Produced by Col Choat. HTML version by Al Haines.
The Mystery of a Hansom Cab
by
Fergus Hume
CONTENTS
I. WHAT THE ARGUS SAID.
II. THE EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST.
III. ONE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
IV. MR. GORBY MAKES A START.
V. MRS. HAMILTON UNBOSOMS HERSELF.
VI. MR. GORBY MAKES FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
VII. THE WOOL KING.
VIII. BRIAN TAKES A WALK AND A DRIVE.
IX. MR. GORBY IS SATISFIED AT LAST.
X. IN THE QUEEN'S NAME.
XI. COUNSEL FOR THE PRISONER.
XII. SHE WAS A TRUE WOMAN.
XIII. MADGE MAKES A DISCOVERY.
XIV. ANOTHER RICHMOND IN THE FIELD.
XV. A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.
XVI. MISSING.
XVII. THE TRIAL.
XVIII. SAL RAWLINS TELLS ALL SHE KNOWS.
XIX. THE VERDICT OF THE JURY.
XX. THE "ARGUS" GIVES ITS OPINION.
XXI. THREE MONTHS AFTERWARDS.
XXII. A DAUGHTER OF EVE.
XXIII. ACROSS THE WALNUTS AND THE WINE.
XXIV. BRIAN RECEIVES A LETTER.
XXV. WHAT DR. CHINSTON SAID.
XXVI. KILSIP HAS A THEORY OF HIS OWN.
XXVII. MOTHER GUTTERSNIPE JOINS THE MAJORITY.
XXVIII. MARK FRETTLBY HAS A VISITOR.
XXIX. MR. CALTON'S CURIOSITY IS SATISFIED.
XXX. NEMESIS.
XXXI. HUSH-MONEY.
XXXII. DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM.
XXXIII. THE CONFESSION.
XXXIV. THE HANDS OF JUSTICE.
XXXV. "THE LOVE THAT LIVES."
PREFACE
In its original form, "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab" has reached the
sale of 375,000 copies in this country, and some few editions in the
United States of America. Notwithstanding this, the present publishers
have the best of reasons for believing, that there are thousands of
persons whom the book has never reached. The causes of this have
doubtless been many, but chief among them was the form of the
publication itself. It is for this section of the public chiefly that
the present edition is issued. In placing it before my new readers, I
have been asked by the publishers thoroughly to revise the work, and,
at the same time, to set at rest the many conflicting reports
concerning it and myself, which have been current since its initial
issue. The first of these requests I have complied with, and the many
typographic, and other errors, which disfigured the first edition,
have, I think I can safely say, now disappeared. The second request I
am about to fulfil; but, in order to do so, I must ask my readers to go
back with me to the beginning of all things, so far as this special
book is concerned.
The writing of the book was due more to accident than to design. I was
bent on becoming a dramatist, but, being quite unknown, I found it
impossible to induce the managers of the Melbourne Theatres to accept,
or even to read a play. At length it occurred to me I might further my
purpose by writing a novel. I should at all events secure a certain
amount of local attention. Up to that time I had written only one or
two short stories, and the "Cab" was not only the first book I ever
published, but the first book I ever wrote; so to youth and lack of
experience must be ascribed whatever was wanting in the book. I repeat
that the story was written only to attract local attention, and no one
was more astonished than I when it passed beyond the narrow circle for
which it had originally been intended.
My mind made up on this point, I enquired of a leading Melbourne
bookseller what style of book he sold most of. He replied that the
detective stories of Gaboriau had a large sale; and as, at this time, I
had never even heard of this author, I bought all his works--eleven or
thereabouts--and read them carefully. The style of these stories
attracted me, and I determined to write a book of the same class;
containing a mystery, a murder, and a description of low life in
Melbourne. This was the origin of the "Cab." The central idea i.e. the
murder in a cab--came to me while driving at a late hour to St. Kilda,
a suburb of Melbourne; but it took some time and much thought to work
it out to a logical conclusion. I was two months sketching out the
skeleton of the novel, but even so, when I had written it, the result
proved unsatisfactory, for I found I had not sufficiently well
concealed the mystery upon which the whole interest of the book
depended. In the first draft I made Frettlby the criminal, but on
reading over the M.S. I found that his guilt was so obvious that I
wrote out the story for a second time, introducing the character of
Moreland as a scape-goat. Mother Guttersnipe I unearthed in the slums
off Little Bourke Street; and I gave what I am afraid was perhaps too
vivid a picture of her language and personality. These I have toned
down in the present edition. Calton and the two lodging-house keepers
were actual personages whom I knew very well, and I do not think I have
exaggerated their idiosyncracies, although many have, I believe,
doubted the existence of such oddities. All the scenes in the book,
especially the slums, are described from personal observation; and I
passed a great many nights in Little Bourke Street, gathering material.
Having completed the book, I tried to get it published, but every one
to whom I offered it refused even to look at the manuscript on the
ground that no Colonial could write anything worth reading. They gave
no reason for this extraordinary opinion, but it was sufficient for
them, and they laughed to scorn the idea that any good could come out
of Nazareth--i.e., the Colonies. The story thus being boycotted on all
hands, I determined to publish it myself, and accordingly an edition
of, I think, some five thousand copies was brought out at my own cost.
Contrary to the expectations of the publishers, and I must add to my
own, the whole edition went off in three weeks, and the public demanded
a second. This also sold rapidly, and after some months, proposals were
made to me that the book should be brought out in London. Later on I
parted with the book to several speculators, who formed themselves into
what they called "The Hansom Cab Publishing Company." Taking the book
to London, they published it there with great success, and it had a
phenomenal sale, which brought in a large sum of money. The success
was, in the first instance, due, in no small degree, to a very kind and
generous criticism written by Mr. Clement Scott. I may here state that
I had nothing to do with the Company, nor did I receive any money for
the English sale of the book beyond what I sold it for; and, as a
matter of fact, I did not arrive in England until a year after the
novel was published. I have heard it declared that the plot is founded
on a real criminal case; but such a statement is utterly without
foundation, as the story is pure fiction from beginning to end. Several
people before and since my arrival in England, have assumed the
authorship of the book to themselves; and one gentleman went so far as
to declare that he would shoot me if I claimed to have written it. I am
glad to say that up to the present he has not carried out his
intention. Another individual had his cards printed, "Fergus Hume.
Author of 'The Mystery of a Hansom Cab,'" and also added the price for
which he was prepared to write a similar book. Many of the papers put
this last piece of eccentricity down to my account.
I may state in conclusion, that I belong to New Zealand, and not to
Australia, that I am a barrister, and not a retired policeman, that I
am yet two decades off fifty years of age, that Fergus Hume is my real
name, and not a nom-de-plume; and finally, that far from making a
fortune out of the book, all I received for the English and American
rights, previous to the issue of this Revised Edition by my present
publishers, was the sum of fifty pounds. With this I take my leave, and
I trust that the present edition may prove as successful as did the
first.
CHAPTER I.
WHAT THE ARGUS SAID.
The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the
28th July, 18--
"Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the
extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night,
or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this
saying. A crime has been committed by an unknown assassin, within a
short distance of the principal streets of this great city, and is
surrounded by an inpenetrable mystery. Indeed, from the nature of the
crime itself, the place where it was committed, and the fact that the
assassin has escaped without leaving a trace behind him, it would seem
as though the case itself had been taken bodily from one of Gaboreau's
novels, and that his famous detective Lecoq alone would be able to
unravel it. The facts of the case are simply these:--
"On the twenty-seventh day of July, at the hour of twenty minutes to
two o'clock in the morning, a hansom cab drove up to the police station
in Grey Street, St. Kilda, and the driver made the startling statement
that his cab contained the body of a man who he had reason to believe
had been murdered. Being taken into the presence of the inspector, the
cabman, who gave his name as Malcolm Royston, related the following
strange story:--
"At the hour of one o'clock in the morning, he was driving down Collins
Street East, when, as he was passing the Burke and Wills' monument, he
was hailed by a gentleman standing at the corner by the Scotch Church.
He immediately drove up, and saw that the gentleman who hailed him was
supporting the deceased, who appeared to be intoxicated. Both were in
evening dress, but the deceased had on no overcoat, while the other
wore a short covert coat of a light fawn colour, which was open. As
Royston drove up, the gentleman in the light coat said, 'Look here,
cabby, here's some fellow awfully tight, you'd better take him home!'
"Royston then asked him if the drunken man was his friend, but this the
other denied, saying that he had just picked him up from the footpath,
and did not know him from Adam. At this moment the deceased turned his
face up to the light of the lamp under which both were standing, and
the other seemed to recognise him, for he recoiled a pace, letting the
drunken man fall in a heap on the pavement, and gasping out 'You?' he
turned on his heel, and walked rapidly away down Russell Street in the
direction of Bourke Street.
"Royston was staring after him, and wondering at his strange conduct,
when he was recalled to himself by the voice of the deceased, who had
struggled to his feet, and was holding on to the lamp-post, swaying to
and fro. 'I wan' g'ome,' he said in a thick voice, 'St. Kilda.' He then
tried to get into the cab, but was too drunk to do so, and finally sat
down again on the pavement. Seeing this, Royston got down, and lifting
him up, helped him into the cab with some considerable difficulty. The
deceased fell back into the cab, and seemed to drop off to sleep; so,
after closing the door, Royston turned to remount his driving-seat,
when he found the gentleman in the light coat whom he had seen holding
up the deceased, close to his elbow. Royston said, 'Oh, you've come
back,' and the other answered, 'Yes, I've changed my mind, and will see
him home.' As he said this he opened the door of the cab, stepped in
beside the deceased, and told Royston to drive down to St. Kilda.
Royston, who was glad that the friend of the deceased had come to look
after him, drove as he had been directed, but near the Church of
England Grammar School, on the St. Kilda Road, the gentleman in the
light coat called out to him to stop. He did so, and the gentleman got
out of the cab, closing the door after him.
"'He won't let me take him home,' he said, 'so I'll just walk back to
the city, and you can drive him to St. Kilda.'
"'What street, sir?' asked Royston.
"'Grey Street, I fancy,' said the other, 'but my friend will direct you
when you get to the Junction.' "'Ain't he too much on, sir?' said
Royston, dubiously.
"'Oh, no! I think he'll be able to tell you where he lives--it's Grey
Street or Ackland Street, I fancy. I don't know which.'
"He then opened the door of the cab and looked in. 'Good night, old
man,' he said--the other apparently did not answer, for the gentleman
in the light coat, shrugging his shoulders, and muttering 'sulky
brute,' closed the door again. He then gave Royston half-a-sovereign,
lit a cigarette, and after making a few remarks about the beauty of the
night, walked off quickly in the direction of Melbourne. Royston drove
down to the Junction, and having stopped there, according to his
instructions he asked his 'fare' several times where he was to drive
him to. Receiving no response and thinking that the deceased was too
drunk to answer, he got down from his seat, opened the door of the cab,
and found the deceased lying back in the corner with a handkerchief
across his mouth. He put out his hand with the intention of rousing
him, thinking that he had gone to sleep. But on touching him the
deceased fell forward, and on examination, to his horror, he found that
he was quite dead. Alarmed at what had taken place, and suspecting the
gentleman in the light coat, he drove to the police station at St.
Kilda, and there made the above report. The body of the deceased was
taken out of the cab and brought into the station, a doctor being sent
for at once. On his arrival, however, he found that life was quite
extinct, and also discovered that the handkerchief which was tied
lightly over the mouth was saturated with chloroform. He had no
hesitation in stating that from the way in which the handkerchief was
placed, and the presence of chloroform, that a murder had been
committed, and from all appearances the deceased died easily, and
without a struggle. The deceased is a slender man, of medium height,
with a dark complexion, and is dressed in evening dress, which will
render identification difficult, as it is a costume which has no
distinctive mark to render it noticeable. There were no papers or cards
found on the deceased from which his name could be discovered, and the
clothing was not marked in any way. The handkerchief, however, which
was tied across his mouth, was of white silk, and marked in one of the
corners with the letters 'O.W.' in red silk. The assassin, of course,
may have used his own handkerchief to commit the crime, so that if the
initials are those of his name they may ultimately lead to his
detection. There will be an inquest held on the body of the deceased
this morning, when, no doubt, some evidence may be elicited which may
solve the mystery."
In Monday morning's issue of the ARGUS the following article appeared
with reference to the matter:--
"The following additional evidence which has been obtained may throw
some light on the mysterious murder in a hansom cab of which we gave a
full description in Saturday's issue:--'Another hansom cabman called at
the police office, and gave a clue which will, no doubt, prove of value
to the detectives in their search for the murderer. He states that he
was driving up the St. Kilda Road on Friday morning about half-past one
o'clock, when he was hailed by a gentleman in a light coat, who stepped
into the cab and told him to drive to Powlett Street, in East
Melbourne. He did so, and, after paying him, the gentleman got out at
the corner of Wellington Parade and Powlett Street and walked slowly up
Powlett Street, while the cab drove back to town. Here all clue ends,
but there can be no doubt in the minds of our readers as to the
identity of the man in the light coat who got out of Royston's cab on
the St. Kilda Road, with the one who entered the other cab and alighted
therefrom at Powlett Street. There could have been no struggle, as had
any taken place the cabman, Royston, surely would have heard the noise.
The supposition is, therefore, that the deceased was too drunk to make
any resistance, and that the other, watching his opportunity, placed
the handkerchief saturated with chloroform over the mouth of his
victim. Then after perhaps a few ineffectual struggles the latter would
succumb to the effects of his inhalation. The man in the light coat,
judging from his conduct before getting into the cab, appears to have
known the deceased, though the circumstance of his walking away on
recognition, and returning again, shows that his attitude towards the
deceased was not altogether a friendly one.
"The difficulty is where to start from in the search after the author
of what appears to be a deliberate murder, as the deceased seems to be
unknown, and his presumed murderer has escaped. But it is impossible
that the body can remain long without being identified by someone, as
though Melbourne is a large city, yet it is neither Paris nor London,
where a man can disappear in a crowd and never be heard of again. The
first thing to be done is to establish the identity of the deceased,
and then, no doubt, a clue will be obtained leading to the detection of
the man in the light coat who appears to have been the perpetrator of
the crime. It is of the utmost importance that the mystery in which the
crime is shrouded should be cleared up, not only in the interests of
justice, but also in those of the public--taking place as it did in a
public conveyance, and in the public street. To think that the author
of such a crime is at present at large, walking in our midst, and
perhaps preparing for the committal of another, is enough to shake the
strongest nerves. In one of Du Boisgobey's stories, entitled 'An
Omnibus Mystery,' a murder closely resembling this tragedy takes place
in an omnibus, but we question if even that author would have been
daring enough to write about a crime being committed in such an
unlikely place as a hansom cab. Here is a great chance for some of our
detectives to render themselves famous, and we feel sure that they will
do their utmost to trace the author of this cowardly and dastardly
murder."