Trial of John Jasper, lay precentor of Cloisterham Cathedral in the County of Kent, for the murder of Edwin Drood, engineerDickens Fellowship (London, England)
General
Trial of John Jasper, lay precentor of Cloisterham Cathedral in the County of Kent, for the murder of Edwin Drood, engineer
Neville Landless, upon whom Jasper cast suspicion of being the
murderer, and his sister Helena, were both students in Cloisterham:
the brother, a pupil of the Revd. Septimus Crisparkle, and the
sister a pupil at Miss Twinkleton’s Academy in the city. They came
from Ceylon, where they had been severely ill-treated, and had made
several attempts to escape. On each occasion of the flight Helena
“dressed as a boy and showed the daring of a man.” Neville, a highly
strung and emotional youth, took immediate objection to Drood because
of his “air of proprietorship” over Rosa; whilst Helena instinctively
disliked Jasper because she saw that he loved Rosa and that Rosa
feared him. It is worth noting as a significant fact that at the
earliest stage Rosa appealed to Helena for aid and every assistance
was promised to her.
A slight quarrel between Edwin Drood and Neville Landless took place
in Jasper’s rooms, and undoubtedly Jasper goaded them on by his
taunts. On this occasion Jasper gave them some mulled wine which
had taken him a long time to mix and compound. They drank to the
toast proposed by Jasper and their speech quickly became thick and
indistinct, indicating that there was a sinister design in the mixing
and compounding. Drood became boastful, and Neville Landless resented
his tone, and at the height of the dispute, flung the dregs of his
wine at Edwin Drood. Although posing as a Peacemaker Jasper actually
fomented the hostility of these two young men. He seemed to delight
in it and it enabled him subsequently to report to Crisparkle that
Neville was “_murderous_.” Indeed he went so far as to assert that he
“might have laid his dear boy at his feet, and that it was no fault
of his that he did not.”
The Revd. Mr. Crisparkle talked with Helena and Neville on the
latter’s rash conduct, and he expressed extreme regret and promised
to exercise more caution in future. On another occasion Crisparkle
visited Jasper, who read to him passages from his diary expressing
fears for Drood’s safety. A few days later Drood, at the suggestion
of Jasper, wrote and agreed to dine with him and Neville on Christmas
Eve at the Gate house, Cloisterham—in order that the two young men
should become friends. Their walk after dinner is evidence that this
object was fully achieved.
We submit that, the whole plans having thus been prepared, the murder
of Edwin Drood took place after the parting of the young men, and
that John Jasper and no other was the murderer. In support of this
we shall produce evidence to prove that Jasper acted in a highly
incriminatory manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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