June 9, 2025 • 28 mins
Imagine pulling over 26 miles outside Bordeaux and having your life transform forever. This is exactly what happens to Seymour Merriman. His ordinary halt spirals him into a whirlwind of mystery, illicit smuggling, chilling murder, and unexpected romance. With the clock ticking, two amateur sleuths scramble to solve the baffling enigma of alternating number plates and the dangerous dealings of the pit prop syndicate. If they fail, the notorious Inspector Willis from Scotland Yard will take over. Dive into this riveting narrative and see where the journey takes you.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter fourteen of the Pit prop Syndicate by Freeman wills
Croft's This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter
fourteen a mystifying discovery. Inspector Willis was more than interested
in his new case. The more he thought over it,
the more he realized its dramatic possibilities and the almost
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world wide public interest it was likely to arouse, as
well as the importance which his superiors would certainly attach
to it. In other words, the influence a successful handling
of it would have on his career. He had not
been idle since the day of the inquest, now a
week past. To begin with, he had seen Hilliard secretly
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and learned at first hand all that that young man
could tell him. Next, he had made sure that the
finger prints found on the speaking tube were not those
of mister Cockburn, and he remained keenly anxious to obtain
impressions from Captain Beamish's fingers to compare with the former.
But ines from the port officials at Hull, made by
wire on the evening of the inquest showed that the
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Girondine would not be back at Ferraby for eight days.
There had been no object therefore, in his leaving London immediately,
and instead he had busied himself by trying to follow
up the deceased's movements in the metropolis and learn with
whom he had associated during his stay. In his search
for clues, he had even taken the hint from Merriman's
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newspaper and bought a copy of the Mystery of a
Handsome Cab. But though he saw that this clever story
might easily have inspired the crime, he could find from
it no help towards its solution. He had also paid
a flying visit to the manager of the Hopwood manufacturing
company in Sheffield, where Cockburn had been employed. From him,
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he had learned that Madeleine's surmise was correct, and that
there had been friction before her father left. In point
of fact, a surprise audit had revealed discrepancies in the accounts,
some money was missing, and what was suspiciously like an
attempt to falsify the books had taken place, but the
thing could not be proved. Mister Coburn had paid up,
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but though his plea that he had made a genuine
clerical error had been accepted, his place had been filled.
The manager expressed the private opinion that there was no
doubt of his subordinate's guilt, saying also that it was
well known that during the previous months Coburn had been
losing money heavily through gambling. Where he had obtained the
money to meet the deficit. The manager did not know,
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but he believed someone must have come forward to assist him.
This information interested Willis, keenly, supporting as it seemed to
do his idea that Coburn was in the power of
the syndicate or one of its members. If, for example,
one of these men on the lookout for helpers in
his conspiracy had learned of the cashier's predicaments, it was
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conceivable that he might have obtained his hold by advancing
the money needed to square the matter in return for
assigned confession of guins. This was, of course the merest
guess work, but it at least indicated to Willis a
fresh line of inquiry in case his present investigation failed,
and with the latter he was becoming exceedingly disappointed. With
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the exception of the facts just mentioned, he had learned
absolutely nothing to help him. Mister Coburn might as well
have vanished into thin air when he left the Peveril Hotel.
For all the trace he had left, Willis could learn
neither where he went nor whom he met on any
one of the four days he had spent in London.
He congratulated himself therefore, that on the following day the
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Girundine would be back at Farraby, and he would then
be able to start work on the finger print clue.
That evening he settled himself with his pipe to think
over once more the facts he had already learned. As
time passed, he found himself approaching more and more to
the conclusion reached by Hilliard and Merriman several weeks before
that the secret of the syndicate was the essential feature
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of the case. What were these people doing? That was
the question which, at all costs he must answer. His
mind reverted to the two theories already in the field.
At first sight, that of brandy smuggling seemed tenable enough,
and he turned his attention to the steps by which
the two young men had tried to test it. At
the loading end, their observations were admittedly worthless, But at
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Farrabee they seemed to have made a satisfactory investigation. Unless
they had unknowingly fallen asleep in the barrel. It was
hard to see how they could have failed to observe
contraband being set ashore had any been unloaded, But he
did not believe they had fallen asleep. People were usually
conscious of awakening. Besides, there was the testimony of Menzies,
the pilot. It was hardly conceivable that this man should
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also have been deceived. At the same time, Willis decided
he must interview him so as to form his own
opinion of the man's reliability. Another possibility occurred to him
which none of the amateur investigators appeared to have thought of.
North Sea trawlers were frequently used for getting contraband ashore.
Was the Girondine transferring illicit cargo to such vessels while
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at sea? This was a question Inspector Willis felt he
could not solve. It would be a matter for the
Customs Department, but he knew enough about it to understand
that immense difficulties would have to be overcome before such
a scheme could be worked. Firstly, there was the size
of the fraud. Six months ago. According to what Miss
Coburn overheard, the syndicate were making sixty eight hundred pounds
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per trip, and probably from the remarks then made, they
were doing more to day in sixty eight hundred meant
the inspector buried himself in calculations at least one thousand
gallons of brandy. Was it conceivable that trawlers could get
rid of one thousand gallons every ten days one hundred
gallons a day? Frankly, he thought it impossible. In fact,
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in the face of the customs officer's activities, he doubted
if such a thing could be done by any kind
of machinery that could be devised. Indeed, the more Willis
pondered the smuggling theory, the less likely it seemed to him,
and he turned to consider the possibilities of Miss Coburn's
suggestion of false note printing. Here At once he was
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met by a fact which he had not mentioned to Merriman.
As it happened, the circulation of spurious treasury notes was
one of the subjects of interest to Scotland Yard. At
the moment, notes were being forged and circulated in large numbers. Furthermore,
the source of supply was believed to be some of
the large towns in the Midlands, Leeds being particularly suspected,
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but Leeds was on the direct line through Ferraby, and
comparatively not far away. Willis felt that it was up
to him to explore, to the uttermost limit all the
possibilities which these facts opened up. He began by looking
at the matter from the conspirator's point of view. Supposing
they had overcome the difficulty of producing the notes, how
would they dispose of them? Willis could appreciate the idea
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of locating the illicit press in France. Firstly, it would
be obvious to the gang that the early discovery of
a fraud of the kind was inevitable. Its existence indeed
would soon become common property. But this would but slightly
affect its success. It was the finding of the source
of supply that mattered, and the difficulty of this was
at once the embarrassment of the authorities and the opportunity
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of the conspirators. Secondly, English notes were to be forged
and circulated in England. Therefore it was from the English
police that the source of supply must be hidden, and
how better could this be done than by taking it
out of England Altogether? The English police would look in
England for what they wanted. The attention of the French police,
having no false French notes to deal with, would not
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be aroused. It seemed to Willis that so far he
was on firm ground. The third point was that, granting
the first two, some agency would be required to convey
the forged notes from France to England. But here a
difficulty arose. The pitprop plan seemed altogether too elaborate and
cumbrous for all that was required. Willis, as Merriman had
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done earlier, pictured the passenger with the padded overcoat and
the double bottomed hand bag. This traveler, it seemed, would
meet the case. But did he would there not with
him be a certain risk. There would be a continuous
passing through customs houses, frequent searchings of the faked suit case.
Accidents happened. Suppose the traveler held on to his suit
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case too carefully, Some sharpeyed customs officer might become suspicious.
Suppose he didn't hold on carefully enough and it were lost. Yes,
there would be risks, small, doubtless, but still risks, and
the gang couldn't afford them. As Willis turned the matter
over in his mind, he came gradually to the conclusion
that the elaboration of the pit prop business was no
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real argument against its having been designed merely to carry
forged notes. As a business. Moreover, it would pay, or
almost pay. It would furnish a secret method of getting
the notes across at little or no cost, and as
a blind Willis felt that no nothing better could be devised.
The scheme visualized itself to him as follows. Somewhere in France,
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probably in some cellar in Bordeaux, was installed the illicit
printing press. There the notes were produced by some secret method.
They were conveyed to Henri when his lorry driving took
him into the city, and he in turn brought them
to the clearing and handed them over to Cockburn. Captain
Beamish and Bullah would then take charge of them, probably
hiding them on the Girondine in some place which would
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defy a surprise customs examination. Numbers of such places Willis
felt sure could be arranged, especially in the engine room.
The cylinders of a duplicate set of pumps disused on
that particular trip occurred to him as an example. After
a arrival at Ferraby, there would be ample opportunity for
the notes to be taken ashore and handed over to Archer,
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and Archer could plant stuff on old neck himself. The
more he pondered over it, the more tenable this theory
seemed to Inspector Willis. He rose and began pacing the room,
frowning heavily. More than tenable. It seemed a sound scheme,
cleverly devised and carefully worked out. Indeed, he could think
of no means so likely to mislead and delude suspicious
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authorities in their search for the criminals as this very plan.
Two points, however, think as he might, he could not reconcile.
One was that exasperating puzzle of the changing of the
loring number plates. The other, how the running of a
second boat to Swansea would increase the profits of the syndicate.
But everything comes to him who waits. And at last
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he got an idea. What if the number of the
lorry was an indication to the printers of the notes
as to whether Henri was or was not in a
position to take over a consignment. Would some such sign
be necessary if Henri suspected he was under observation, or
if he had to make calls in unsuitable places, he
would require a secret method of passing on the information
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to his accomplices, and if so, could a better scheme
be devised than that of showing a pre arranged number
on his lory. Willis did not think so, and he
accepted the theory for what it was worth. Encouraged by
his progress, he next tackled his second difficulty, how the
running of a second boat would dispose of more notes.
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But try as he would, he could arrive at no
conclusion which would explain the point. It depended obviously on
the method of distribution adopted, and of this part of
the affair he was entirely ignorant. Failure to account for
this did not therefore necessarily invalidate the theory as a whole.
And with the theory as a whole, he was immensely pleased.
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As far as he could see. It fitted all the
known facts and bore the stamp of probability to an
even greater degree than that of brandy smuggling. But theories
were not enough. He must get ahead with his investigation accordingly.
Next morning he began his new inquiry by sending a
telegram to Beamish lands Pit Props Syndicate Ferraby Hull, Could
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you meet me off Lafe London train at Paragon station
at three point nine tomorrow re death of Coburn. I
should like to get back by four point zero. If not,
would stay and go out to Ferraby Willis Scotland's Yard.
He traveled that same day to Hull, having arranged for
the reply to be sent. After him going to the
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first class refreshment room at the Paragon, he had a
conversation with a barmaid in which he disclosed his official
position and passed over a ten shilling note on account
for services about to be rendered. Then leaving by the
evening train, he returned to Doncaster, where he spent the night.
On the next day he boarded the London training, which
reaches Hull at three point nine. At Paragon station, he
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soon singled out Beamish from Merriman's description. Sorry for asking
you to come in, Captain Beamish, he apologized, but I
was anxious if possible to get back to London tonight.
I heard a view from Miss Coburn and mister Merriman,
both of whom read of the tragedy in the papers
and severally aim to make inquiries at the yard. Lloyd
Register told me your ship came in here, so I
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came along to see you in the hope that you
might be able to give me some information about the
dead man, which might suggest a line of inquiry as
to his murderer. Beamish replied, politely and with a show
of readiness and candor. No trouble to meet you, Inspector.
I had to come up to hall in any case,
and I shall be glad to tell you anything I
can about poor Coburn. Unfortunately, I am afraid it won't
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be much. When our syndicate was starting, we wanted a
manager for the export end. Coburn applied and there was
a personal interview. He seemed suitable, and he was appointed
on trial. I know nothing whatever about him otherwise except
that he made good and I may say that in
the two years of our acquaintance, I always found him
not only pleasant and agreeable to deal with, but also
exceedingly efficient in his work. Willis asked a number of questions,
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harmless questions easily answered about the syndicate and Coburn's work,
ending up with an expression of thanks for the other's
trouble and an invitation to adjourn for a drink. Beamish
excepting the Inspector led the way to the first class
refreshment room and approached the counter opposite the barmaid whose
acquaintance he had made the previous day. Two small whiskies, please,
he ordered, having asked his companion's choice. The girl placed
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the two small tumblers of yellow liquid before her customers,
and Willis added a little water to each. Well, here's yours,
he said, and raising his glass to his lips, drained
the contents at a draft. Captain Beamish did the same,
the Inspector's offer of a second drink having been declined.
The two men left the refreshment room, still chatting about
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the murdered man. Ten minutes later, Captain Beamish saw the
Inspector off in the London train, but he did not
know that in the van of that train there was
a parcel labeled two Inspector Willis passenger to Doncaster by
four point zero p m, which contained a small tumbler
smelling of whisky and carefully packed up so as to
prevent the sides from being rubbed. The inspector was the
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next thing too excited when some time later he locked
the door of his bedroom in the Stag's Head Hotel
at Doncaster, and carefully unpacking the tumbler, he took out
his pattering apparatus and examined it for Prince. With satisfaction,
he found his little ruse had succeeded. The glass bore
clearly defined marks of a right thumb and two fingers.
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Eagerly he compared the Prince with those he had found
on the taxi called Toe, and then he suffered disappointment.
Keen and deep, the two sets were dissimilar. So his
theory had been wrong, and Captain Beamish was not the
murderer after all. He realized now that he had been
much more convinced of its truth than he had had
any right to be, and his chagrin was correspondingly greater.
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He had, indeed, been so sure that Beamish was his
man that he had failed insufficiently to consider other possibilities,
And now he found himself without any alternative theory to
fall back on. But he remained none the less certain
that Coburn's death was due to his effort to break
with the Syndicate, and that it was to the Syndicate
that he must look for light on the matter. There
were other members of it. He knew of two Archer
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and Morton, and there might be more, one of whom
might be the man he sought. It seemed to him
that his next business must be to find those other members,
ascertain if any of them were tall men, and if so,
obtain a copy of their finger prints. But how was
this to be done? Obviously from the shadowing of the
members whom he knew that was Captain Beamish, Bulla and Benson,
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the farrabe manager. Of these, Beamish and Bullah were for
the most part at sea. Therefore, he thought his efforts
should be concentrated on Benson. It was with a view
to some such contingency that he had alighted at Doncaster
instead of returning to London, and he now made up
his mind to return on the following day to Hull
and the Girondine, having by that time left to see
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what he could learn at the Ferraby tepot. He spent
three days shadowing Benson, without coming on anything in the
slightest degree suspicious. The manager spent each of the days
at the wharf until about six o'clock. Then he walked
to the Ferraby station and took the train to Hull,
where he dined spent the evening at some place of amusement,
and returned to the depot by a late train. On
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the fourth day, as the same program seemed to be
in prowess, Willis came to the conclusion that he was
losing time and must take some more energetic step. He
determined that if Benson left the depot in the evening
as before, he would try to effect an entrance to
his office and have a look through his papers. Shortly
after six, from the hedge behind which he had concealed himself,
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he saw Benson appear at the door in the corrugated
iron fence and depart in the direction of Ferraby. The
five employees had left about an hour earlier, and the
inspector believed the works were entirely deserted. After giving Benson
time to get clear away, he crept from his hiding place, and,
approaching the depot, tried the gate in the fence. It
was locked, but few locks were proof against the inspector's prowess,
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and with the help of a bent wire, he was
soon within the closure. He closed the gate behind him, and,
glancing carefully round, approached the shed. The door of the
office was also locked, but the bent wire conquered it too,
and in a couple of minutes he pushed it open,
passed through, and closed it behind him. The room was small,
finished with yellow matchboard walls and ceiling, and containing a
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closed roll top desk, a table littered with paper, a
vertical file, two cupboards, a telephone, and other simple office requisites.
Two doors led out of it, one to the manager's bedroom,
the other to the shed. Thinking that those could wait,
Willis settled down to make an examination of the office.
He ran rapidly though methodically through the papers on the table,
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without finding anything of interest. All referred to the pit
prop industry and seemed to indicate that the business was
carried on efficiently. Next, he tackled the desk, picking the
lock with his usual skill. Here, also, though he examined
everything with meticulous care, his search was fruitless. He moved
to the cupboards. One was unfastened and contained old ledgers,
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account books and the like, none being of any interest.
The other cupboard was locked, and Willis's quick eyes saw
that the woodwork round the keyhole was much scratched, showing
that the lock was frequently used. Again, the wire was
brought into requisition and in a moment, the door swung open, revealing,
to the inspector's astonished gaze, a telephone. Considerably puzzled, he
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looked round to the wall next the door. Yes, he
had not been mistaken. There also was a fixed a telephone.
He crossed over to it, and, following with his eye
the run of the wires, saw that it was connected
to those which approached the shed from across the railway
with What then did this second instrument communicate? There were
no other wires approaching the shed, nor could he find
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any connection to which it could be attached. He examined
the instrument more closely, and then he saw that it
was not of the standard government pattern. It was marked
the A. M. Curtis Company, Philadelphia, PA. It was therefore
part of a private installation and as such illegal, as
the British government hold the monopoly for all telephones in
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the country. At least it would be illegal if it
were connected up. But was it. The wires passed through
the back of the cupboard into the wall, and looking down,
Willis saw that one of the wall's sheeting boards reaching
from the cupboard to the floor, had at some time
been taken out and replaced with screws. To satisfy his curiosity.
He took out his combination pocket knife, and, deftly, removing
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the screws, pulled the board forward. His surprise was not
lessened when he saw that the wires ran down inside
the wall and heavily insulated disappeared into the ground beneath
the shed. Is it possible that they have a cable,
thought the puzzled man, as he replaced the loose board
and screwed it fast. The problem had to stand over,
as he wished to complete his investigation of the remainder
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of the building. But though he searched the entire premises
with the same meticulous thoroughness that he had displayed in
dealing with papers, he came on nothing else which in
any way excited his interest. He let himself out, re
locking the various doors behind him, walked to Hassel, and
from there returned to his hotel in Hull. He was
a good deal intrigued by his discovery of the secret
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to telephone that it was connected up and frequently used.
He was certain, both from the elaboration of its construction
and from the marking round the covered keyhole. He wondered
if he could without discovery, tap the wires and overhear
the business discussed. Had the wires been carried on poles,
the matter would have been simple. But as things were,
he would have to make his connection under the loose
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board and carry his cable out through the wall and
along the shore to some point at which the receiver
would be hidden by no means, an easy manner, but
in default of something better, he would have tried it
had not. A second discovery he made later on the
same evening, turned his thoughts into an entirely new channel.
It was in thinking over the probable purpose of the
telephone that he got his idea. It seemed obvious that
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it was used for the secret side of the enterprise,
and if so, would it not most probably connect the
import depot of the secret commodity with that of its distribution.
Fair Be Wharf was the place of import, But the distribution,
as the conversations overhood indicated, lay not in the hands
of Benson but of Archer. What if the telephone led
to Archer? There was another point. The difficulty of laying
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a secret land wire would be so enormous that, in
the nature of things, the line must be short. It
must either lead Willis imagined to the southern bank of
the Estuary, or to somewhere quite near. But if both
these conclusions were sound, it followed that Archer himself must
be found in the immediate neighborhood. Could he learn anything
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from following up this idea? He borrowed a directory of
hall and began looking up all the archers given in
the alphabetical index. There were fifteen, and of these one
immediately attracted his attention. It read Archer Archibald Charles the
Elms Ferraby. He glanced at his watch. It was still
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but slightly after ten. Taking his hat, he walked to
the police station and saw the sergeant on duty. Yes, Sir,
said the man in answer to his inquiry. I know
the gentleman. He is the managing director of Ackroyd and
Holt's distillery, about half way between Ferraby and Hassel. And
what is he like in appearance? Willis continued, concealing the
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interest this statement had aroused. A big man, Sir, The
sergeant answered, tall and broad, too clean chaven, with heavy features,
very determined looking. Willis had food for thought. As he
returned to his hotel. Merriman had been thrilled when he
learned of the proximity of the distillery to the Syndicate's depot,
seeing therein an argument in favor of the Branding's smuggling theory.
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This new discovery led Willis at first to take the
same view. But the considerations which Hilliard had pointed out
occurred to him also, and though he felt a little puzzled,
he was inclined to dismiss the matter as a coincidence.
Though after his recent experience he was even more averse
to jumping to conclusions than formerly, Willis could not but
believe that he was at last hopeful scent. At all events,
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his first duty was clear, he must find this archibald
Charles Archer and obtain prints of his fingers. Next morning
found him again at Ferriby, once more looking southwards from
the concealment of a cluster of bushes, But this time
the object of his attention was no longer the Syndicate's depot. Instead,
he focused his powerful glasses on the office of the distillery.
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About nine thirty a tall, stoutly built man strode up
to the building and entered. His dress indicated that he
was of the employer class, and from the way in
which a couple of workmen touched their caps as he passed.
Willis had no doubt he was the managing director. For
some three hours, the inspector lay hidden. Then he suddenly
observed that the tall man emerged from the building and
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walk rapidly in the direction of Ferby. Immediately, the inspector
crept down the hedge nearer to the road so as
to see his quarry pass at close quarters. It happened
that as the man came abreast of Willis, a small
two seater motor car coming from the direction of Ferraby
also reached the same spot, but instead of passing, it
slowed down, and its occupant hailed the tall man. Hello, archer,
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he shouted, can I give you a lift? Thanks? The
big man answered, it would be a kindness. I have
unexpectedly to go into Hull, and my own car is
out of order. Run you in quarter of an hour,
No hurry. If I am in by half past one,
it will do. I am lunching with Fraser at the
Criterion at that time the two seaters stopped, the big
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Man entered, and the vehicle moved away. As soon as
it was out of sight. Willis emerged from his hiding place, and,
hurrying to the station, caught the one dot one seven
train to Hull. Twenty minutes later, he passed through the
swing doors of the Criterion. The hotel, as is well known,
is one of the most fashionable in Hull, and at
the luncheon hour the restaurant was well filled. Glancing casually around,
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Willis could see his new acquaintance seated at a table
in the window in close conversation with a florid, red
haired individual of the successful business man type. All the
tables in the immediate vicinity were occupied and Willis could
not get close by in the hope of overhearing some
conversation as he had intended. He therefore watched the others
from a distance, and when they had moved to the lounge,
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he followed them. He heard them order coffee and liqueurs,
and then a sudden idea came into his head. Rising
he followed the waiter through the service door. I want
a small job done, he said, while a ten shilling
note changed hands. I am from Scotland Yard and I
want the finger prints of the men who have just
ordered coffee polish the outsides of the liqueur glasses thoroughly,
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and only lift them by the stems. Then, when the
men have gone, let me have the glasses. He returned
to the lounge and presently had the satisfaction of seeing
Archer lift his glass by the bowl between the finger
and thumb of his right hand to empty his liqueur
into his coffee. Half an hour later he was back
in his hotel with a carefully packed glass. A very
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few minutes sufficed for the test. The impressions showed up well,
and this time the inspector gave a sigh of relief
as he compared them with those of the taxi speaking tube.
They were the same. His quest was finished. Archer was
the murderer of Francis Cockburn. For a minute or two,
in his satisfaction, the inspector believed his work was done.
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He had only to arrest Archer, take official prints of
his fingers, and he had all the necessary proof for
a conviction. But a moment's consideration showed him that his
labors were very far indeed from being over. What he
had accomplished was only a part of the task he
had set himself. Was a good deal more likely that
the other members of the syndicate were confederates in the
murder as well as in the illicit trade. He must
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get his hands on them too. But if he arrested Archer,
he would thereby destroy all chance of accomplishing the greater feat.
The very essence of success lay in lulling to rest
any doubts that their operations were suspect which might have
entered into the minds of the members of the syndicate. No,
he would do nothing at present, and he once more
felt himself up against the question which had baffled Hilliard
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and Merriman. What was the syndicate doing? Until he had
answered this? Therefore he could not rest, and how was
it to be done? After some thought he came to
the conclusion that his most promising clue was the secret telephone,
and he made up his mind the next day he
would try to find its other end, and, if necessary,
tap the wires and listen in to any conversation which
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might take place. End of Chapter fourteen.
Chapter fourteen of the Pit prop Syndicate by Freeman wills
Croft's This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter
fourteen a mystifying discovery. Inspector Willis was more than interested
in his new case. The more he thought over it,
the more he realized its dramatic possibilities and the almost
(00:21):
world wide public interest it was likely to arouse, as
well as the importance which his superiors would certainly attach
to it. In other words, the influence a successful handling
of it would have on his career. He had not
been idle since the day of the inquest, now a
week past. To begin with, he had seen Hilliard secretly
(00:43):
and learned at first hand all that that young man
could tell him. Next, he had made sure that the
finger prints found on the speaking tube were not those
of mister Cockburn, and he remained keenly anxious to obtain
impressions from Captain Beamish's fingers to compare with the former.
But ines from the port officials at Hull, made by
wire on the evening of the inquest showed that the
(01:05):
Girondine would not be back at Ferraby for eight days.
There had been no object therefore, in his leaving London immediately,
and instead he had busied himself by trying to follow
up the deceased's movements in the metropolis and learn with
whom he had associated during his stay. In his search
for clues, he had even taken the hint from Merriman's
(01:26):
newspaper and bought a copy of the Mystery of a
Handsome Cab. But though he saw that this clever story
might easily have inspired the crime, he could find from
it no help towards its solution. He had also paid
a flying visit to the manager of the Hopwood manufacturing
company in Sheffield, where Cockburn had been employed. From him,
(01:48):
he had learned that Madeleine's surmise was correct, and that
there had been friction before her father left. In point
of fact, a surprise audit had revealed discrepancies in the accounts,
some money was missing, and what was suspiciously like an
attempt to falsify the books had taken place, but the
thing could not be proved. Mister Coburn had paid up,
(02:09):
but though his plea that he had made a genuine
clerical error had been accepted, his place had been filled.
The manager expressed the private opinion that there was no
doubt of his subordinate's guilt, saying also that it was
well known that during the previous months Coburn had been
losing money heavily through gambling. Where he had obtained the
money to meet the deficit. The manager did not know,
(02:32):
but he believed someone must have come forward to assist him.
This information interested Willis, keenly, supporting as it seemed to
do his idea that Coburn was in the power of
the syndicate or one of its members. If, for example,
one of these men on the lookout for helpers in
his conspiracy had learned of the cashier's predicaments, it was
(02:53):
conceivable that he might have obtained his hold by advancing
the money needed to square the matter in return for
assigned confession of guins. This was, of course the merest
guess work, but it at least indicated to Willis a
fresh line of inquiry in case his present investigation failed,
and with the latter he was becoming exceedingly disappointed. With
(03:14):
the exception of the facts just mentioned, he had learned
absolutely nothing to help him. Mister Coburn might as well
have vanished into thin air when he left the Peveril Hotel.
For all the trace he had left, Willis could learn
neither where he went nor whom he met on any
one of the four days he had spent in London.
He congratulated himself therefore, that on the following day the
(03:35):
Girundine would be back at Farraby, and he would then
be able to start work on the finger print clue.
That evening he settled himself with his pipe to think
over once more the facts he had already learned. As
time passed, he found himself approaching more and more to
the conclusion reached by Hilliard and Merriman several weeks before
that the secret of the syndicate was the essential feature
(03:56):
of the case. What were these people doing? That was
the question which, at all costs he must answer. His
mind reverted to the two theories already in the field.
At first sight, that of brandy smuggling seemed tenable enough,
and he turned his attention to the steps by which
the two young men had tried to test it. At
the loading end, their observations were admittedly worthless, But at
(04:20):
Farrabee they seemed to have made a satisfactory investigation. Unless
they had unknowingly fallen asleep in the barrel. It was
hard to see how they could have failed to observe
contraband being set ashore had any been unloaded, But he
did not believe they had fallen asleep. People were usually
conscious of awakening. Besides, there was the testimony of Menzies,
the pilot. It was hardly conceivable that this man should
(04:43):
also have been deceived. At the same time, Willis decided
he must interview him so as to form his own
opinion of the man's reliability. Another possibility occurred to him
which none of the amateur investigators appeared to have thought of.
North Sea trawlers were frequently used for getting contraband ashore.
Was the Girondine transferring illicit cargo to such vessels while
(05:05):
at sea? This was a question Inspector Willis felt he
could not solve. It would be a matter for the
Customs Department, but he knew enough about it to understand
that immense difficulties would have to be overcome before such
a scheme could be worked. Firstly, there was the size
of the fraud. Six months ago. According to what Miss
Coburn overheard, the syndicate were making sixty eight hundred pounds
(05:27):
per trip, and probably from the remarks then made, they
were doing more to day in sixty eight hundred meant
the inspector buried himself in calculations at least one thousand
gallons of brandy. Was it conceivable that trawlers could get
rid of one thousand gallons every ten days one hundred
gallons a day? Frankly, he thought it impossible. In fact,
(05:50):
in the face of the customs officer's activities, he doubted
if such a thing could be done by any kind
of machinery that could be devised. Indeed, the more Willis
pondered the smuggling theory, the less likely it seemed to him,
and he turned to consider the possibilities of Miss Coburn's
suggestion of false note printing. Here At once he was
(06:10):
met by a fact which he had not mentioned to Merriman.
As it happened, the circulation of spurious treasury notes was
one of the subjects of interest to Scotland Yard. At
the moment, notes were being forged and circulated in large numbers. Furthermore,
the source of supply was believed to be some of
the large towns in the Midlands, Leeds being particularly suspected,
(06:32):
but Leeds was on the direct line through Ferraby, and
comparatively not far away. Willis felt that it was up
to him to explore, to the uttermost limit all the
possibilities which these facts opened up. He began by looking
at the matter from the conspirator's point of view. Supposing
they had overcome the difficulty of producing the notes, how
would they dispose of them? Willis could appreciate the idea
(06:54):
of locating the illicit press in France. Firstly, it would
be obvious to the gang that the early discovery of
a fraud of the kind was inevitable. Its existence indeed
would soon become common property. But this would but slightly
affect its success. It was the finding of the source
of supply that mattered, and the difficulty of this was
at once the embarrassment of the authorities and the opportunity
(07:15):
of the conspirators. Secondly, English notes were to be forged
and circulated in England. Therefore it was from the English
police that the source of supply must be hidden, and
how better could this be done than by taking it
out of England Altogether? The English police would look in
England for what they wanted. The attention of the French police,
having no false French notes to deal with, would not
(07:37):
be aroused. It seemed to Willis that so far he
was on firm ground. The third point was that, granting
the first two, some agency would be required to convey
the forged notes from France to England. But here a
difficulty arose. The pitprop plan seemed altogether too elaborate and
cumbrous for all that was required. Willis, as Merriman had
(08:00):
done earlier, pictured the passenger with the padded overcoat and
the double bottomed hand bag. This traveler, it seemed, would
meet the case. But did he would there not with
him be a certain risk. There would be a continuous
passing through customs houses, frequent searchings of the faked suit case.
Accidents happened. Suppose the traveler held on to his suit
(08:22):
case too carefully, Some sharpeyed customs officer might become suspicious.
Suppose he didn't hold on carefully enough and it were lost. Yes,
there would be risks, small, doubtless, but still risks, and
the gang couldn't afford them. As Willis turned the matter
over in his mind, he came gradually to the conclusion
that the elaboration of the pit prop business was no
(08:44):
real argument against its having been designed merely to carry
forged notes. As a business. Moreover, it would pay, or
almost pay. It would furnish a secret method of getting
the notes across at little or no cost, and as
a blind Willis felt that no nothing better could be devised.
The scheme visualized itself to him as follows. Somewhere in France,
(09:06):
probably in some cellar in Bordeaux, was installed the illicit
printing press. There the notes were produced by some secret method.
They were conveyed to Henri when his lorry driving took
him into the city, and he in turn brought them
to the clearing and handed them over to Cockburn. Captain
Beamish and Bullah would then take charge of them, probably
hiding them on the Girondine in some place which would
(09:29):
defy a surprise customs examination. Numbers of such places Willis
felt sure could be arranged, especially in the engine room.
The cylinders of a duplicate set of pumps disused on
that particular trip occurred to him as an example. After
a arrival at Ferraby, there would be ample opportunity for
the notes to be taken ashore and handed over to Archer,
(09:49):
and Archer could plant stuff on old neck himself. The
more he pondered over it, the more tenable this theory
seemed to Inspector Willis. He rose and began pacing the room,
frowning heavily. More than tenable. It seemed a sound scheme,
cleverly devised and carefully worked out. Indeed, he could think
of no means so likely to mislead and delude suspicious
(10:11):
authorities in their search for the criminals as this very plan.
Two points, however, think as he might, he could not reconcile.
One was that exasperating puzzle of the changing of the
loring number plates. The other, how the running of a
second boat to Swansea would increase the profits of the syndicate.
But everything comes to him who waits. And at last
(10:33):
he got an idea. What if the number of the
lorry was an indication to the printers of the notes
as to whether Henri was or was not in a
position to take over a consignment. Would some such sign
be necessary if Henri suspected he was under observation, or
if he had to make calls in unsuitable places, he
would require a secret method of passing on the information
(10:54):
to his accomplices, and if so, could a better scheme
be devised than that of showing a pre arranged number
on his lory. Willis did not think so, and he
accepted the theory for what it was worth. Encouraged by
his progress, he next tackled his second difficulty, how the
running of a second boat would dispose of more notes.
(11:14):
But try as he would, he could arrive at no
conclusion which would explain the point. It depended obviously on
the method of distribution adopted, and of this part of
the affair he was entirely ignorant. Failure to account for
this did not therefore necessarily invalidate the theory as a whole.
And with the theory as a whole, he was immensely pleased.
(11:35):
As far as he could see. It fitted all the
known facts and bore the stamp of probability to an
even greater degree than that of brandy smuggling. But theories
were not enough. He must get ahead with his investigation accordingly.
Next morning he began his new inquiry by sending a
telegram to Beamish lands Pit Props Syndicate Ferraby Hull, Could
(11:59):
you meet me off Lafe London train at Paragon station
at three point nine tomorrow re death of Coburn. I
should like to get back by four point zero. If not,
would stay and go out to Ferraby Willis Scotland's Yard.
He traveled that same day to Hull, having arranged for
the reply to be sent. After him going to the
(12:20):
first class refreshment room at the Paragon, he had a
conversation with a barmaid in which he disclosed his official
position and passed over a ten shilling note on account
for services about to be rendered. Then leaving by the
evening train, he returned to Doncaster, where he spent the night.
On the next day he boarded the London training, which
reaches Hull at three point nine. At Paragon station, he
(12:43):
soon singled out Beamish from Merriman's description. Sorry for asking
you to come in, Captain Beamish, he apologized, but I
was anxious if possible to get back to London tonight.
I heard a view from Miss Coburn and mister Merriman,
both of whom read of the tragedy in the papers
and severally aim to make inquiries at the yard. Lloyd
Register told me your ship came in here, so I
(13:04):
came along to see you in the hope that you
might be able to give me some information about the
dead man, which might suggest a line of inquiry as
to his murderer. Beamish replied, politely and with a show
of readiness and candor. No trouble to meet you, Inspector.
I had to come up to hall in any case,
and I shall be glad to tell you anything I
can about poor Coburn. Unfortunately, I am afraid it won't
(13:26):
be much. When our syndicate was starting, we wanted a
manager for the export end. Coburn applied and there was
a personal interview. He seemed suitable, and he was appointed
on trial. I know nothing whatever about him otherwise except
that he made good and I may say that in
the two years of our acquaintance, I always found him
not only pleasant and agreeable to deal with, but also
exceedingly efficient in his work. Willis asked a number of questions,
(13:51):
harmless questions easily answered about the syndicate and Coburn's work,
ending up with an expression of thanks for the other's
trouble and an invitation to adjourn for a drink. Beamish
excepting the Inspector led the way to the first class
refreshment room and approached the counter opposite the barmaid whose
acquaintance he had made the previous day. Two small whiskies, please,
he ordered, having asked his companion's choice. The girl placed
(14:13):
the two small tumblers of yellow liquid before her customers,
and Willis added a little water to each. Well, here's yours,
he said, and raising his glass to his lips, drained
the contents at a draft. Captain Beamish did the same,
the Inspector's offer of a second drink having been declined.
The two men left the refreshment room, still chatting about
(14:34):
the murdered man. Ten minutes later, Captain Beamish saw the
Inspector off in the London train, but he did not
know that in the van of that train there was
a parcel labeled two Inspector Willis passenger to Doncaster by
four point zero p m, which contained a small tumbler
smelling of whisky and carefully packed up so as to
prevent the sides from being rubbed. The inspector was the
(14:56):
next thing too excited when some time later he locked
the door of his bedroom in the Stag's Head Hotel
at Doncaster, and carefully unpacking the tumbler, he took out
his pattering apparatus and examined it for Prince. With satisfaction,
he found his little ruse had succeeded. The glass bore
clearly defined marks of a right thumb and two fingers.
(15:18):
Eagerly he compared the Prince with those he had found
on the taxi called Toe, and then he suffered disappointment.
Keen and deep, the two sets were dissimilar. So his
theory had been wrong, and Captain Beamish was not the
murderer after all. He realized now that he had been
much more convinced of its truth than he had had
any right to be, and his chagrin was correspondingly greater.
(15:39):
He had, indeed, been so sure that Beamish was his
man that he had failed insufficiently to consider other possibilities,
And now he found himself without any alternative theory to
fall back on. But he remained none the less certain
that Coburn's death was due to his effort to break
with the Syndicate, and that it was to the Syndicate
that he must look for light on the matter. There
were other members of it. He knew of two Archer
(16:02):
and Morton, and there might be more, one of whom
might be the man he sought. It seemed to him
that his next business must be to find those other members,
ascertain if any of them were tall men, and if so,
obtain a copy of their finger prints. But how was
this to be done? Obviously from the shadowing of the
members whom he knew that was Captain Beamish, Bulla and Benson,
(16:24):
the farrabe manager. Of these, Beamish and Bullah were for
the most part at sea. Therefore, he thought his efforts
should be concentrated on Benson. It was with a view
to some such contingency that he had alighted at Doncaster
instead of returning to London, and he now made up
his mind to return on the following day to Hull
and the Girondine, having by that time left to see
(16:45):
what he could learn at the Ferraby tepot. He spent
three days shadowing Benson, without coming on anything in the
slightest degree suspicious. The manager spent each of the days
at the wharf until about six o'clock. Then he walked
to the Ferraby station and took the train to Hull,
where he dined spent the evening at some place of amusement,
and returned to the depot by a late train. On
(17:06):
the fourth day, as the same program seemed to be
in prowess, Willis came to the conclusion that he was
losing time and must take some more energetic step. He
determined that if Benson left the depot in the evening
as before, he would try to effect an entrance to
his office and have a look through his papers. Shortly
after six, from the hedge behind which he had concealed himself,
(17:27):
he saw Benson appear at the door in the corrugated
iron fence and depart in the direction of Ferraby. The
five employees had left about an hour earlier, and the
inspector believed the works were entirely deserted. After giving Benson
time to get clear away, he crept from his hiding place, and,
approaching the depot, tried the gate in the fence. It
was locked, but few locks were proof against the inspector's prowess,
(17:50):
and with the help of a bent wire, he was
soon within the closure. He closed the gate behind him, and,
glancing carefully round, approached the shed. The door of the
office was also locked, but the bent wire conquered it too,
and in a couple of minutes he pushed it open,
passed through, and closed it behind him. The room was small,
finished with yellow matchboard walls and ceiling, and containing a
(18:12):
closed roll top desk, a table littered with paper, a
vertical file, two cupboards, a telephone, and other simple office requisites.
Two doors led out of it, one to the manager's bedroom,
the other to the shed. Thinking that those could wait,
Willis settled down to make an examination of the office.
He ran rapidly though methodically through the papers on the table,
(18:33):
without finding anything of interest. All referred to the pit
prop industry and seemed to indicate that the business was
carried on efficiently. Next, he tackled the desk, picking the
lock with his usual skill. Here, also, though he examined
everything with meticulous care, his search was fruitless. He moved
to the cupboards. One was unfastened and contained old ledgers,
(18:53):
account books and the like, none being of any interest.
The other cupboard was locked, and Willis's quick eyes saw
that the woodwork round the keyhole was much scratched, showing
that the lock was frequently used. Again, the wire was
brought into requisition and in a moment, the door swung open, revealing,
to the inspector's astonished gaze, a telephone. Considerably puzzled, he
(19:16):
looked round to the wall next the door. Yes, he
had not been mistaken. There also was a fixed a telephone.
He crossed over to it, and, following with his eye
the run of the wires, saw that it was connected
to those which approached the shed from across the railway
with What then did this second instrument communicate? There were
no other wires approaching the shed, nor could he find
(19:37):
any connection to which it could be attached. He examined
the instrument more closely, and then he saw that it
was not of the standard government pattern. It was marked
the A. M. Curtis Company, Philadelphia, PA. It was therefore
part of a private installation and as such illegal, as
the British government hold the monopoly for all telephones in
(19:59):
the country. At least it would be illegal if it
were connected up. But was it. The wires passed through
the back of the cupboard into the wall, and looking down,
Willis saw that one of the wall's sheeting boards reaching
from the cupboard to the floor, had at some time
been taken out and replaced with screws. To satisfy his curiosity.
He took out his combination pocket knife, and, deftly, removing
(20:22):
the screws, pulled the board forward. His surprise was not
lessened when he saw that the wires ran down inside
the wall and heavily insulated disappeared into the ground beneath
the shed. Is it possible that they have a cable,
thought the puzzled man, as he replaced the loose board
and screwed it fast. The problem had to stand over,
as he wished to complete his investigation of the remainder
(20:43):
of the building. But though he searched the entire premises
with the same meticulous thoroughness that he had displayed in
dealing with papers, he came on nothing else which in
any way excited his interest. He let himself out, re
locking the various doors behind him, walked to Hassel, and
from there returned to his hotel in Hull. He was
a good deal intrigued by his discovery of the secret
(21:04):
to telephone that it was connected up and frequently used.
He was certain, both from the elaboration of its construction
and from the marking round the covered keyhole. He wondered
if he could without discovery, tap the wires and overhear
the business discussed. Had the wires been carried on poles,
the matter would have been simple. But as things were,
he would have to make his connection under the loose
(21:24):
board and carry his cable out through the wall and
along the shore to some point at which the receiver
would be hidden by no means, an easy manner, but
in default of something better, he would have tried it
had not. A second discovery he made later on the
same evening, turned his thoughts into an entirely new channel.
It was in thinking over the probable purpose of the
telephone that he got his idea. It seemed obvious that
(21:48):
it was used for the secret side of the enterprise,
and if so, would it not most probably connect the
import depot of the secret commodity with that of its distribution.
Fair Be Wharf was the place of import, But the distribution,
as the conversations overhood indicated, lay not in the hands
of Benson but of Archer. What if the telephone led
to Archer? There was another point. The difficulty of laying
(22:12):
a secret land wire would be so enormous that, in
the nature of things, the line must be short. It
must either lead Willis imagined to the southern bank of
the Estuary, or to somewhere quite near. But if both
these conclusions were sound, it followed that Archer himself must
be found in the immediate neighborhood. Could he learn anything
(22:32):
from following up this idea? He borrowed a directory of
hall and began looking up all the archers given in
the alphabetical index. There were fifteen, and of these one
immediately attracted his attention. It read Archer Archibald Charles the
Elms Ferraby. He glanced at his watch. It was still
(22:53):
but slightly after ten. Taking his hat, he walked to
the police station and saw the sergeant on duty. Yes, Sir,
said the man in answer to his inquiry. I know
the gentleman. He is the managing director of Ackroyd and
Holt's distillery, about half way between Ferraby and Hassel. And
what is he like in appearance? Willis continued, concealing the
(23:15):
interest this statement had aroused. A big man, Sir, The
sergeant answered, tall and broad, too clean chaven, with heavy features,
very determined looking. Willis had food for thought. As he
returned to his hotel. Merriman had been thrilled when he
learned of the proximity of the distillery to the Syndicate's depot,
seeing therein an argument in favor of the Branding's smuggling theory.
(23:39):
This new discovery led Willis at first to take the
same view. But the considerations which Hilliard had pointed out
occurred to him also, and though he felt a little puzzled,
he was inclined to dismiss the matter as a coincidence.
Though after his recent experience he was even more averse
to jumping to conclusions than formerly, Willis could not but
believe that he was at last hopeful scent. At all events,
(24:02):
his first duty was clear, he must find this archibald
Charles Archer and obtain prints of his fingers. Next morning
found him again at Ferriby, once more looking southwards from
the concealment of a cluster of bushes, But this time
the object of his attention was no longer the Syndicate's depot. Instead,
he focused his powerful glasses on the office of the distillery.
(24:25):
About nine thirty a tall, stoutly built man strode up
to the building and entered. His dress indicated that he
was of the employer class, and from the way in
which a couple of workmen touched their caps as he passed.
Willis had no doubt he was the managing director. For
some three hours, the inspector lay hidden. Then he suddenly
observed that the tall man emerged from the building and
(24:46):
walk rapidly in the direction of Ferby. Immediately, the inspector
crept down the hedge nearer to the road so as
to see his quarry pass at close quarters. It happened
that as the man came abreast of Willis, a small
two seater motor car coming from the direction of Ferraby
also reached the same spot, but instead of passing, it
slowed down, and its occupant hailed the tall man. Hello, archer,
(25:11):
he shouted, can I give you a lift? Thanks? The
big man answered, it would be a kindness. I have
unexpectedly to go into Hull, and my own car is
out of order. Run you in quarter of an hour,
No hurry. If I am in by half past one,
it will do. I am lunching with Fraser at the
Criterion at that time the two seaters stopped, the big
(25:33):
Man entered, and the vehicle moved away. As soon as
it was out of sight. Willis emerged from his hiding place, and,
hurrying to the station, caught the one dot one seven
train to Hull. Twenty minutes later, he passed through the
swing doors of the Criterion. The hotel, as is well known,
is one of the most fashionable in Hull, and at
the luncheon hour the restaurant was well filled. Glancing casually around,
(25:56):
Willis could see his new acquaintance seated at a table
in the window in close conversation with a florid, red
haired individual of the successful business man type. All the
tables in the immediate vicinity were occupied and Willis could
not get close by in the hope of overhearing some
conversation as he had intended. He therefore watched the others
from a distance, and when they had moved to the lounge,
(26:19):
he followed them. He heard them order coffee and liqueurs,
and then a sudden idea came into his head. Rising
he followed the waiter through the service door. I want
a small job done, he said, while a ten shilling
note changed hands. I am from Scotland Yard and I
want the finger prints of the men who have just
ordered coffee polish the outsides of the liqueur glasses thoroughly,
(26:42):
and only lift them by the stems. Then, when the
men have gone, let me have the glasses. He returned
to the lounge and presently had the satisfaction of seeing
Archer lift his glass by the bowl between the finger
and thumb of his right hand to empty his liqueur
into his coffee. Half an hour later he was back
in his hotel with a carefully packed glass. A very
(27:03):
few minutes sufficed for the test. The impressions showed up well,
and this time the inspector gave a sigh of relief
as he compared them with those of the taxi speaking tube.
They were the same. His quest was finished. Archer was
the murderer of Francis Cockburn. For a minute or two,
in his satisfaction, the inspector believed his work was done.
(27:25):
He had only to arrest Archer, take official prints of
his fingers, and he had all the necessary proof for
a conviction. But a moment's consideration showed him that his
labors were very far indeed from being over. What he
had accomplished was only a part of the task he
had set himself. Was a good deal more likely that
the other members of the syndicate were confederates in the
murder as well as in the illicit trade. He must
(27:48):
get his hands on them too. But if he arrested Archer,
he would thereby destroy all chance of accomplishing the greater feat.
The very essence of success lay in lulling to rest
any doubts that their operations were suspect which might have
entered into the minds of the members of the syndicate. No,
he would do nothing at present, and he once more
felt himself up against the question which had baffled Hilliard
(28:11):
and Merriman. What was the syndicate doing? Until he had
answered this? Therefore he could not rest, and how was
it to be done? After some thought he came to
the conclusion that his most promising clue was the secret telephone,
and he made up his mind the next day he
would try to find its other end, and, if necessary,
tap the wires and listen in to any conversation which
(28:32):
might take place. End of Chapter fourteen.
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