although her husband was pecuniarily embarrassed at the time when he
sold the business, a large portion of the money owing was money that he
held as trustee, and which, being in the funds, railway stocks &c., he
had the exclusive management of, having taken all the securities
several years ago out of the hands of the lawyers concerned in the
trust. There was no one to check his malversation, and by the simple
expedient of keeping the interest paid, he escaped detection. At length,
finding that the affair was getting beyond his control, the means of his
permanently concealing it being rendered more and more difficult by its
magnitude, and the fact that losses in trade, perhaps the interest upon
the lost capital, swelled up an awful total, he took the Newtons into
his confidence, and the set devised a scheme for colourably selling his
stock-in-trade, fixtures, good-will, &c., &c., for extending the
premises, and so forth, and burning the place down, so as to realise a
large sum in ready money--considerably more than the value of the things
insured. By these means he hoped to retrieve his position as trustee,
and put a tidy sum of money in his own pocket--his confederates, the
Newtons, of course also profiting somewhat largely.
Paterson was a peculiar and self-reliant man. Moreover, he could not
rely upon getting any solicitor to enter into such a confederacy. It is
absolutely certain that if he could induce any one in the legal
profession to join in such a villanous compact, he would have been the
very lowest among low attorneys. He would in all probability have known
sufficiently well how to screen himself, and also how to swallow and
retain the lion's share of the plunder. All these things were evident to
Mr. Paterson, so he kept the bills of exchange which the Newtons had
given him in his own hands, and dreading burglary, or the fraudulent
and surreptitious removal of them from the apartments he now occupied
during his absence, if an opportunity of any kind were furnished, he
usually carried these documents about with him in his pocket-book when
he left home. This was, of course, a dangerous plan, and one that any
honest man in an ordinary position would not adopt; but perhaps, after
all, it was the safest for such a man as Paterson in the position he
then stood.
The Newtons knew of Paterson's fraudulent trusteeship. They were
sufficiently in his confidence to have obtained nearly all the
information which enabled them to keep him at arm's length. And of
course Paterson also knew of the exaggerated claim which had been
presented to the insurance company, based upon inventories and papers
supplied to them by him on the transfer of the business. It is hard to
say that either was more deeply implicated in the villany than the
other; although it is clear that Paterson, who stood behind the scenes
and was screened from observation by the prominent defrauders, was, in
reality at least, as deep, and perhaps more deeply, involved in the
swindle and arson than either of the Newtons. The situation of the
parties towards each other was not very unlike that thieves ordinarily
stand in. One had reason to fear the other, and there was in consequence
mutual jealousy, distrust, and apprehension.
After leaving the Dove, I had no doubt that the Newtons hastened in the
direction that Paterson had, go homewards, and succeeded in overtaking
him; that, being partially intoxicated he was easily grasped and held
by his whilom confederates, one of whom probably held his hand over the
victim's mouth while the other hastily seized his pocket-book, removed
from it the acceptances which had been given him on the transfer of the
business, &c., after which he was pitched into the water. When taken
from the canal and searched, a pocket-book was found upon the person of
the murdered incendiary, and in it all the papers that he was known to
carry except the acceptances, which were, to the mind of Mrs. Paterson,
painfully conspicuous by their absence.
I have explained that the Newtons did not know that Mrs. Paterson was in
her husband's confidence; that they imagined she was not; and that he,
with a desire for counter-check which distinguishes the suspicious,
taught them so to believe. He would frequently say, when Mrs. Paterson's
name transpired in their conversations prior and subsequently to the
fire, that "he never trusted a woman with a secret of any importance, as
she was sure to blab or peach," &c. As I have said, however, he was all
the while disclosing to her the conspiracy and plot. She was thoroughly
informed of every circumstance, and knew all about their proceedings
from first to last as well as either of the Newtons did.
After her husband's death, in her emergency, before seeking me she
consulted those well-known criminal lawyers, Messrs. Levy Levy,
Brothers, and Sons, who (except when they attend a police-court, and
think a demonstration requisite for the vindication of their skill to
the newspaper-reading World, as an advertisement for business in the
same line) conceive that the Carlylese or Chinese motto about silence
embodies the prime wisdom or the highest sagacity. They recommended Mrs.
Paterson to wait and hold her tongue--for the present. She did this
until she knew that the money had been paid by the insurance company, of
which circumstance she then informed her clever Mosaic attorneys. They,
upon hearing this circumstance from their client, wisely and shrewdly,
perhaps, told her the time had now arrived for action, that they were
the people to act, and that she had better leave herself in their hands.
To this she readily consented; for, as I have said, the Newtons inspired
her with awe. If she had not been sensible that she had an advantage in
her knowledge of them, and that they at the present moment had no
conception she was aware of their villany, she would have trembled lest,
as the greed of the brothers led them to the murder of her husband in
order to prevent further disclosures, they would murder her.
The action of her attorneys was not a very remarkable or, I think,
skilful performance. One thing to be said is, these gentlemen have an
enormous amount of very lucrative business, and it does not, I believe,
pay them to bestow much thought upon any thing. For instance, when some
wholesale forger, some coiner in an extensive way of business, some
pivot of pick-pocketing or burglary, or the member of any gang, is
arrested, he sends immediately for Messrs. Levy Levy, Brothers, and
Sons, and, to secure their best services, makes them a large payment.
They hear what he has got to say. They attend the police-court, bully
the witnesses for the prosecution, make every conceivable statement
about their client's respectability within the limits that evidence will
permit; and although, almost as a matter of course in these cases, the
criminal gets sent for trial, he goes away to the House of Detention
rejoicing in the confident belief that he has got, at all events, the
best criminal lawyers in the country to defend him. When he comes up for
trial, out of the hundred or two hundred pounds or more which Messrs.
Levy Levy and family have extracted from the prisoner, his relatives,
his connexions, or his gang, these attorneys give a brief or a couple of
briefs to counsel, which contain little if any thing more than copies of
the depositions taken before the magistrates, and on the back of those
briefs are severally indorsed, "Mr. Noxious Sound, 10 guineas;" and "Mr.
Modest Emptypurse, 2 guineas." The leader of these two gentlemen perhaps
tries to pick a hole in the indictment, which has for several years past
been not very serviceable to prisoners, because if the hole is but a
small one, and unless the bench can be satisfied that the indictment, as
it stands, describes a different offence to that which a prisoner has
been arrested upon, or has come prepared to meet, it is amended in court
so as to cure the defect which Mr. Noxious Sound's not miraculous
penetration has discovered. Or Mr. Sound may raise what thieves call a
"pint of law" for the Court of Criminal Appeal, about which it is
needless to say any thing, except that the case then easily glides from
the lower to higher tribunal and that in its course Messrs. Levy Levy
and kindred get another considerable lump of money out of it. While they
thus realise enormous incomes by a process so facile, and one which
involves no responsibility and taxes no intellect--a thing, by the way,
nearly impossible, for the Levys have not much of the latter article
among the lot of them--they are not disposed, even under what would to
the ordinary solicitor be a temptation of liberal costs, to take a vast
deal of trouble, or, as one of them would observe, "put themselves far
out of the way."
Messrs. Levy Levy and family wrote to Messrs. Newton Brothers a letter,
which stated that they had been called upon and consulted by a client on
a matter in which they (Messrs. Newton Brothers) were concerned; and
that they (Messrs. Levy Levy and kindred) would be glad to see them
(Messrs. Newton Brothers).
Mr. Albert Newton received this letter and opened it. When he
communicated it to his brother, that gentleman elegantly observed that
he thought he "smelt a rat;" but I do not think he exactly comprehended
who the rat was, or its location. However, the firm also thought it
desirable to consult attorneys. Newtons would have gone to Messrs. Levy
Levy and family; but as the professional services of these renowned
pettifoggers were forestalled, Newton Brothers put themselves into
communication with another Levy, who is an attorney, and may or may not
be, for any thing I know, a kinsman of the members of the great Old
Bailey house. He called upon Messrs. Levy Levy and family, and the
result was, that Mrs. Paterson, when she next waited upon them, was
told it was "an ugly affair," and that they "did not see how to move in
it without peril." They talked to her in the language of professional
wisdom--and slang. They said something about stinks that were stirred
smelling all the more because of the operation, and used other unequally
sage observations. The widow was not broken-hearted, but certainly
crest-fallen, and eminently, although silently, indignant.
Mrs. Paterson vowed vengeance, although the inarticulate form of her
protestations saved their being registered any where to her
disadvantage. She now determined to take her own course in bringing down
upon the heads of her husband's confederates in the swindle and in the
arson, and her husband's murderers, the vengeance of the law. She was
ultimately led by this amiable turn of reflection to communicate with
me, and the reader has already been told the immediate result.
Popular belief, I am sorry to say, in the town where the bonnet-factory
had stood, was largely tinged with prejudice or superstition, which
materially assisted Newtons' future plans. Paterson's breach of trust
became known; his losses in trade also became generally known. The fire
having broken out so soon after the transfer of the business had been
effected, and the suicide--as it was said--of the late proprietor, all
confirmed the mass of the people there in the Newtonian belief that a
spell, or witchery, or fatal influence of some kind, hung over the
establishment. Newtons' professions of faith of the same kind did not,
therefore, appear remarkable. A few people wondered, but nobody except
the insurance office suspected the reason why the firm determined not to
resume business there. They were content to pay such debts as they had
contracted in the neighbourhood, to display a little kindness to a few
of the workpeople in the bitterest distress; and having thus obtained a
very pleasant reputation, they quitted the neighbourhood for London,
intending, as they said, to embark in some other line of enterprise.
I kept close watch upon the culprits, and knew all their movements; but
still I could not, for a long time, bring any thing home to them with
sufficient precision to warrant a prosecution by the insurance company.
Among the things I did, however, discover, was an abundant series of
links in a chain of evidence which, some day, I felt certain I could
attach at its extremity to a great crime; and although my employers
were, I think, getting a little impatient, as I also think I was myself,
I never doubted that the result would be, if not the hanging of the
Newtons, their certain condemnation to the bulks or a convict prison for
the term of their natural lives.
I also ascertained that these villains were mixed up with, in divers
ways, a gang who for many years past, and for some years after the date
of this narrative, played a prominent part in, or were at the root of,
all the great crimes of London, and many of those in the provinces. The
Newtons appeared to have a special department of the criminal business
allotted to or taken up by them. Although they had been concerned in a
forgery or two, in a railway "plant," and a burglary on a grand scale,
yet their preference was to get up fires. They had been concerned as
subordinates and screened performers in a large incendiary fire at
Whitechapel, in another at Manchester, and, I also believe, one in
Liverpool.
After about sixteen months' waiting and watching--during which time the
Newtons had made one or two pleasure-trips to the Continent, had resided
at various parts of the metropolis in superior furnished apartments, and
had patronised tailors extensively for various costumes--I ascertained
that they had resolved to re-commence business.
One of them, Mr. Henry Newton, went into the west of England, to the
town of B----, and took a large house and shop there, which he opened as
a music-seller's and a pianoforte warehouse. Next door to the goodly and
capacious premises which Mr. Henry Newton had taken, was a small,
dwarfed, and not by any means pretty building. This had been not long
before to let, but had found a tenant about a month or six weeks before
Mr. Newton took the adjacent more pretentious structure. The small house
was opened, in a humble way of business, by an old man and woman. The
old folk sold lollipops, fruit, children's books, &c. Newton complained
to the agent of the low character of this business, and went so far as
to negotiate with the small shopkeeper for the surrender of his tenancy
in the premises; but the negotiation broke off, in consequence of the
small shopkeeper demanding what Mr. Newton thought any thing but a small
price for his interest in the hovel. Mr. Newton declared that he had an
unconquerable objection, on principle, to being swindled or robbed in
that way. Rather than submit to the small shopkeeper's gross extortion,
he said he would put up with the nuisance, although it would interfere
with the respectable business he intended to carry on.
I ought to explain, that Mr. Newton did not appear in the town under the
name of Newton. He set up there as "Keeling and Co., wholesale
pianoforte manufacturers, dealers, and merchants." His establishment was
called the "Temple of the Muses," and a very pretty affair it was.
Mr. Albert Newton remained in London. He started, under the title of
"Cross and Co.," as "general commission-agent, importer, and merchants,"
near Tower Hill, and soon found himself engaged in rather extensive
operations at home and abroad. He also served as a reference for his
brother, Mr. Keeling.
Mr. Keeling had not opened his premises long when he slightly intimated
his intention to insure the "Temple of the Muses." Several of the local
agents of insurance companies left at his premises circulars and
prospectuses, inviting him thereby to insure his life or his chattels,
or both. He had interviews with two or three of the agents about terms,
and was critical in comparing the different rates of their offices, the
dates of their foundation, the respectability of their management, and
all such other things as a prudent insurer would like to be well
informed about. The upshot or result was, that he effected an insurance
through the local agent of one of the oldest London offices (the title
of which need not for the present be mentioned), although it cost him a
trifle more than was asked by the agent of a modern office, because he
had no belief, he said, in "mushroom concerns." The agent, who profited
by it, considered this decision a token of Mr. Keeling's sound practical
judgment.
Several pianos arrived, some large parcels of music, and other goods,
which were duly taken from the railway station to the "Temple of the
Muses," by the railway servants, whose fatigue was usually lightened by
a trifling _douceur_ from Messrs. Keeling and Co.
Messrs. Keeling's men, an assistant and a porter, were brought by them
from London. The principal had been heard to say that nobody but London
men could understand his way of business; and that although he liked the
people of B---- very well (especially the better classes), he could not
put up with the trade assistants to be got in that town.
Shortly after the "Temple of the Muses" was opened, the proprietor was
scandalised by a little stall having been put outside the next house or
hovel, with ginger-beer and other trifling articles of refreshment upon
it for sale, which, indeed, seemed to be displayed with a sort of vulgar
ostentation by the proprietor, as Keeling said, as a sort of means to
annoy him, until he gave a fancy price in order to get rid of the
fellow. In this, however, the small shopkeeper was not successful.
Although Mr. Keeling's indignation and disgust were intense, he would
not buy off the nuisance at the price demanded. He talked of going to
law with the old man, and consulted the leading solicitor in the town
about an action or an indictment; but was advised that the annoyance was
insufficient to give him the remedy he sought.
No business seemed to be done by Keeling and Co. A few pieces of music
were sold. A good many people called to see the pianos; but the prices
asked for them somewhat alarmed the customers. Mr. Keeling occasionally
got disgusted, and assured his visitors he could not sell such articles
as he had to sell at the prices they were expected to be sold for,
although he knew that common trashy things could be supplied at those
figures.
One day there was a sale in London of the stock of a pianoforte
manufacturer advertised in the daily papers. It announced an auction at
some future day, unless the whole stock were previously disposed of by
private contract, together with the lease and good-will of the
manufacturer's premises. Mr. Keeling received a telegram from Messrs.
Cross, which ran thus: "See the _Times_. Advertisement, sale of Mr.----.
Stock, good-will, &c."
Mr. Keeling, after receiving this telegram, was very anxious to see the
_Times_, which arrived in due course about mid-day. He sent to the
railway station two or three times, and ultimately went up himself, to
get an early copy of the paper. On his way there he met an acquaintance
or two (one was my assistant, although he little dreamt it), whom he
told there was a splendid opportunity, he thought, for buying a large
stock, and perhaps getting a first-class Town business, to which his
country trade of the "Temple of the Muses" might be added with
advantage. He thought he might also be able to get a stock of pianos, of
rather lower quality than he now had, which the people of B---- might
appreciate at the price he could offer them. After he had procured the
_Times_, and taken care to explain to a few people the precise cause of
his journey to London, he only awaited the arrival of the next up-train,
and away he went to Town by it. He expected to be down the next day, but
found this impossible, as he explained in a telegram to his assistant or
shopman, but said that he would positively return on the day following.
On the second night after Mr. Keeling's departure for London, about a
quarter to twelve o'clock, there was a cry of fire in the town of B----.
The little hovel had caught light in the rear, and it happened that this
wretched place actually joined the "Temple of the Muses." A wooden
outhouse behind the smaller structure also joined the back premises of
the Temple, in which were stored packing-cases, straw, &c.
The flames soon demolished the straw-roofed lollipop-shop, and left
nothing but a heap of ashes as a memorial of its devastation. The old
man and his wife readily escaped, however, as the fire began at the back
of the house, and they were not sound sleepers. Few old people, if we
may believe the physiologists, do sleep soundly; so that to suspect the
lollipop shopkeeper and his wife of incendiarism, on the ground of their
escape, would be as absurd as it would be unjust. The old man was,
moreover, not insured. What motive could he have to set his
establishment on fire?
The "Temple of the Muses" fared not much better than the hovel. The
walls and some of the cross-beams were left standing; but it was
tolerably well gutted, and all the stock and furniture in it were
consumed.
It unfortunately happened that the town of B---- had no appliances worth
mentioning for the extinction of fire. It was worse off in this respect
than the town in which Messrs. Newtons' straw-bonnet manufactory was
situate. There was the town-engine at B----, but it was found
impracticable to get that crazy instrument into working order. It was a
long time before the door of the engine-house could be opened for want
of the key. It was then found impossible to get the parts of the engine
together. Half of the town might have been destroyed before it could be
got ready for use. Some portions of the hose were missing; the hinges
were all rusty, and the metal-work dirty and corroded. The engine was,
in point of fact, a wreck of time, and in an advanced stage of decay.
But for this it is likely that the "Temple of the Muses" would not have
sustained so much damage as it did; but happily no lives were lost in
either building.
Mr. Keeling being telegraphed for, rushed, with the rapidity of an
express train, to the scene of what he called his misfortune, and met
the condolences of every body there, not excepting his rivals and most
jealous neighbours.
The only man who could not understand the affair, but whose suspicions,
if he had any, took no definite shape, was the agent of the company,
deputy-registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, parish-clerk,
undertaker, coal-merchant, and commission-agent. This respectable old
gentleman informed every body that there had been no house on fire in
B---- for forty years. He had been agent for the insurance office
thirty-four years himself; and, although he had taken in premiums not
less than 10,000_l._, he had never been called upon under one of those
cases for a shilling.
The poor old man seemed to think, or one might judge by his manner that
he thought, a claim of 3000_l._, which Messrs. Keeling and Co., of the
"Temple of the Muses," would have to present, would about ruin the
office, and utterly destroy him as an agent. He was very anxious,
therefore, to explain all about it; to show the care with which he had
made an examination of the premises; to exhibit how unfortunate the
contiguous position of the "Temple of the Muses" and the adjoining
premises was; to demonstrate how little he could have expected that a
fire would have broken out in that hovel; and how, if he had thought of
such a thing, he must also have concluded that the "Temple of the Muses"
would not have caught light before the flames could have been
extinguished in the other building.
The agent made a special journey to London, in order to see the board;
and he did see the secretary, in an interview at which I was present. It
was suggested by me that it could not be helped, and that such things
must happen. The secretary said, "Yes; he did not know but that a claim
like that was, in the long-run, rather beneficial to the company than
otherwise." The agent was consoled by the assurance that it might assist
him in extending the operations of the company; that he might hope to
make up the loss in new business; and that, indeed, he was entitled,
when estimating the results of his own business with the company, to set
off against this loss a larger amount, which he had during his
thirty-four years' agency remitted them.
The poor old agent, who could be of no use to me in my investigations,
went back to B----, and unconsciously did me a little service by
trumpeting the statements of myself and the secretary as the settled
conviction of the company that all was right, and that its intention was
to pay the claim in the most handsome manner--all of which Mr. Keeling
got to know, and was no doubt as much comforted thereby as the agent
himself.