The Purcell Papers, vol 2 | Page 4

and,
among other vices, was ruinously addicted to gaming; this unfortunate
propensity, even after his fortune had suffered so severely as to render
inevitable a reduction in his expenses by no means inconsiderable,
nevertheless continued to actuate him, nearly to the exclusion of all
other pursuits; he was, however, a proud, or rather a vain man, and
could not bear to make the diminution of his income a matter of
gratulation and triumph to those with whom he had hitherto competed,
and the consequence was, that he frequented no longer the expensive
haunts of dissipation, and retired from the gay world, leaving his
coterie to discover his reasons as best they might.
He did not, however, forego his favourite vice, for, though he could not
worship his great divinity in the costly temples where it was formerly
his wont to take his stand, yet he found it very possible to bring about
him a sufficient number of the votaries of chance to answer all his ends.
The consequence was, that Carrickleigh, which was the name of my
uncle's residence, was never without one or more of such visitors as I
have described.
It happened that upon one occasion he was visited by one Hugh Tisdall,
a gentleman of loose habits, but of considerable wealth, and who had,
in early youth, travelled with my uncle upon the Con- tinent; the period
of his visit was winter, and, consequently, the house was nearly
deserted excepting by its regular inmates; it was therefore highly
acceptable, particularly as my uncle was aware that his visitor's tastes
accorded exactly with his own.
Both parties seemed determined to avail themselves of their suitability
during the brief stay which Mr. Tisdall had promised; the consequence
was, that they shut themselves up in Sir Arthur's private room for
nearly all the day and the greater part of the night, during the space of
nearly a week, at the end of which the servant having one morning, as
usual, knocked at Mr. Tisdall's bed- room door repeatedly, received no
answer, and, upon attempting to enter, found that it was locked; this
appeared suspicious, and, the inmates of the house having been alarmed,
the door was forced open, and, on proceeding to the bed, they found the

body of its occupant perfectly lifeless, and hanging half-way out, the
head downwards, and near the floor. One deep wound had been
inflicted upon the temple, apparently with some blunt instrument which
had penetrated the brain; and another blow, less effective, probably the
first aimed, had grazed the head, removing some of the scalp, but
leaving the skull untouched. The door had been double- locked upon
the INSIDE, in evidence of which the key still lay where it had been
placed in the lock.
The window, though not secured on the interior, was closed--a
circumstance not a little puzzling, as it afforded the only other mode of
escape from the room; it looked out, too, upon a kind of courtyard,
round which the old buildings stood, formerly accessible by a narrow
doorway and passage lying in the oldest side of the quadrangle, but
which had since been built up, so as to preclude all ingress or egress;
the room was also upon the second story, and the height of the window
considerable. Near the bed were found a pair of razors belonging to the
murdered man, one of them upon the ground, and both of them open.
The weapon which had inflicted the mortal wound was not to be found
in the room, nor were any footsteps or other traces of the murderer
discoverable.
At the suggestion of Sir Arthur himself, a coroner was instantly
summoned to attend, and an inquest was held; nothing, however, in any
degree conclusive was elicited; the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room
were carefully examined, in order to ascertain whether they contained a
trap- door or other concealed mode of entrance --but no such thing
appeared.
Such was the minuteness of investigation employed, that, although the
grate had contained a large fire during the night, they proceeded to
examine even the very chimney, in order to discover whether escape by
it were possible; but this attempt, too, was fruitless, for the chimney,
built in the old fashion, rose in a perfectly perpendicular line from the
hearth to a height of nearly fourteen feet above the roof, affording in its
interior scarcely the possibility of ascent, the flue being smoothly
plastered, and sloping towards the top like an inverted funnel,
promising, too, even if the summit were attained, owing to its great
height, but a precarious descent upon the sharp and steep-ridged roof;
the ashes, too, which lay in the grate, and the soot, as far as it could be

seen, were undisturbed, a circumstance almost conclusive of the