The Starvel Hollow tragedy : $b An Inspector French caseCrofts, Freeman Wills
General
The Starvel Hollow tragedy : $b An Inspector French case
Crofts, Freeman Wills
Detective and mystery stories; French, Joseph (Fictitious character) -- Fiction; Police -- Great Britain -- Fiction
Hesketh went on to say that the very heavy rain which fell on the
following night had cooled down the red-hot interior, enabling his men
to search the ruins. They had come on the charred remains of three
human beings. Yes, he could say just where the remains were found. The
house was in the shape of the inverted letter “┓” with the shorter
wing pointing to the west and the longer to the south. At the
extremity of the shorter wing—in the north-western corner—were two
bodies. The third body was about ten feet from the end of the southern
wing. All the bodies were unrecognisable, but he assumed they were
those of the three inmates of the house.
After the bodies had been removed he continued his investigations, but
he found nothing of interest except a safe, which was in the southern
wing, not far from the single body. It was locked, and he had set it
up on a pile of débris so that the expert that he understood Sergeant
Kent was getting to open it should be able more conveniently to carry
out the work.
Sergeant Kent corroborated the evidence of the last two witnesses in
so far as their testimony concerned himself, and added that an expert
from Hellifield had that morning opened the safe. In it he had found
£1952 in sovereigns and a mass of burnt papers.
“It seems to me an extraordinary thing,” the coroner remarked when he
had noted these details, “that a fire of such magnitude could take
place without being seen. I quite understand that the Hollow is deep
enough to hide the actual flames, but there must have been a
tremendous glare reflected from the sky which would have been visible
for miles round. How do you account for that, sergeant, or can you
account for it?”
“As a matter of fact, sir, it was noticed by at least three people,
and I have one of them here in case you would like to call him. But I
agree with you, sir, that it is very strange that it was not more
generally observed. All I can suggest is that it was a clear night
with a quarter moon, and there wouldn’t, therefore, be such a glare as
if it had been quite dark or if there had been clouds to reflect the
glow. Then, as you know, sir, this is a quiet district, and it would
be only by chance that any one would be awake or looking out at the
time.”
“Who were the three who saw it?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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