The Heart of a MysterySpeight, T. W. (Thomas Wilkinson)
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The Heart of a Mystery
Speight, T. W. (Thomas Wilkinson)
English fiction -- 19th century; Mystery and detective stories
Obed Sweet, night-watchman, deposed to the events as detailed in a
previous chapter:--To seeing Mr. Hazeldine enter the Bank about
half-past eight P.M., carrying his black bag; to hearing, as he
believed, the front door shut about half-past ten, and to finding, to
his surprise when he went upstairs, that deceased was still at work;
to waiting until half-past eleven before going upstairs again, and to
finding the office at that time in darkness, and Mr. Hazeldine, to all
appearance, gone. Witness then went on to state that the noise he had
heard about half-past ten had since been accounted for, by the fact of
Mr. Brancker having come back to the Bank to fetch his umbrella.
In reply to a question by the Coroner, it was stated that both
deceased and Mr. Brancker had pass-keys, by means of which they could
let themselves into the Bank after ordinary business hours without
troubling Sweet, unless the front door had been finally bolted for the
night.
"Does anyone know whether the pass-key belonging to deceased has been
found?" asked the Coroner of Mr. Mace.
"It was found in one of his pockets," was the answer.
The next witness was Amanda Sweet, the nightwatchman's wife, who
deposed to finding the door of Mr. Hazeldine's room locked and the key
outside, as it was said to have been left by last witness, when she
went at half-past seven A.M. to sweep out and dust the office as
usual. The first thing she did was to draw up the blinds, after which,
on turning round, she saw the body of deceased lying right across the
hearthrug with a foreign-looking knife a little distance away from it.
Being asked what she did next, she replied that she screamed and
fainted right away.
Peggy Lown, charwoman, deposed to being sent by Obed Sweet in search
of a constable; to encountering Mr. Judd a short distance from the
Bank, and telling him what had happened, and to finding a constable a
few minutes afterwards.
Ephraim Judd deposed that, in consequence of what last witness told
him, he hurried to the Bank, and there found Sweet and his wife by the
dead body of Mr. Hazeldine.
The evidence of Constable Jeremy was to a similar effect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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