SCENES IN CATCHPOLE SQUARE.
From time to time there had been murders committed in London with
details dismal and sordid enough to satisfy the most rabid appetites,
but it was generally admitted that the great Catchpole Square Mystery
outvied them all in just those elements of attraction which render
crime so weirdly fascinating to the British public. Men and women in
North Islington experienced a feeling akin to that which the bestowal
of an unexpected dignity confers, and when they retired to bed were
more than ordinarily careful about the fastening of locks and bolts.
Timid wives woke in the middle of the night, and tremblingly asked
their husbands whether they did not hear somebody creeping in the
passages, and many a single woman shivered in her bed. Shopkeepers
standing behind their counters bristled with it; blue-aproned
butchers, knife in hand, called out their "Buy, buy, buy!" with a
brisk and cheery ring; crossing sweepers touched their hats smartly to
their patrons, and preceding them with the unnecessary broom as they
swept nothing away, murmured the latest rumour; the lamplighters,
usually a sad race, lighted the street lamps with unwonted alacrity;
and the Saturday night beggars took their stands below the kerb in
hopeful anticipation of a spurt in benevolence. Naturally it formed
the staple news in the newspapers on Sunday and Monday, and all agreed
that the excitement it had created was unparallelled in the records of
the criminal calendar.
"On Saturday evening," said "The Little Busy Bee" in its Monday's
editions, "numbers of people wended their way to Catchpole Square from
every part of the metropolis. Up till late the usually quiet streets
resembled a Saturday night market, and there was an extraordinary
demand for the literature of crime, with which the vendors of
second-hand books had provided themselves. Towards midnight the human
tide slackened, but even during the early hours of the morning there
were many fresh arrivals. On Sunday the excitement was renewed, and it
is calculated that seven or eight thousand persons must have visited
the Square in the course of the day, many of whom seemed to regard the
occasion as a picnic.
"In our columns will be found picturesque accounts of incidents that
came under the notice of our reporters, not the least amusing of which
is that of the mother and father who brought with them a large family
of children, and had come provided with food for a day's outing. They
arrived at eleven in the morning, and at eleven at night were still
there. They had been informed that when a murdered man was lying in
his own bed unburied on the Day of Rest he was ordered to get up and
dress himself when the church bells rang, and go to church to pray for
his sins. If he disobeyed his soul was lost, and his ghost would
appear on the roof at midnight, surrounded by flames and accompanied
by the Evil One. 'Did he go to church?' asked our reporter, who, in a
conversation with the woman late on Sunday night, elicited this
curious piece of information. 'No,' replied the woman, 'and it's a bad
day's work for him. I shouldn't like to be in his shoes.' The woman
furthermore said that she would give anything to see the ghost at
midnight on the roof, thus evincing small regard for Samuel Boyd's
salvation. 'It would be a better show, wouldn't it?' she observed,
with an eye to theatrical effect. 'I've never seen the Devil.' It is
deplorable that in this age such silly superstitions should obtain
credence, and that with numbers of people in different parts of the
country the belief in witchcraft and in demoniacal demonstrations
should still exist.
"Secondary only in importance to the murder is the disappearance of
Samuel Boyd's clerk, Abel Death. To suggest anything in the shape of
complicity would be prejudging the case, but whatever may be the fate
of Abel Death his poor family are to be commiserated. The theories and
conjectures respecting the disappearance of this man are perfectly
bewildering, and many are the excited discussions concerning it. Such
licence of speech cannot be commended, and we suggest to those persons
indulging in it the advisability of suspending their judgment.
"A full report of the inquest held this morning appears in our
columns. In view of the burial of the body of the murdered man, which
will take place to-morrow, it was deemed necessary to open the inquiry
to-day, although it was anticipated that little progress would be
made; but although the Coroner stated that the proceedings would be of
a formal character, it will be seen that matters were introduced the
development of which will be followed with the keenest interest. The
appearance of an eminent barrister for Lord and Lady Wharton, whose
names have not hitherto been associated with the mystery, aroused
general curiosity, which was intensified by the conduct of Lady
Wharton herself. The Court was crowded, and numbers of persons could
not obtain admittance. Among the audience we noticed several famous
actors and actresses."