spliced thepieces of rope he last discovered, which were of short lengths andunequal thickness the one to the other, when his attention was againaroused by the voice of the crowd below, shouting to warn him that theflames were beginning to burst from every opening at the end of thebuilding beneath his feet; while, it may be observed, the fire had alsojust begun to reach the third story at the end where it commenced.
Newton had before this been released, and the further extremity of therope which had encircled his body had itself began to catch fire.
The coolness and discrimination of Mr. Phillimore began to desert him.
He told me that he became sensible of giddiness or approaching vertigo.By a strong effort of will he conquered the present most serious danger,and his judgment and prudence rose again with the extremity of hisperil.
He joined all the rope together--that which he had last found to thatwhich had been used in the deliverance of Newton--and fastening one endof the cord round his body, he slowly and cautiously lowered himselfuntil he began to feel the scorching flames about his extremities.
The cord was not quite long enough!
Another awful sensation of approximate death overtook him; and heafterwards informed me that he knows not how he contrived to completethe work of his own deliverance.
In truth, however, as I afterwards learned from two of the bystanders,with, it seemed to them, wonderful regularity, although withextraordinary speed, he continued to lower himself right through a massof belching flame. When he landed on the ground, it was seen that hiscoat-tails were ignited, and that his face was terribly scorched. Hemust have closed his eyes, or he would inevitably have been blinded.
Happily the fire had not consumed the wall nor the floor, and it waspossible for three or four of the most daring spectators to rushforward, seize the now swooning and senseless man, and carry him off toa surgeon's hard by. Here he received immediate attention, and he wasafterwards removed to an hotel, where he lay delirious for several days;but at length his reason was restored, his wounds dressed, and he wasenabled to proceed to his residence in London. Under the skilfultreatment of an eminent surgeon, he thoroughly recovered. Although atrace or two of the flames were indelibly marked upon his countenance,they were but faint or slight traces.
Nothing effectual could be done for the preservation of the building.The fire for some time pursued its devastating course altogether withoutlet or hindrance. At length an engine from the town-hall arrived, andbegan to throw a feeble jet of water among the flames. It seemed,however, to produce not the slightest possible effect, and its operationlooked very like a satire or mockery. The entire of the building wasgutted; the whole of the stock, materials, &c., of the factory wereconsumed; the machinery was rendered useless, and not much less than20,000_l._ damage was altogether perpetrated; but this included theinjury to the old premises, which were insured by the landlord.
I cannot tell how it happened that very imperfect reports of this firereached London, or were circulated in the newspapers of the district.Perhaps it was, as I have been told, because the local reporter was aman of inferior descriptive power, and unable to give didactic interestor picturesqueness to the narrative he wrote, without which, it isneedless to inform the reader, no account of any thing is palatable tothe reading public, and with which comparatively small matters can bemade interesting, or even sensational. Perhaps it was because Mr.Newton's brother and co-partner did not want to invest the case withmore importance than he could possibly help, and was indeed ratheranxious that no more noise should be made about it than was inevitable.I have heard it stated that he knew the only representative of the localpress in the town, and sought him out, or was sought out by him, andthat he dictated or inspired the feeble and uninteresting narrative thatwas published of the event.
These circumstances or rumours are just of sufficient importance to thedevelopments of the case I am about to describe to justify my statingthem.
I should mention that Mr. Henry Newton, the other proprietor of themanufactory, was absent at Birmingham. He was indeed travelling onbehalf of the firm of which he was a member, and knew nothing of thecatastrophe until informed of it by a telegram, when he of courserepaired homewards with all possible speed.
The cause of this fire was never certainly ascertained; but a likelyhypothesis, which a jury might believe, was that it arose out of thenegligence of the gas-fitters. These men went to dinner at the same timeas the ordinary work-people of the factory; and on doing so, stopped bya wooden plug one end of a gas-pipe that was connected to the metre, andenveloped an unfinished joint, also near to the metre, in white lead andtow. The gas at this time was not turned on at the metre, or so it wasthought; and the most mysterious feature of the case is, how it wasafterwards turned on. This point, however, could not be cleared up, andthe _onus_ of so doing did not, of course, rest upon the insured.
In due course a claim was made upon the company. It was investig
ated;and although suspicions were entertained in the neighbourhood of theMansion House, where their office was situate, that the calamity was thework of an incendiary, the fact could not be proved, and the amount ofthe insurance was ultimately paid.
Messrs. Newton contended that the sum they obtained from the fire-officewas insufficient to cover the value of their machinery, stock, fixtures,&c. They further alleged that they had sustained considerable loss bythe suspension of their trade, and they accordingly brought an actionagainst the gas company who supplied the town, and who had undertaken tolay the pipes in the premises.
This action was defended up to the day of trial, and stood high on thespecial-jury list at Guildhall one morning. The cause immediatelypreceding it had nearly terminated. The judge was summing up in thatcause. A rather numerous body of spectators (among whom I might havebeen seen) were awaiting, with various degrees of interest, the case of"Newton _v._ the H---- Gas Company."
At this stage of the case, a consultation across the bar took placebetween Sergeant Bustle and Mr. Quicke, Q.C., the principal learnedcounsel or "leaders" for the plaintiff and for the defendant, whichended in their suggesting to his Lordship (Mr. Baron Snapwell) that anarrangement might probably be effected between the parties, if hisLordship would kindly permit the case to stand over until to-morrow. HisLordship, with a show of reluctance, but I believe with perfectwillingness to get rid of a long and intricate case, consented to therequest, and all I have further to tell the reader about it is, that theanticipations of these learned gentlemen were realised.
A compromise was effected. Messrs. Newton Brothers obtained a ratherliberal sum by way of further compensation for their injuries and lossthrough the conflagration.
Another extraordinary and suspicious circumstance was the death shortlyafterwards of Mr. Paterson, the late proprietor of this establishment,to whom Newton Brothers were indebted in a considerable sum. Thishappened about four months after the fire, and under thesecircumstances. He was living in the town, not having yet determinedinto what fresh business he would embark, and not, it is believed,having received all the consideration he had bargained for from the firmto whom he had transferred his business.
The Newtons and Mr. Paterson had been passing an evening at the DoveHotel, and had taken rather more brandy-and-water than any rational ideaof temperance would sanction. Mr. Paterson left the Dove before theNewtons.
His way lay across a canal, and in the morning he was found drowned. Hehad tumbled, as it appeared, somehow over the low parapet into thewater. The Newtons left the house after him, and found their way home totheir beds in safety. A coroner's inquest sat upon the body of thedeceased, and returned an open verdict of "Found drowned." Some peoplein the town and neighbourhood, among whom were the Newtons, professedmuch grief at the calamity. The new firm said, indeed, it appeared as ifthe place and all connected with it were under a spell or a brand. Theydeclared that it seemed as if Providence had resolved nothing shouldprosper in connexion with this particular manufactory. How, or for whatreason, they could not tell; but here was the death, it might be byaccident, or it might be by suicide, in a state of drunkenness, of theirpredecessor, not long after they had lost every thing (as they in thefreedom of their language said they had) through a fire on the premises.
The insurance company heard of the death of Mr. Paterson, and thesecretary got it into his head that the Newtons were incendiaries andmurderers--that they had killed this man for some evil reason bestknown to themselves. He consulted the solicitors of the company, andthey employed me to sift the mystery, and, if it turned out that thesecretary's suspicions were justifiable, to spare no trouble or expensein obtaining evidence upon which to prosecute the alleged miscreants.
I went down secretly, and investigated all the circumstances as far as Icould. I collected a variety of little scraps of fact, which left nodoubt in my mind that the secretary was right. I came, indeed, to theconclusion that these Newtons were the vilest wretches who had for along time been permitted to escape the hangman. Yet, frankly let me say,I could not gather enough information on which to rest an indictmentwith the likelihood of securing a conviction.
I need hardly point out to the reader how very complete my evidence musthave been before I could have recommended the company to incur the riskof a prosecution. If, for instance, they failed in conclusivelyestablishing the guilt of the insurers, the institution would beirreparably damaged in public estimation. Popular opinion, and newspapercommentators, would say the company set up this odious defence in orderto escape payment of a just claim. The accused would be elevated intothe ranks of martyrdom. The company would have to pay all that wasdemanded from them, with costs, and they might almost as well afterwardsgive up business, or set the lawyers to work to liquidate the affairs oftheir institution in Chancery. So that after laying my statement indetail before the solicitors of the company (who paid me handsomely formy services), they drew up a report with their comments and opinionsupon my facts; the matter was considered by the board of directors, andthere for the time it dropped.
It was not exactly dropped either. I was employed to keep my eye uponthe Newtons without intermission for a couple of years, if I felt itnecessary to prolong the scrutiny so far--which instructions I had nounwillingness to obey.
Through the medium of several of my assistants, who were changed fromtime to time, the subsequent career of these persons was noted down witha degree of accuracy which afterwards proved very useful to theinterests of metropolitan insurance companies in particular, and to theinterests of society and the cause of justice in general.
Among the persons in the town where the dismantled factory was situatewhose acquaintance I made, and whose confidence I thought I had gained,was the widow of the drowned late proprietor. She grieved over thepremature loss of her husband, but had no apparent suspicion, or atleast disclosed to me no suspicion, that he had met his death by foulplay. I, among other expedients, condoled with her, discoursed about thelamentable effects of intoxication, eulogised the memory of her husband,lightly and softly touching the subject of that peculiar weakness forthe bottle which had led to his untimely death. But none of theseconversations elicited from her any suggestion that he had been murderedby the Newtons.
Not long after the money had been paid I discovered that, clever as Ithought I had been, I had been outwitted; but not by the Newtons, aboutwhom let there be no further mystery with the reader. They were what thesecretary had thought, and what I had become convinced--they were vilewretches, fit for the hangman, and rotten-ripe for the gallows. I hadbeen outwitted by a woman's ingenuity. No one suspected me or my missionin the town (as it afterwards turned out) except the widow Paterson. Shehad somehow got to know my name and real character, and had been fencingwith me or humbugging me, and was prepared, when occasion or opportunityarose, to use me. At the risk of losing some of my _prestige_ with thereader, I am frank enough to fairly admit this.
Shortly after Messrs. Newton Brothers had received the reward of theirvillany from the fears of the insurance company, and, so to speak,through the broken links in the evidence of their rascality andscoundrelism, an anonymous letter was received by me, the substance ofwhich I may communicate to the reader. It was a statement in effect thatthe insurance company had been robbed by the Newtons, who had set fireto their own factory in order to achieve their ends; and that the writerwas, under proper guarantees, disposed to put me on the track of asuccessful investigation into the mystery of the crime. The writerrequired that I should answer the letter, in the first place, by anadvertisement in the second column of the _Times_, on the morning of thethird day after receipt of the letter. The form of that advertisementwas given me, which I was only to insert if I consented to the terms,could give the required guarantees, and was prepared to follow up theclue to be communicated to me.
I saw the solicitors of the company, and with them saw the secretary,when it was arranged that I should accept the terms, see the writer,give the guarantee, and follow up the investigat
ion as it might seem tome expedient, drawing from the company such expenses and remuneration asI might think necessary to incur. After the advertisement, and one ortwo preliminary letters, I met the writer of the first letter at anappointed place. The writer of that letter was the widow Paterson. Shewas a remarkable woman, that Mrs. Paterson; by no means handsome orbeautiful, yet by no means decidedly the reverse of either. She was notmasculine, and she had certainly none of the delicacies of her sex. Shewas an unscrupulous, designing, wicked woman, cherishing and respectingher own comfort and material welfare more than any thing else. I believeshe was sorry to lose her husband, but anxious to make the best use ofher misfortune, and chiefly disappointed when she ascertained that hisloss also involved the loss of money due to him which she expected tohave had the enjoyment of in connexion with him.
When we met we were a little embarrassed. She was startled by thesuccess of her former _ruse_ and concealment. I was disconcerted, if notsomewhat humbled, by the then evident truth that I had been all alongknown to her while I had been, as I thought, pumping her. Thisembarrassment, however, soon yielded to business. She gave me aninsight into a plot of which I had hitherto not had a complete idea.
She could not positively assert that her husband had been murdered. Onthat head she had her suspicions, as others had. All she could saydistinctly was, that the Newtons had burned down their house. The factwas, that her husband had been embarrassed. The Newtons had seen this,and proposed to him an elaborate scheme for defrauding the insurancecompany. The same means would also enable him to get time from hiscreditors, who might afterwards be arranged with, or "satisfied" by abankruptcy, as thereafter should seem desirable. Meanwhile the Newtonsand he were to take parts in the great scheme of fraud. They settledbetween them the extension of the premises and the burning of themanufactory, the claim upon the company, and the division of the spoil.All these arrangements had been carried out, as the reader is aware,except the last part of the programme, which was the subject of anotherfraud, illustrating a truth I have so frequently insisted upon--thatthere is no honour among thieves.
Newtons might or might not have overtaken Paterson after he left theDove, who, being drunk, could not walk towards his home very quickly.They might or might not have pitched him over the canal-bridge into thewater; but it was clear that they conceived his death gave anopportunity for cheating him, or rather his widow, out of his share ofthe proceeds of their joint crime. Mrs. Paterson was in her husband'sconfidence about the destruction of his premises. This was a littlecircumstance the Newtons were unacquainted with. On the other hand,Paterson had often told them that he did not let his wife know everything, and had so frequently spoken in disrespectful terms of the gentlesex (especially on the score of speech or intrigue), that he led them tobelieve his wife knew nothing about the conspiracy; but in point of factshe had been informed all about it. She had held her peace, sincePaterson's death, to see how Messrs. Newton would behave when they gotthe insurance money, secretly having resolved all the while that if theyplayed her false, or did not hand over to her what she considered herfair share, or what it was arranged her husband should have, she would"let the cat out of the bag," and assist the officers of justice inraising that firm to the level of a platform outside the county gaol,where Mr. Jack Ketch had previously been known to perform in a fewdismal tragedies. When the Newtons got the money she boldly made herdemand upon them. They affected to be indignant, and they menaced herwith a criminal information for slander, which raised her fears alittle, for she did not clearly see how she was to establish her caseagainst them. She was lawyer enough to know that in any criminalproceedings against her, her mouth would be shut, by the forms of thatbranch of English jurisprudence. It required not much self-possession onher part to hold her tongue a while longer, to simulate, if notsatisfaction, at least resignation, at the loss of her share of theplunder. She however determined to place herself in communication withme, in the full reliance that I could with her aid, overtake thevillains, who had not been true to their compact of rascality, and getthem punished, as they deserved to be, if not for their original crimes,for their want of honour to the confederate.
I listened to her story, and noted all the circumstances she couldrelate. I made another report, that went through the same ordeal orceremonial which my former report was submitted to, and with about thelike result. This woman's evidence was tainted. She did not indeed wantto be brought forward. She trembled under the fear of being murdered bysome other confederates of the Newtons, if she were the ostensible andavowed agent of their punishment. She wanted "the thing done withoutusing her." It appeared to me, and to the other adviser of the insurancecompany, that with her evidence a prosecution of the Newtons was not aperfectly safe experiment; and that without such support an indictmentwas an exceedingly dangerous expedient for the company.
It is needless to observe that the disclosures of this woman renderedthe fact of the Newtons' crime doubly certain to _us_; but all thatcould still be done was to watch and wait another opportunity forbringing these wretches to justice.
The explanations which I had from Mrs. Paterson were to the effect that,although her husband was pecuniarily embarrassed at the time when hesold the business, a large portion of the money owing was money that heheld as trustee, and which, being in the funds, railway stocks &c., hehad the exclusive management of, having taken all the securitiesseveral years ago out of the hands of the lawyers concerned in thetrust. There was no one to check his malversation, and by the simpleexpedient of keeping the interest paid, he escaped detection. At length,finding that the affair was getting beyond his control, the means of hispermanently concealing it being rendered more and more difficult by itsmagnitude, and the fact that losses in trade, perhaps the interest uponthe lost capital, swelled up an awful total, he took the Newtons intohis confidence, and the set devised a scheme for colourably selling hisstock-in-trade, fixtures, good-will, &c., &c., for extending thepremises, and so forth, and burning the place down, so as to realise alarge sum in ready money--considerably more than the value of the thingsinsured. By these means he hoped to retrieve his position as trustee,and put a tidy sum of money in his own pocket--his confederates, theNewtons, of course also profiting somewhat largely.
Paterson was a peculiar and self-reliant man. Moreover, he could notrely upon getting any solicitor to enter into such a confederacy. It isabsolutely certain that if he could induce any one in the legalprofession to join in such a villanous compact, he would have been thevery lowest among low attorneys. He would in all probability have knownsufficiently well how to screen himself, and also how to swallow andretain the lion's share of the plunder. All these things were evident toMr. Paterson, so he kept the bills of exchange which the Newtons hadgiven him in his own hands, and dreading burglary, or the fraudulentand surreptitious removal of them from the apartments he now occupiedduring his absence, if an opportunity of any kind were furnished, heusually carried these documents about with him in his pocket-book whenhe left home. This was, of course, a dangerous plan, and one that anyhonest man in an ordinary position would not adopt; but perhaps, afterall, it was the safest for such a man as Paterson in the position hethen stood.
The Newtons knew of Paterson's fraudulent trusteeship. They weresufficiently in his confidence to have obtained nearly all theinformation which enabled them to keep him at arm's length. And ofcourse Paterson also knew of the exaggerated claim which had beenpresented to the insurance company, based upon inventories and paperssupplied to them by him on the transfer of the business. It is hard tosay that either was more deeply implicated in the villany than theother; although it is clear that Paterson, who stood behind the scenesand was screened from observation by the prominent defrauders, was, inreality at least, as deep, and perhaps more deeply, involved in theswindle and arson than either of the Newtons. The situation of theparties towards each other was not very unlike that thieves ordinarilystand in. One had reason to fear the other, and there was in consequencemutual jealousy, distrust, and
apprehension.
After leaving the Dove, I had no doubt that the Newtons hastened in thedirection that Paterson had, go homewards, and succeeded in overtakinghim; that, being partially intoxicated he was easily grasped and heldby his whilom confederates, one of whom probably held his hand over thevictim's mouth while the other hastily seized his pocket-book, removedfrom it the acceptances which had been given him on the transfer of thebusiness, &c., after which he was pitched into the water. When takenfrom the canal and searched, a pocket-book was found upon the person ofthe murdered incendiary, and in it all the papers that he was known tocarry except the acceptances, which were, to the mind of Mrs. Paterson,painfully conspicuous by their absence.
I have explained that the Newtons did not know that Mrs. Paterson was inher husband's confidence; that they imagined she was not; and that he,with a desire for counter-check which distinguishes the suspicious,taught them so to believe. He would frequently say, when Mrs. Paterson'sname transpired in their conversations prior and subsequently to thefire, that "he never trusted a woman with a secret of any importance, asshe was sure to blab or peach," &c. As I have said, however, he was allthe while disclosing to her the conspiracy and plot. She was thoroughlyinformed of every circumstance, and knew all about their proceedingsfrom first to last as well as either of the Newtons did.
After her husband's death, in her emergency, before seeking me sheconsulted those well-known criminal lawyers, Messrs. Levy Levy,Brothers, and Sons, who (except when they attend a police-court, andthink a demonstration requisite for the vindication of their skill tothe newspaper-reading World, as an advertisement for business in thesame line) conceive that the Carlylese or Chinese motto about silenceembodies the prime wisdom or the highest sagacity. They recommended Mrs.Paterson to wait and hold her tongue--for the present. She did thisuntil she knew that the money had been paid by the insurance company, ofwhich circumstance she then informed her clever Mosaic attorneys. They,upon hearing this circumstance from their client, wisely and shrewdly,perhaps, told her the time had now arrived for action, that they werethe people to act, and that she had better leave herself in their hands.To this she readily consented; for, as I have said, the Newtons inspiredher with awe. If she had not been sensible that she had an advantage inher knowledge of them, and that they at the present moment had noconception she was aware of their villany, she would have trembled lest,as the greed of the brothers led them to the murder of her husband inorder to prevent further disclosures, they would murder her.
The action of her attorneys was not a very remarkable or, I think,skilful performance. One thing to be said is, these gentlemen have anenormous amount of very lucrative business, and it does not, I believe,pay them to bestow much thought upon any thing. For instance, when somewholesale forger, some coiner in an extensive way of business, somepivot of pick-pocketing or burglary, or the member of any gang, isarrested, he sends immediately for Messrs. Levy Levy, Brothers, andSons, and, to secure their best services, makes them a large payment.They hear what he has got to say. They attend the police-court, bullythe witnesses for the prosecution, make every conceivable statementabout their client's respectability within the limits that evidence willpermit; and although, almost as a matter of course in these cases, thecriminal gets sent for trial, he goes away to the House of Detentionrejoicing in the confident belief that he has got, at all events, thebest criminal lawyers in the country to defend him. When he comes up fortrial, out of the hundred or two hundred pounds or more which Messrs.Levy Levy and family have extracted from the prisoner, his relatives,his connexions, or his gang, these attorneys give a brief or a couple ofbriefs to counsel, which contain little if any thing more than copies ofthe depositions taken before the magistrates, and on the back of thosebriefs are severally indorsed, "Mr. Noxious Sound, 10 guineas;" and "Mr.Modest Emptypurse, 2 guineas." The leader of these two gentlemen perhapstries to pick a hole in the indictment, which has for several years pastbeen not very serviceable to prisoners, because if the hole is but asmall one, and unless the bench can be satisfied that the indictment, asit stands, describes a different offence to that which a prisoner hasbeen arrested upon, or has come prepared to meet, it is amended in courtso as to cure the defect which Mr. Noxious Sound's not miraculouspenetration has discovered. Or Mr. Sound may raise what thieves call a"pint of law" for the Court of Criminal Appeal, about which it isneedless to say any thing, except that the case then easily glides fromthe lower to higher tribunal and that in its course Messrs. Levy Levyand kindred get another considerable lump of money out of it. While theythus realise enormous incomes by a process so facile, and one whichinvolves no responsibility and taxes no intellect--a thing, by the way,nearly impossible, for the Levys have not much of the latter articleamong the lot of them--they are not disposed, even under what would tothe ordinary solicitor be a temptation of liberal costs, to take a vastdeal of trouble, or, as one of them would observe, "put themselves farout of the way."
Messrs. Levy Levy and family wrote to Messrs. Newton Brothers a letter,which stated that they had been called upon and consulted by a client ona matter in which they (Messrs. Newton Brothers) were concerned; andthat they (Messrs. Levy Levy and kindred) would be glad to see them(Messrs. Newton Brothers).
Mr. Albert Newton received this letter and opened it. When hecommunicated it to his brother, that gentleman elegantly observed thathe thought he "smelt a rat;" but I do not think he exactly comprehendedwho the rat was, or its location. However, the firm also thought itdesirable to consult attorneys. Newtons would have gone to Messrs. LevyLevy and family; but as the professional services of these renownedpettifoggers were forestalled, Newton Brothers put themselves intocommunication with another Levy, who is an attorney, and may or may notbe, for any thing I know, a kinsman of the members of the great OldBailey house. He called upon Messrs. Levy Levy and family, and theresult was, that Mrs. Paterson, when she next waited upon them, wastold it was "an ugly affair," and that they "did not see how to move init without peril." They talked to her in the language of professionalwisdom--and slang. They said something about stinks that were stirredsmelling all the more because of the operation, and used other unequallysage observations. The widow was not broken-hearted, but certainlycrest-fallen, and eminently, although silently, indignant.
Mrs. Paterson vowed vengeance, although the inarticulate form of herprotestations saved their being registered any where to herdisadvantage. She now determined to take her own course in bringing downupon the heads of her husband's confederates in the swindle and in thearson, and her husband's murderers, the vengeance of the law. She wasultimately led by this amiable turn of reflection to communicate withme, and the reader has already been told the immediate result.
Popular belief, I am sorry to say, in the town where the bonnet-factoryhad stood, was largely tinged with prejudice or superstition, whichmaterially assisted Newtons' future plans. Paterson's breach of trustbecame known; his losses in trade also became generally known. The firehaving broken out so soon after the transfer of the business had beeneffected, and the suicide--as it was said--of the late proprietor, allconfirmed the mass of the people there in the Newtonian belief that aspell, or witchery, or fatal influence of some kind, hung over theestablishment. Newtons' professions of faith of the same kind did not,therefore, appear remarkable. A few people wondered, but nobody exceptthe insurance office suspected the reason why the firm determined not toresume business there. They were content to pay such debts as they hadcontracted in the neighbourhood, to display a little kindness to a fewof the workpeople in the bitterest distress; and having thus obtained avery pleasant reputation, they quitted the neighbourhood for London,intending, as they said, to embark in some other line of enterprise.
I kept close watch upon the culprits, and knew all their movements; butstill I could not, for a long time, bring any thing home to them withsufficient precision to warrant a prosecution by the insurance company.Among the things I did, however, discover, was an abundant series oflinks in a chain of evidence which
, some day, I felt certain I couldattach at its extremity to a great crime; and although my employerswere, I think, getting a little impatient, as I also think I was myself,I never doubted that the result would be, if not the hanging of theNewtons, their certain condemnation to the bulks or a convict prison forthe term of their natural lives.
I also ascertained that these villains were mixed up with, in diversways, a gang who for many years past, and for some years after the dateof this narrative, played a prominent part in, or were at the root of,all the great crimes of London, and many of those in the provinces. TheNewtons appeared to have a special department of the criminal businessallotted to or taken up by them. Although they had been concerned in aforgery or two, in a railway "plant," and a burglary on a grand scale,yet their preference was to get up fires. They had been concerned assubordinates and screened performers in a large incendiary fire atWhitechapel, in another at Manchester, and, I also believe, one inLiverpool.
After about sixteen months' waiting and watching--during which time theNewtons had made one or two pleasure-trips to the Continent, had residedat various parts of the metropolis in superior furnished apartments, andhad patronised tailors extensively for various costumes--I ascertainedthat they had resolved to re-commence business.
One of them, Mr. Henry Newton, went into the west of England, to thetown of B----, and took a large house and shop there, which he opened asa music-seller's and a pianoforte warehouse. Next door to the goodly andcapacious premises which Mr. Henry Newton had taken, was a small,dwarfed, and not by any means pretty building. This had been not longbefore to let, but had found a tenant about a month or six weeks beforeMr. Newton took the adjacent more pretentious structure. The small housewas opened, in a humble way of business, by an old man and woman. Theold folk sold lollipops, fruit, children's books, &c. Newton complainedto the agent of the low character of this business, and went so far asto negotiate with the small shopkeeper for the surrender of his tenancyin the premises; but the negotiation broke off, in consequence of thesmall shopkeeper demanding what Mr. Newton thought any thing but a smallprice for his interest in the hovel. Mr. Newton declared that he had anunconquerable objection, on principle, to being swindled or robbed inthat way. Rather than submit to the small shopkeeper's gross extortion,he said he would put up with the nuisance, although it would interferewith the respectable business he intended to carry on.
I ought to explain, that Mr. Newton did not appear in the town under thename of Newton. He set up there as "Keeling and Co., wholesalepianoforte manufacturers, dealers, and merchants." His establishment wascalled the "Temple of the Muses," and a very pretty affair it was.
Mr. Albert Newton remained in London. He started, under the title of"Cross and Co.," as "general commission-agent, importer, and merchants,"near Tower Hill, and soon found himself engaged in rather extensiveoperations at home and abroad. He also served as a reference for hisbrother, Mr. Keeling.
Mr. Keeling had not opened his premises long when he slightly intimatedhis intention to insure the "Temple of the Muses." Several of the localagents of insurance companies left at his premises circulars andprospectuses, inviting him thereby to insure his life or his chattels,or both. He had interviews with two or three of the agents about terms,and was critical in comparing the different rates of their offices, thedates of their foundation, the respectability of their management, andall such other things as a prudent insurer would like to be wellinformed about. The upshot or result was, that he effected an insurancethrough the local agent of one of the oldest London offices (the titleof which need not for the present be mentioned), although it cost him atrifle more than was asked by the agent of a modern office, because hehad no belief, he said, in "mushroom concerns." The agent, who profitedby it, considered this decision a token of Mr. Keeling's sound practicaljudgment.
Several pianos arrived, some large parcels of music, and other goods,which were duly taken from the railway station to the "Temple of theMuses," by the railway servants, whose fatigue was usually lightened bya trifling _douceur_ from Messrs. Keeling and Co.
Messrs. Keeling's men, an assistant and a porter, were brought by themfrom London. The principal had been heard to say that nobody but Londonmen could understand his way of business; and that although he liked thepeople of B---- very well (especially the better classes), he could notput up with the trade assistants to be got in that town.
Shortly after the "Temple of the Muses" was opened, the proprietor wasscandalised by a little stall having been put outside the next house orhovel, with ginger-beer and other trifling articles of refreshment uponit for sale, which, indeed, seemed to be displayed with a sort of vulgarostentation by the proprietor, as Keeling said, as a sort of means toannoy him, until he gave a fancy price in order to get rid of thefellow. In this, however, the small shopkeeper was not successful.Although Mr. Keeling's indignation and disgust were intense, he wouldnot buy off the nuisance at the price demanded. He talked of going tolaw with the old man, and consulted the leading solicitor in the townabout an action or an indictment; but was advised that the annoyance wasinsufficient to give him the remedy he sought.
No business seemed to be done by Keeling and Co. A few pieces of musicwere sold. A good many people called to see the pianos; but the pricesasked for them somewhat alarmed the customers. Mr. Keeling occasionallygot disgusted, and assured his visitors he could not sell such articlesas he had to sell at the prices they were expected to be sold for,although he knew that common trashy things could be supplied at thosefigures.
One day there was a sale in London of the stock of a pianofortemanufacturer advertised in the daily papers. It announced an auction atsome future day, unless the whole stock were previously disposed of byprivate contract, together with the lease and good-will of themanufacturer's premises. Mr. Keeling received a telegram from Messrs.Cross, which ran thus: "See the _Times_. Advertisement, sale of Mr.----.Stock, good-will, &c."
Mr. Keeling, after receiving this telegram, was very anxious to see the_Times_, which arrived in due course about mid-day. He sent to therailway station two or three times, and ultimately went up himself, toget an early copy of the paper. On his way there he met an acquaintanceor two (one was my assistant, although he little dreamt it), whom hetold there was a splendid opportunity, he thought, for buying a largestock, and perhaps getting a first-class Town business, to which hiscountry trade of the "Temple of the Muses" might be added withadvantage. He thought he might also be able to get a stock of pianos, ofrather lower quality than he now had, which the people of B---- mightappreciate at the price he could offer them. After he had procured the_Times_, and taken care to explain to a few people the precise cause ofhis journey to London, he only awaited the arrival of the next up-train,and away he went to Town by it. He expected to be down the next day, butfound this impossible, as he explained in a telegram to his assistant orshopman, but said that he would positively return on the day following.
On the second night after Mr. Keeling's departure for London, about aquarter to twelve o'clock, there was a cry of fire in the town of B----.The little hovel had caught light in the rear, and it happened that thiswretched place actually joined the "Temple of the Muses." A woodenouthouse behind the smaller structure also joined the back premises ofthe Temple, in which were stored packing-cases, straw, &c.
The flames soon demolished the straw-roofed lollipop-shop, and leftnothing but a heap of ashes as a memorial of its devastation. The oldman and his wife readily escaped, however, as the fire began at the backof the house, and they were not sound sleepers. Few old people, if wemay believe the physiologists, do sleep soundly; so that to suspect thelollipop shopkeeper and his wife of incendiarism, on the ground of theirescape, would be as absurd as it would be unjust. The old man was,moreover, not insured. What motive could he have to set hisestablishment on fire?
The "Temple of the Muses" fared not much better than the hovel. Thewalls and some of the cross-beams were left standing; but it wastolerably well gutted, and all the stock and
furniture in it wereconsumed.
It unfortunately happened that the town of B---- had no appliances worthmentioning for the extinction of fire. It was worse off in this respectthan the town in which Messrs. Newtons' straw-bonnet manufactory wassituate. There was the town-engine at B----, but it was foundimpracticable to get that crazy instrument into working order. It was along time before the door of the engine-house could be opened for wantof the key. It was then found impossible to get the parts of the enginetogether. Half of the town might have been destroyed before it could begot ready for use. Some portions of the hose were missing; the hingeswere all rusty, and the metal-work dirty and corroded. The engine was,in point of fact, a wreck of time, and in an advanced stage of decay.But for this it is likely that the "Temple of the Muses" would not havesustained so much damage as it did; but happily no lives were lost ineither building.
Mr. Keeling being telegraphed for, rushed, with the rapidity of anexpress train, to the scene of what he called his misfortune, and metthe condolences of every body there, not excepting his rivals and mostjealous neighbours.
The only man who could not understand the affair, but whose suspicions,if he had any, took no definite shape, was the agent of the company,deputy-registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, parish-clerk,undertaker, coal-merchant, and commission-agent. This respectable oldgentleman informed every body that there had been no house on fire inB---- for forty years. He had been agent for the insurance officethirty-four years himself; and, although he had taken in premiums notless than 10,000_l._, he had never been called upon under one of thosecases for a shilling.
The poor old man seemed to think, or one might judge by his manner thathe thought, a claim of 3000_l._, which Messrs. Keeling and Co., of the"Temple of the Muses," would have to present, would about ruin theoffice, and utterly destroy him as an agent. He was very anxious,therefore, to explain all about it; to show the care with which he hadmade an examination of the premises; to exhibit how unfortunate thecontiguous position of the "Temple of the Muses" and the adjoiningpremises was; to demonstrate how little he could have expected that afire would have broken out in that hovel; and how, if he had thought ofsuch a thing, he must also have concluded that the "Temple of the Muses"would not have caught light before the flames could have beenextinguished in the other building.
The agent made a special journey to London, in order to see the board;and he did see the secretary, in an interview at which I was present. Itwas suggested by me that it could not be helped, and that such thingsmust happen. The secretary said, "Yes; he did not know but that a claimlike that was, in the long-run, rather beneficial to the company thanotherwise." The agent was consoled by the assurance that it might assisthim in extending the operations of the company; that he might hope tomake up the loss in new business; and that, indeed, he was entitled,when estimating the results of his own business with the company, to setoff against this loss a larger amount, which he had during histhirty-four years' agency remitted them.
The poor old agent, who could be of no use to me in my investigations,went back to B----, and unconsciously did me a little service bytrumpeting the statements of myself and the secretary as the settledconviction of the company that all was right, and that its intention wasto pay the claim in the most handsome manner--all of which Mr. Keelinggot to know, and was no doubt as much comforted thereby as the agenthimself.
One party in B---- appeared likely to be over-looked--the old man andhis wife who, previously to the fire, sold sweetmeats and fruit, &c.next door to the "Temple of the Muses." But the necessities of thevenerable couple drove them before the public in a rather prominentshape. Handbills were printed in the town, and taken round by the oldgentleman to the various shopkeepers and other inhabitants, in whichhand-bill was set forth the melancholy accident which had burned hishouse down, destroyed his stock, and left him in beggary, as he wasunfortunately not insured. A great deal of commisseration was excited inand beyond the town, and the poor couple got something like 100_l._subscribed for them by voluntary contributions. A clergyman preached asermon in the largest dissenting chapel of B---- on the old man'sspecial behalf; and the reverend gentleman drew such a patheticdescription of the poor people's sufferings and forlorn condition, thata very tidy sum was dropped into the plates at the chapel-door as thecongregation left the sacred edifice.
The old man did not, however, set up in business immediately, becausethe house or hovel was not at once rebuilt. The owner of the land formeda notion of erecting upon it a more elegant structure than the one whichhad been destroyed, and the former tenant could not tell whether hewould be able to occupy the old site or not.
Messrs. Keeling and Co., of the "Temple of the Muses," complained verybitterly about the destruction of their premises and stock, just as theywere on the threshold of deriving the advantage of their investedcapital and labours over the dreary season. They made a formal complaintto the local authorities as to the construction of the building, andcontended that if similar arrangements to those which prevailed in themetropolis had existed in B----, that is to say, if, for instance,proper party-walls had been erected between all the edifices in the townof B----, the "Temple of the Muses" would not have been ignited by thefire in the adjoining hovel. In fact, Mr. Keeling pretty extensivelyventilated the grievance of his firm, although it never transpired whowas represented by the "Co." He also, of course, commented with verylegitimate warmth upon the wretched condition of the town fire-engine,and on the lack of means for extinguishing the flames before they hadacquired a hold over the premises.
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that after this fire my inquiries werepursued with great vigilance, and that a careful watch was kept upon Mr.Keeling and upon Mr. Cross.
I advised the company to adopt a bold course; but the solicitors to whomthis advice was directly given, in the first place, hesitated aboutendorsing it. The secretary of the company, whom I had reason to see onmore than one occasion, for the purpose of examining the papers sent inby Messrs. Keeling and Co. when the assurance was effected, also sharedthe timidity of the company's legal advisers. Still I was told to pursuemy investigations, and I did so.
A correspondence ensued between Mr. Keeling and the secretary of thecompany immediately after the fire. The secretary was rather wily, butMr. Keeling was as acute. After some parleying, and the exchange of oneor two letters, the secretary, in a fit of impatience, told Mr. Keelingthat the company had their doubts about the _bona fides_ of his claim,and that he thought it was possible it might be resisted.
On receiving this intimation from the secretary, Mr. Keeling wasindignant, and demanded an interview with the board of directors.
The garrulity of the old agent had given this man confidence. He thoughthe saw in that, and in other circumstances around him, enough towarrant him in a confident belief that his crime was unsuspected. Or hemay have argued with himself that safety lay in a bold attitude andtone. So he adopted that kind of tone and attitude. He was informed, inreply to his demand, that he could not see the board, but that he mightsee the secretary on any day and hour he chose to appoint.
I should explain that this interview was part of my plan. The secretarywas disposed to refuse to see the incendiary at all, but I overruled hisobjections to the meeting.
I had, previous to the appointment for this interview being made andkept, two or three very deliberate and somewhat anxious conferences withthe solicitor and the secretary of the company. They were for adoptingan exceedingly cautious policy. I was still for taking bold steps. Irecommended the arrest of Mr. Keeling at once, suggesting, in support ofthat measure, that in all probability, if I did so, the other members ofhis gang would fly, and that evidence of guilt sufficient, at allevents, to rebut any claim at common law for the insurance money, wouldbe thus obtained. Indeed, I thought, in all probability, it would neverbe attempted to enforce the claim. This, I argued, would be the ultimateconsequence, even should Mr. Keeling slip through the hands of thehangman or the convict-warder; but added, that I
thought there waslittle doubt, if Mr. Cross, Mr. Keeling, and the old man and woman, thetenants of the hovel, were all arrested, I could get evidence enough toconvict the lot--if in no other way, partially by the confession of oneof the set. I added, for the instruction and enlightenment of myauditors and employers, and as the climax of my reasoning, that I neveryet knew a case in which a gang or a lot of confederates in crime wereseized, that there was not a perfect race between them in tenderingQueen's evidence. I could not lead the convictions of the solicitor andsecretary up to the point of my demonstration or argument, but theyagreed to allow me a tolerably wide discretion in my personalconversation with Mr. Keeling at the interview.
One Monday morning, at eleven o'clock, Mr. Keeling walked into theinsurance office. He certainly looked very unlike Mr. Henry Newton. Theclean shaven face of the manufacturer near Dunstable was now ornamentedby carefully trimmed hirsute appendages. The sober garb of thestraw-bonnet manufacturer had given place to the swell costume of theproprietor of the "Temple of the Muses," who dressed, I may remark _enpassant_, in good clothes. Some people might say he looked thegentleman, although to my eye he looked just what he was--a consummate,perfect type of arch-villany. He was cool and collected. I was at leastas calm as he was on the outside, and I warrant much calmer inside.
After some little conversation between the secretary and the criminal,in which the former suggested that the items of the demand he was tryingto recover were vague and uncertain, and stated that the company wouldrequire to investigate them, and that he thought they would be sure tocontest the claim, and in which conversation Mr. Keeling used stronglanguage about the disreputable character of those threats, and indeedsaid that he should bring his action at once, and that the company mightdo their best or their worst, and that he would do his best to show themup to the whole world and effect their ruin,--I thought it time tointervene.
I stepped forward, looked Mr. Keeling steadily in the face, and I sawhis eye quail as I addressed him.
"Look here, sir. It is time to put an end to this nonsense. Whether youknow me or not, I know you perfectly, and all about you, and the gang towhich you belong. Let me tell you, I know all about that fire inWhitechapel, and enough to transport you about that fire in Birmingham;enough, I think, to send you to Portland for a few years for those firesin Manchester and Liverpool. I have watched your career with my own eyefor a long while, Mr. Newton, or Keeling, or Roberts, or Jamieson, orwhoever you really are--and now listen to me. You got clear off withthat money through your fire near Dunstable. Think yourself lucky thatyou are not hanged, with your pretended brother Albert--Mr. Cross, Imean--for the murder of your confederate Paterson. Understand that it isno good-will of mine that will let you step across the threshold of thisdoor again; and I do not yet know whether you will be permitted to doso. I know I have got at every thing about your B---- experiment, Mr.Temple of the Muses. I know who your neighhours, the old man and woman,were. They are Bill Smith and his wife, the fences of Rosemary Lane. Iknow what was done with the money got by the chapel subscription. Why,you bought your railway-ticket for London yesterday out of the proceedsof the charity sermon, you consummate villain. I was never the means ofhanging a man yet; but I should like to hand you over to Jack Ketch, asmuch as I should like to enjoy a good dinner to-day."
I placed my back against the outer door of the secretary's office, inorder that I might compel Mr. Keeling to listen to all I had to say. Hewas, therefore, obliged to listen to all I have here written down, andsomewhat more than I inform my reader. It was, I imagine, a difficultthing for him to control the expression of his feelings; but he did sotolerably well, with the exception of a little restlessness of the eyes,and a slight nervous movement of the countenance. There was no distinctsymptom of fear, or any thing of the kind, in his breast.
About half a minute after I had done, the fellow broke silence--beingobliged to say something--by observing, "This is too bad, sir; and youwill have to repent addressing me in such language."
I knew what the company wanted. I had explained to them, in addition towhat I have already told the reader, how I could, no doubt, trace thepianos to their source, and have shown that they were not paid for; orthat they were manifestly inferior things, not worth 25 per cent of thesum asked for them in the way of trade; and that they were onlyintended as a blind or cover for the fraudulent claim. I could in fact,beyond all doubt, get a conviction of arson in any criminal court; but Iknew that the company merely wished to avoid paying a claim that wasfraudulent; and as corporations have no conscience, or care abouthunting down a gang of incendiaries, or doing any thing with the simpleview of serving public policy,--knowing this, and seeing the end of mygame (without offending my employers) at hand,--I just put my arm infront of the incendiary and murderer, gave him a chair with mockpoliteness, and asked the secretary if he would let me have theexclusive use of his office for a few minutes. He retired on this hint.He had scarcely left the room--he had certainly not been out more than aminute--before I said to the culprit, "As you came here under theinvitation of the secretary, you are free to leave, but I will give youonly two hours. I am a detective officer, as I dare say you haveguessed, and perhaps you have wondered that you did not know me. Now, tobe frank with you, I may say that this company will, I believe, becontent to let you get away, but they will not be satisfied to let youor your confederates have the chance of defrauding either itsshareholders or any other company again. Your movements will be watchedfrom this door; and in every way that you turn you may reckon that weare on your track, as we have been for more than a year and a half. Ifyou are as wise as I take you to be, you will get out of the country assoon as possible; and if you are then but moderately shrewd, you willnever come back again. Mind, I have no authority to say this, but I dosay it on the strength of my own responsibility."
I opened the door which led into the lobby of the company's offices. Ilooked at Keeling, and uttered my last monosyllable in his ear--"Go."
He went.
I had the satisfaction of reporting that within a few days he was apassenger by a steam-vessel from Southampton to New York. I had also thepleasure of announcing to the company that within a few days afterwardsMr. Cross left our shores for the same port by way of Liverpool. Ifurther learned and stated that the venerable old man and woman at B----had returned to their old haunts, and had been heard to complain thatthey had been "sold" by Messrs. Keeling and Messrs. Cross.
The company of course saved 3000_l._ The solicitor highly complimentedme to my face; I also had to listen to the compliments of the secretary;and I received payment of my bill. The secretary, who was a verygentlemanly man, appeared to think that something more by way ofcourtesy was due to me than the payment of my charges. He said that heshould bring my case before the board, and would feel personally glad ifI would call on him on the following Wednesday at 11 o'clock, when hewould introduce me to his directors, and no doubt he should obtain fromthem instructions to further recognise the services I had rendered, notalone to that institution, but to all the fire-insurance companies ofthe metropolis.
I accepted this invitation and attended the meeting of the board. Themembers of that board were a rum lot of fellows, but to describe themmight be tedious. I should like to say that a fat old man was in thechair.
As the secretary was explaining the case in detail (for it seemed thatthe board knew little if any thing about the matter up to this point,every thing having been done by the orders of the secretary and thesolicitor, on, I should imagine, their own responsibility), this old maninterrupted him by such profound remarks as "Ah! I see; very badcase--How fortunate!--Villain ought to be hung--Why did we not prosecutehim?--I think we ought to have prosecuted him!"
It was not, however, for me to interfere with the conversation. I merelylistened; and at the conclusion, the secretary said that he thought hewould ask this gentleman (myself) to attend to-day, in order that hemight receive from the board personally some expression of their senseof, what it appeared to him, my emin
ent services.
The old man thereupon addressed me. "Oh, yes; oh, yes," he said. "Youhave done your dooty very well, my man; very clever, I think I ought tosay." And he looked round at the other members for a nod ofacquiescence, which was given.
One keen, intelligent-looking man said he thought some more substantialrecognition of such services as the secretary had described ought to bemade, and that he should, therefore, move a vote of thanks to me; whichproposal was seconded by another gentleman, and passed unanimously.
The chairman, again addressing me, said, "You see, we have given you avote of thanks;" which I acknowledged by a simple nod of the head--not,I am afraid, very highly esteeming the compliment.
Another gentleman then rose and said, "I know that a vote of thanks isall very well; but I think we ought to make this gentleman somesubstantial recognition of his services. I am only a young member of theboard; I do not like to move the resolution myself, but I would suggestto you, sir, as chairman, whether you should not move that a sum ofmoney be given to the officer?"
"I don't see that," said the chairman, "at all. He has done very clever;but he has only done his dooty, after all, like we are doing ours; and Idon't think we ought to spend shareholders' money in compliments to menfor just doing their dooty."
I heard this remark with not very comfortable feelings, but did not sayany thing.
The gentleman who had proposed the testimonial said that he could hardlyagree with their worthy chairman in all he had said; and another memberof the board said something to the same effect.
The chairman now seemed to think he was a little in the wrong, and totreat these remarks as a rebuke. He appeared to think he was bound torecognise my services by what, I dare say, he imagined a little act ofpersonal generosity.
Again talking at me, he said, "Well, well! do not let us waste timeabout this; we cannot spend the money of the company, that I am certainabout. I will make this gentleman a present myself." Then turning tome, he proceeded, "Here, my man; you have heard what has been said bythe board. I will make you a present of half-a-sovereign out of my ownpocket."
This marvellous act of generosity I confess quite overpowered myself-control. I could not help a passing desire to insult the old man.For the life of me, I could not smother that resolution; so, taking thehalf-sovereign between my fingers, I said to him, "Well, you see, sir, Iagree with you. When a man has done his duty, and especially when he hasbeen paid for it, he should not want any thing else. I don't want anything else. Your company has paid me 310_l._ 14_s._, which amount willquite remunerate me; and if you have no objection, sir, as I have nodoubt you have got some poor relations, perhaps you will hand one ofthem this half-sovereign, with my compliments."
I did not wait to notice the effect of this retort upon the pursymagnate; but laying down the coin on the middle of the table, I simplyand hastily said, "Good morning, sir,--good morning, gentlemen," andquitted the palatial structure which contained the head-quarters of theTriumph of Meanness Assurance Company.