The Big Bow Mystery | Page 7

veteran detective carefully making a rapid
inventory of the contents of the room, and taking notes of the precise
position and condition of the body before anything was disturbed by
the arrival of gapers or bunglers; how she had pointed out to him that
both the windows were firmly bolted to keep out the cold night air;
how, having noted this down with a puzzled, pitying shake of the head,
he had opened the window to summon the police, and espied in the fog
one Denzil Cantercot, whom he called, and told to run to the nearest
police-station and ask them to send on an inspector and a surgeon; how
they both remained in the room till the police arrived, Grodman
pondering deeply the while and making notes every now and again, as
fresh points occurred to him, and asking her questions about the poor,
weak-headed young man. Pressed as to what she meant by calling the
deceased "weak-headed," she replied that some of her neighbours wrote
him begging letters, though, Heaven knew, they were better off than
herself, who had to scrape her fingers to the bone for every penny she

earned. Under further pressure from Mr. Talbot, who was watching the
inquiry on behalf of Arthur Constant's family, Mrs. Drabdump admitted
that the deceased had behaved like a human being, nor was there
anything externally eccentric or queer in his conduct. He was always
cheerful and pleasant spoken, though certainly soft--God rest his soul.
No; he never shaved, but wore all the hair that Heaven had given him.
By a JURYMAN: She thought deceased was in the habit of locking his
door when he went to bed. Of course, she couldn't say for certain.
(Laughter.) There was no need to bolt the door as well. The bolt slid
upwards, and was at the top of the door. When she first let lodgings,
her reasons for which she seemed anxious to publish, there had only
been a bolt, but a suspicious lodger, she would not call him a
gentleman, had complained that he could not fasten his door behind
him, and so she had been put to the expense of having a lock made. The
complaining lodger went off soon after without paying his rent.
(Laughter.) She had always known he would.
The CORONER: Was deceased at all nervous?
WITNESS: No, he was a very nice gentleman. (A laugh.)
CORONER: I mean did he seem afraid of being robbed?
WITNESS: No, he was always goin' to demonstrations. (Laughter.) I
told him to be careful. I told him I lost a purse with 3s. 2d. myself on
Jubilee Day.
Mrs. Drabdump resumed her seat, weeping vaguely.
The CORONER: Gentlemen, we shall have an opportunity of viewing
the room shortly.
The story of the discovery of the body was retold, though more
scientifically, by Mr. George Grodman, whose unexpected resurgence
into the realm of his early exploits excited as keen a curiosity as the
reappearance "for this occasion only" of a retired prima donna. His
book, Criminals I have Caught, passed from the twenty-third to the

twenty-fourth edition merely on the strength of it. Mr. Grodman stated
that the body was still warm when he found it. He thought that death
was quite recent. The door he had had to burst was bolted as well as
locked. He confirmed Mrs. Drabdump's statement about the windows;
the chimney was very narrow. The cut looked as if done by a razor.
There was no instrument lying about the room. He had known the
deceased about a month. He seemed a very earnest, simple-minded
young fellow, who spoke a great deal about the brotherhood of man.
(The hardened old man-hunter's voice was not free from a tremor as he
spoke jerkily of the dead man's enthusiasms.) He should have thought
the deceased the last man in the world to commit suicide.
Mr. DENZIL CANTERCOT was next called: He was a poet.
(Laughter.) He was on his way to Mr. Grodman's house to tell him he
had been unable to do some writing for him because he was suffering
from writer's cramp, when Mr. Grodman called to him from the
window of No. 11 and asked him to run for the police. No, he did not
run; he was a philosopher. (Laughter.) He returned with them to the
door, but did not go up. He had no stomach for crude sensations.
(Laughter.) The grey fog was sufficiently unbeautiful for him for one
morning. (Laughter.)
Inspector HOWLETT said: About 9.45 on the morning of Tuesday, 4th
December, from information received, he went with Sergeant
Runnymede and Dr. Robinson to 11 Glover Street, Bow, and there
found the dead body of a young man, lying on his back with his throat
cut. The door of the room had been