Martin Hewitt, Investigator

Hewitt, Investigator, by Arthur
Morrison

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Title: Martin Hewitt, Investigator
Author: Arthur Morrison
Release Date: February 24, 2004 [EBook #11252]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR.
By Arthur Morrison

1894

CONTENTS.
I. THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES
II. THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT
III. THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT
IV. THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO
V. THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR
VI. THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY
VII. THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE

MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR.

I.
THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES.
Those who retain any memory of the great law cases of fifteen or
twenty years back will remember, at least, the title of that extraordinary
will case, "Bartley v. Bartley and others," which occupied the Probate
Court for some weeks on end, and caused an amount of public interest
rarely accorded to any but the cases considered in the other division of
the same court. The case itself was noted for the large quantity of
remarkable and unusual evidence presented by the plaintiff's
side--evidence that took the other party completely by surprise, and
overthrew their case like a house of cards. The affair will, perhaps, be
more readily recalled as the occasion of the sudden rise to eminence in

their profession of Messrs. Crellan, Hunt & Crellan, solicitors for the
plaintiff--a result due entirely to the wonderful ability shown in this
case of building up, apparently out of nothing, a smashing weight of
irresistible evidence. That the firm has since maintained--indeed
enhanced--the position it then won for itself need scarcely be said here;
its name is familiar to everybody. But there are not many of the outside
public who know that the credit of the whole performance was
primarily due to a young clerk in the employ of Messrs. Crellan, who
had been given charge of the seemingly desperate task of collecting
evidence in the case.
This Mr. Martin Hewitt had, however, full credit and reward for his
exploit from his firm and from their client, and more than one other
firm of lawyers engaged in contentious work made good offers to
entice Hewitt to change his employers. Instead of this, however, he
determined to work independently for the future, having conceived the
idea of making a regular business of doing, on behalf of such clients as
might retain him, similar work to that he had just done with such
conspicuous success for Messrs. Crellan, Hunt & Crellan. This was the
beginning of the private detective business of Martin Hewitt, and his
action at that time has been completely justified by the brilliant
professional successes he has since achieved.
His business has always been conducted in the most private manner,
and he has always declined the help of professional assistants,
preferring to carry out himself such of the many investigations offered
him as he could manage. He has always maintained that he has never
lost by this policy, since the chance of his refusing a case begets
competition for his services, and his fees rise by a natural process. At
the same time, no man could know better how to employ casual
assistance at the right time.
Some curiosity has been expressed as to Mr. Martin Hewitt's system,
and, as he himself always consistently maintains that he has no system
beyond a judicious use of ordinary faculties, I intend setting forth in
detail a few of the more interesting of his cases in order that the public
may judge for itself if I am right in estimating Mr. Hewitt's "ordinary

faculties" as faculties very extraordinary indeed. He is not a man who
has made many friendships (this, probably, for professional reasons),
notwithstanding his genial and companionable manners. I myself first
made his acquaintance as a result of an accident resulting in a fire at the
old house in which Hewitt's office was situated, and in an upper floor
of which I occupied bachelor chambers. I was able to help in saving a
quantity of extremely important papers relating to his business, and,
while repairs were being made, allowed him to lock them in an old
wall-safe in one of my rooms which the fire had scarcely damaged.
The acquaintance thus begun has lasted many years, and has become a
rather close friendship. I have even accompanied Hewitt on some of his
expeditions, and, in a humble way, helped him. Such of