The Hampstead Mystery | Page 5

perpetration of the crime, and
had not given the actual murderer time to get out of England. Was he
not afraid of the vengeance the actual murderer would endeavour to
exact for this disclosure which would enable the police to take
measures to prevent his escape?
No light was thrown on the cause of the murdered man's sudden return
from grouse-shooting in Scotland. The newspaper accounts, though
they differed greatly in their statements, surmises, and suggestions
concerning the tragedy, agreed on the point that Sir Horace had been a
keen sportsman and was a very fine shot. In years past he had made a
practice of spending the early part of the long vacation in Scotland,
going there for the opening of the grouse season on the 12th of August.
This year he had been one of a party of five who had rented Craigleith
Hall in the Western Highlands, and after five days' shooting he had
announced that he had to go to London on urgent business, but would
return in the course of a week or less. It was suggested in some of the

newspaper accounts that an explanation of the cause of his return might
throw some light on the murder. Inquiries were being made at
Craigleith Hall to ascertain the reason for his journey to London, or
whether any telegram had been received by him previous to his
departure.
The fact that one of the windows on the ground floor of Riversbrook
had been found open was regarded as evidence that the murderer had
broken into the house. Imprints of footsteps had been found in the
ground outside the window, and the police had taken several casts of
these; but whether the man who had broken into the house with the
intention of committing burglary or murder was a matter on which
speculation differed. If the murderer was a criminal who had broken
into the house with the intention of committing a burglary, there could
be no connection between the return of Sir Horace Fewbanks from
Scotland and his murder. The burglary had probably been arranged in
the belief that the house was empty, Sir Horace having sent the servants
away to his country house in Dellmere a week before. But if the
murderer was a burglar he had stolen nothing and had not even
collected any articles for removal. The only thing that was known to be
missing was the dead man's pocket-book, but there was nothing to
prove that the murderer had stolen it. It was quite possible that it had
been lost or mislaid by Sir Horace; it was even possible that it had been
stolen from him in the train during his journey from Scotland.
It might be that while prowling through the rooms after breaking into
the house, and before he had collected any goods for removal, the
burglar had come unexpectedly on Sir Horace, and after shooting him
had fled from the house. Only as a last resort to prevent capture did
burglars commit murder. Had Sir Horace been shot while attempting to
seize the intruder? The position in which the body was found did not
support that theory. Two shots had been fired, the first of which had
missed its victim, and entered the wall of the library. Evidently the
murdered man had been hit by the second while attempting to leave the
room. It was ingeniously suggested by the Daily Record that the
murderer was a criminal who knew Sir Horace, and was known to him
as a man who had been before him at Old Bailey. This would account

for Sir Horace being ruthlessly shot down without having made any
attempt to seize the intruder. The burglar would have felt on seeing Sir
Horace in the room that he was identified, and that the only way of
escaping ultimate arrest by the police was to kill the man who could put
the police on his track. Mr. Justice Fewbanks had had the reputation of
being a somewhat severe judge, and it was possible that some of the
criminals who had been sentenced by him at Old Bailey entertained a
grudge against him.
The question of when the murder was committed was regarded as
important. Dr. Slingsby, of the Home Office, who had examined the
body shortly after it was discovered by the police, was of opinion that
death had taken place at least twelve hours before and probably longer
than that. His opinion on this point lent support to the theory that the
murder had been committed before midnight on Wednesday. It was the
Daily Record that seized on the mystery contained in the facts that the
body when discovered was fully clothed and that the electric lights
were not turned on. If the murder was committed late at