They Hanged My Saintly Billy (23 page)

I
knew
nothing
of
the
case
until
The
Midland
officials
called me
to
their
office
one
day
last
September.
'Inspector
Field,'
the General
Manager
said,
'we
wish
to
engage
you
on
a
somewhat delicate
mission.'

^‘
At
your
service,
gentlemen,'
I
answered,
'if
your
terms
are commensurate
with
the
delicacy
you
mention.'

They
smiled
at
my
downrightness,
and
undertook
to
pay
me
an extra
two
guineas
a
week
if
I
brought
back
information
that proved
useful.
I
stood
out
for
the
extra
guineas,
whatever
the value
of
the
information;
and
to
this
they
agreed
likewise.

'Here's
the
case,
Inspector,'
said
the
General
Manager.
'Mr Jeremiah
Smith,
a
solicitor
of
Rugeley,
has
proposed
the
life-insurance
of
a
neighbour,
one
George
Bate,
Esq.,
for
ten
thousand pounds,
and
has
named
Dr
William
Palmer,
also
of
the
same
town, as
one
of
two
medical
referees.
Now,
despite
the
hot
rivalry
between
insurance
companies—often,
I
regret
to
say,
evinced
by something
close
on
sharp
practice—a
certain
solidarity
may
none the
less
be
discovered
among
them.
We
now
assist
one
another
to compile
a
confidential
black-list
of
suspicious
customers,
which
is issued
monthly
for
our
mutual
protection.
The
latest
list
contains the
name
of
Dr
Palmer,
in
respect
of
two
dubious
life
insurances: the
first
on
his
wife
Annie,
which
was
settled
at
her
death,
though grudgingly,
by
The
Prince
of
Wales;
the
second
on
his
brother Walter,
with
which
The
Prince
of
Wales
are
also
concerned,
but which
has
not
been
settled.
Here
fraud
is
suspected,
and
even
foul play.
We
wish
you
to
visit
Rugeley
and
find
out
what
you
can about
this
"George
Bate,
Esq."
At
the
same
time,
The
Prince
of Wales,
who
have
joined
us
in
this
inquiry,
empower
you
to investigate
on
their
behalf
the
death
of
Walter
Palmer.
I
should add
that
Mr
Jeremiah
Smith
has
recently
ap
proached
The
Indisputable
for
a
further
insurance
on
Mr
Bate
s
life.'

'Very
good,
Sir,'
said
I,
'but
seeing
that,
if
I
understand
you aright,
there's
suspicion
of
murder
here,
I'm
not
putting
my
head into
any
noose
unless
I
have
a
colleague
to
stand
by
me,
with
a knife
to
cut
the
rope
if
it
tightens.'

'Yours
is
a
very
sensible
attitude,'
the
General
Manager answered.
'Take
Inspector
Simpson,
by
all
means.
We
will
pay him
his
usual
fee.'

He
handed
us
five
guineas
on
account,
and
we
boarded
the Rugeley
train.
Inspector
Simpson
went
on
to
Stafford,
to
take statements
from
Dr
Waddell
and
Tom
Walkenden,
and
pick
up what
talk
might
be
current
in
the
inns
near
Castle
Terrace.

On
reaching
Rugeley,
I
called
on
Mr
Samuel
Cheshire,
the Postmaster,
one
of
the
referees.
It
has
since
transpired
that
Dr Palmer
had
some
hold
over
this
former
schoolfellow
of
his, though
the
exact
nature
of
Cheshire's
obligation
remains
doubtful. Some
ascribe
it
merely
to
the
pony-chaise
which,
after
Annie Palmer's
death,
Mrs
Cheshire
constantly
borrowed
for
Sunday outings;
others
hint
at
a
disreputable
disease
for
which
Dr
Palmer treated
Cheshire.
Whatever
the
truth
may
have
been,
this
hold gave
him
the
freedom
of
the
Post
Office:
that
is
to
say,
Cheshire would
detain
incoming
and
outgoing
letters
addressed
to
whatever person
Dr
Palmer
named
and,
after
steaming
open
the
envelopes in
his
presence,
would
allow
him
to
read
the
contents.
Most
of
the
letters
were
then
re-sealed
and
dispatched
to
the
addressees,
but
some Dr
Palmer
had
permission
to
pocket, upon
his
undertaking
to
deliver
them in
person.
Among
these,
we
now know,
were
demands
made
by
Pratt on
old
Mrs
Palmer,
and
by
Padwick, another
moneylender,
to
repay
loans for
which
Dr
Palmer
had
fraudulently
made
her
responsible.
I
knew nothing
of
this
arrangement
when
I presented
my
credentials
to
Cheshire
that
day. He
is
a
fr
ail,
simple-looking man
in
his
early
thirties,
With fair
hair
and
a
nervous
habit
of
twiddling the
seal-ring
on
his
little
finger.
I
asked
him,
first,
where
I
might find
Mr
John
Parsons
Cook's
office.

He
answered:
'Mr
Cook
has
no
offices
in
Rugeley.
At
present he's
staying
around
the
corner
at
Dr
Palmer's.' 'Then
where
does
he
practise?'
I
asked. 'He
used
to
practise
at
Watling,'
Cheshire
informed
me,
'but since
he
took
to
the
Turf,
he
has
more
or
less
abandoned
the
Law.'