adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. McCarthy pass he had
seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under
his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually in sight
at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the
matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had
occurred.
"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the
game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded
round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge. A
girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the
lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods
picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the
border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son,
and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr.
McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw
the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so
frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother
when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling
near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came
running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in
the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much
excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and
sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him
they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the
pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and
blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been
inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found lying on
the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances
the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful
murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on
Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred
the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as
they came out before the coroner and the police-court."
"I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If ever
circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here."
"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes
thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but
if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely
different. It must be confessed, however, that the case looks
exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that
he is indeed the culprit. There are several people in the
neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of
the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who
have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in connection with the
Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. Lestrade,
being rather puzzled, has referred the case to me, and hence it is
that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an
hour instead of quietly digesting their breakfasts at home."
"I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you will
find little credit to be gained out of this case."
"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he answered,
laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious
facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr. Lestrade. You
know me too well to think that I am boasting when I say that I shall
either confirm or destroy his theory by means which he is quite
incapable of employing, or even of understanding. To take the first
example to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the
window is upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr.
Lestrade would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that."
"How on earth--"
"My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness which
characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this season you
shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and less
complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes
positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is
surely very clear that that side is less illuminated than the other.
I could not imagine a man of your habits looking at himself in an
equal light and being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this
as a trivial example of observation and inference. Therein lies my
m閠ier, and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the
investigation which lies before us. There are one or two minor points
which were brought out in the inquest, and which are worth
considering."
"What are they?"
"It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after the
return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary informing
him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised to
hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. This observation
of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which
might have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury."
"It was a confession," I ejaculated.
"No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence."
"Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at
least a most suspicious remark."
"On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I can
at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he could
not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the circumstances
were very black against him. Had he appeared surprised at his own
arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I should have looked upon it as
highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would not be
natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be the best
policy to a scheming man. His frank acceptance of the situation marks
him as either an innocent man, or else as a man of considerable
self-restraint and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it
was also not unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead
body of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very
day so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so important, to
raise his hand as if to strike him. The self-reproach and contrition
which are displayed in his remark appear to me to be the signs of a
healthy mind rather than of a guilty one."
I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter
evidence," I remarked.
"So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged."
"What is the young man's own account of the matter?"
"It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, though
there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will find
it here, and may read it for yourself."
He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire
paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the paragraph
in which the unfortunate young man had given his own statement of
what had occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of the
carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this way:
"Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called
and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for three
days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the morning of last
Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the time of my
arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had driven over to
Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after my return I heard the
wheels of his trap in the yard, and, looking out of my window, I saw
him get out and walk rapidly out of the yard, though I was not aware
in which direction he was going. I then took my gun and strolled out
in the direction of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting
the rabbit warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw
William Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence;
but he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had
no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards from
the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal between
my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found him standing
by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at seeing me and asked
me rather roughly what I was doing there. A conversation ensued which
led to high words and almost to blows, for my father was a man of a
very violent temper. Seeing that his passion was becoming
ungovernable, I left him and returned towards Hatherley Farm. I had
not gone more than 150 yards, however, when I heard a hideous outcry
behind me, which caused me to run back again. I found my father
expiring upon the ground, with his head terribly injured. I dropped
my gun and held him in my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I
knelt beside him for some minutes, and then made my way to Mr.
Turner's lodge-keeper, his house being the nearest, to ask for
assistance. I saw no one near my father when I returned, and I have
no idea how he came by his injuries. He was not a popular man, being
somewhat cold and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I
know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.'
"The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before he
died?
"Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some
allusion to a rat.
"The Coroner: What did you understand by that?
"Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was
delirious.
"The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father had
this final quarrel?
"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
"The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it.
"Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can assure
you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which followed.
"The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point out
to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case
considerably in any future proceedings which may arise.
"Witness: I must still refuse.
"The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common
signal between you and your father?
"Witness: It was.
"The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw you,
and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?
"Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know.
"A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions when
you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally
injured?
"Witness: Nothing definite.
"The Coroner: What do you mean?
"Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the
open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet I have a
vague impression that as I ran forward something lay upon the ground
to the left of me. It seemed to me to be something grey in colour, a
coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. When I rose from my father I
looked round for it, but it was gone.
"'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'
"'Yes, it was gone.'
"'You cannot say what it was?'
"'No, I had a feeling something was there.'
"'How far from the body?'
"'A dozen yards or so.'
"'And how far from the edge of the wood?'
"'About the same.'
"'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen yards
of it?'
"'Yes, but with my back towards it.'
"This concluded the examination of the witness."
"I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner in
his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. He
calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his father
having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his refusal to
give details of his conversation with his father, and his singular
account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he remarks,
very much against the son."
Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the
cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some pains,"
said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the young man's
favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him credit for having
too much imagination and too little? Too little, if he could not
invent a cause of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of the
jury; too much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness
anything so outr?as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident of
the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I shall approach this case from the
