Inspector Howlett said: About 9:45 on the morning of Tuesday, 4th
December, from information received, he went with Sergeant Runnymede and
Dr. Robinson to 11 Glover Street, Bow, and there found the dead body of
a young man, lying on his back with his throat cut. The door of the room
had been smashed in, and the lock and the bolt evidently forced. The
room was tidy. There were no marks of blood on the floor. A purse full
of gold was on the dressing-table beside a big book. A hip-bath with
cold water stood beside the bed, over which was a hanging bookcase.
There was a large wardrobe against the wall next to the door. The
chimney was very narrow. There were two windows, one bolted. It was
about 18 feet to the pavement. There was no way of climbing up. No one
could possibly have got out of the room, and then bolted the doors and
windows behind him; and he had searched all parts of the room in which
anyone might have been concealed. He had been unable to find any
instrument in the room, in spite of exhaustive search, there being not
even a penknife in the pockets of the clothes of the deceased, which lay
on a chair. The house and the back yard, and the adjacent pavement, had
also been fruitlessly searched.
Sergeant Runnymede made an identical statement, saving only that he had
gone with Dr. Robinson and Inspector Howlett.
Dr. Robinson, divisional surgeon, said: The deceased was lying on his
back, with his throat cut. The body was not yet cold, the abdominal
region being quite warm. Rigor mortis had set in in the lower jaw, neck
and upper extremities. The muscles contracted when beaten. I inferred
that life had been extinct some two or three hours, probably not longer,
it might have been less. The bedclothes would keep the lower part warm
for some time. The wound, which was a deep one, was 5-1/2 inches from
right to left across the throat to a point under the left ear. The upper
portion of the windpipe was severed, and likewise the jugular vein. The
muscular coating of the carotid artery was divided. There was a slight
cut, as if in continuation of the wound, on the thumb of the left hand.
The hands were clasped underneath the head. There was no blood on the
right hand. The wound could not have been self-inflicted. A sharp
instrument had been used, such as a razor. The cut might have been made
by a left-handed person. No doubt death was practically instantaneous. I
saw no signs of a struggle about the body or the room. I noticed a purse
on the dressing-table, lying next to Madame Blavatsky's big book on
Theosophy. Sergeant Runnymede drew my attention to the fact that the
door had evidently been locked and bolted from within.
By a Juryman: I do not say the cuts could not have been made by a
right-handed person. I can offer no suggestion as to how the inflicter
of the wound got in or out. Extremely improbable that the cut was
self-inflicted. There was little trace of the outside fog in the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account