The Eltham tragedy reviewed / by Newton Crosland.

  • Crosland, Newton, 1819-1899.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Eltham tragedy reviewed / by Newton Crosland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    described to Mr. Sparsbott what he wanted, and said it was to ho used in some theatrical performance. ,.p i If the purchaser of the hammer could be identined, it is acknow- ledged, on all sides, he would turn out to be the murderer—the very man we want; but there is now not the slightest possibility of discovering him, because Mrs. Thomas declares her entire inability to identify anyone as the purchaser. To offer a reward for the discovery of the murderer is, therefore, simply a solemn mockery ; it is holding out an inducement to Mrs. Thomas to do what she has sworn she cannot do, and it is a mere waste of time to search for the murderer through any other channel. The plasterer’s hammer is a very useful tool, and a formidable weapon. It has a handle of a very convenient length—say 15 inches or so, at one end is a hammer combined with a hatchet, and in the side of the hatchet-part is a notch for extracting nails, so that the plasterer can cut his lath and nail it down with great celerity. The place where the murder -was perpetrated is exactly two miles and three-quarters from Mr. Pook’s shop. An active man can easily walk the distance in three-quarters of an hour, and he could as easily run back in 21 minutes. Allowing 15 seconds for the perpetration of the crime, the whole matter could have been done in 66 minutes and 15 seconds—or to allow sufficient margin say 67 minutes—no great expenditure of time! Kidbrooke Lane is a pleasant haunt in summer time when the weather is fine, and then it is somewhat frequented ; but in winter or in dull gloomy weather it is quite deserted, and then it looks like a cut-throat sort of place. On one side nearest to Kidbrooke is a bank with a low hedge and ditch, and on the other or Eltham side, where the girl was found, is a bank with a tall hedge, altogether about ten feet high. In the field running along inside by this hedge is a foot- path open to the public, and where they generally prefer to walk, as it is smooth and more comfortable than the rough, rutty, grassy lane. Just at the spot where the murder was done, the lane contracts to its narrowest part, about 13 feet measured from the taU hedge to the opposite ditch, and forms a sort of curve or elbow, where the range of view is very limited. A shallow rivulet runs across one part of the lane. In damp weather the lane is apt to be muddy, as being so shut in with hedges the wind cannot dry it readily, and the tall hedge on th5 south side shades it from the sun. On the night of the murder, in consequence of a temporary scarcity of men, there was no policeman on duty in this locality from six till ten o’clock, and no policeman went along the lane till two o’clook in tho morning, when there was only just sufficient light in the sky to enable him to see his way. Pook was tried for the murder of the girl Jane Maria Clouson at the Central Criminal Court in the July session, and after four days’ trial he was acquitted. With these preliminary particulars the reader will be able to follow the comments which I have felt it my duty to make on a subject