The Mysteries of the Court of London, Vol. 5 — page 98: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE MYSTERIES OF THE HOURT. ee ee a ees oe ag oe 1 al s “¥ am as ceritin, your wofship, as that I am now addressing you,” was the reply. “My ‘wife and daughters can all prove it. And here,” he added, producing a daf-book, “are the entries of what the lady had at the hotel. Your worship will perceive that there‘are entries of tea and supper under yesterday's date. I make up this bogk every night before I goto bed.” | The book was handed up to the Mavor, who ex- amined the items; ai®l then turning to Mir. Mar- how, he said, “ Really, sir, 1 think you ought to be satisfied that this is a case of fhistaken identity. Has the lady a sister at all resembling her?” “That, your worship,” responded the attorney, ‘was the very question I put to her in tLe presence of the constable: and she emphatically replied in the nogative. Ngw observe, your worship—the woman who made the attempted robbery on me and my partner, told me her name was Mrs. Chandos; and the prisoner at the bar says ‘she is Mrs. Chandos. Again, the woman who attempted the robbéFy took mo to a cottage which has been described; and the woman at the bar admits that she lives at that cottage. Then safain, I have often scon the woman who attempted to wb me riding about Edmonton; I also scrutinized her well be- tween one and two o'clock’ this morning when she had on her male attiro: and I am convinced that the wor@an at the bar is the same that I have seon riding about Edmonton and whom I beheld in male attire during the past night. Therefore I maintain, that so far as I am concerned, I have proved the identity. I confess that I am staggered and even bewildored by the counter-evidence that has been given; and without fog a single instant impeaching the veracity of the Marshalls, of Mr, Hood, or of his assistant, I can only say that if the woman at the bar is not the female highwayman who at- tompfted to rob me and my partner, then from this time forth I shall not be able to put faith in the evidence of my own senses. Under all the circum- stances, I think your worship will admit that this is a case which ought to be sent before a superior tribunal; and therefore I ask your worship to direct that the prisoner at the bar be sent up to London in charge of some officer of your court, with a view to a farther investigation before fhe magistrate of the district in which the felony was committed. * And before I conclude I will observe that a great responsibility reéts upon the shoulders of your wor- ship at the present moment: because if your worship refuses my defhand, the ings must drop altogether here, as I should feel too disgusted and have too little confidence in the force of truth —and I may also say in the evidences of my own senses—t6 have the cage re-opened or the inves- tigation renewed elsewhere. Therefore, as the fairest course which can be adopted, ang that there may be no chance of a guilty person”esciping punish- ment in pence of teatimony of a somewhat inexplicable nature, I repeat my'demand that the prisoner be sent up to London.” its } _ I hate little trouble,” said the Mayor, after a few minutes’ consultation with his clerk, “in gfving my judgment in this matter. There are iews that may be taken of the case. Firstly, it ' py the evidence of a most respectable hotél‘keeper of this town that the prisoner at the kar arrived at his house by seven o'clock “last evening; and grante eed ing that fact to be established, it is totally impossi- ble the prisoner could haye committed the assault upon the prosecutor in the middle of the night. Secondly, we have the evidence of a gentleman of unquestionable veracity—Mr. Hood—that he saw the prisoner at the bar at the hotel this morning at eight o'clock. Now, even setting asido Mr. Mar- shall’s evidence altogether, can wo sipposoe that tho prisoner, if she had escaped from the cottage near | London at a little before two in the morning, could have been at Dover ateight ? There was no railway- train by which she could arrive. Had sho travelled post the whole distance, which I compute to be from Edmonton to Dover nearly eighty miles, she could not have done it in the time. As for her performing such & journey on horseback if so sort a perio, the idea is out of the question. Such a feat could o::!v be accomplished by frequent relays, ordered and! arranged beforehand : for to obtain several consecu- tive changes of horses at such hours, when road-side inns are all shut up and their inmatos asleep, would occasion a waste of time far beyond what can enter into the presgnt computation. In addition, however, to the evidence of Mr. Marshall, proving that the lady was at his hotel at seven o'clock last evening — and to that of Mr. Hood, proving that she was there at eight this morning—we hav® ‘the circumstan- tial evidence spoken to by the “assistant, proving that she was there soon after threo this morning. Therefore, taking all these facts into consideration, I can only come to one conclusion: namely, that it is a case of mistaken idegtity under very extraordinary circumstances ; and I have no alternative but to de- clare the alibi most satisfactorily established, and ta discharge the prisoner from custody.” Mr, Marlow slappec his hand violently down upon the ledge ofthe witness-box, and exclaimed, “ Well, sir, I can acarcely blame you for tho decision te which you have come, considering all that, has trans- ired : and here therefore the matter drops. But in uture I shall believe in nothing I hear, ‘Sec, or touch. If anybody #els me at noonday that the sun is shining, I shall answer that it may possibly be so, but it is not certain.” | Having thus spoken with excited volubility, Mr. Marlow bowed to the Mayor and hurried out of the court. Lady Bess then returned to the Admiral’s Hoad in cotfpany with her friends; and immediately on their arrival at the tavern, Mr. Hood earnestly counselled her to take her composing draught and go to bed, or the ¢xcitement which she had under. gone would be very likely to"bring back her hysteri- cal fits. The amasonian lady promised to follow this advice: but-sa soon as surgeon, and his he assistant had taken their leave, she sat down to an excellent luncheon’ wit? the Marshalls ; and heartily did they all laugh at the discomfituro of the bustling Before we conclude this chapter, we must give a few requisite explanations. The scrap of paper, written by Lady Bees, and sent by the carrier- Stations—horses. Dover—Do something to prove I was at your house this night. Twenty minutes to two. | The first line was a command merely referring to a ear a TT aT Pe SE aE I a Se a a a a ay cc: Sa Naren EO NOG SS (CO)