Bruce Alexander - Person or Persons Unknown

“And did you then send word of your discovery to Bow Street?”

“Nooo, but — ”

“No, you did not. Mr. Fuller has informed me that word was brought him by a boy of the court who knew the deceased and had come on his own. So there, sir, if you want a charge, by failing to report the murder of your tenant, you impeded the inquiry into her death. But that, I would say, was only the beginning of your sins. Did you, or did you not, charge a shilling each to all those who wished to view her corpus?”

Mr. Palgrave’s response was drowned in the shouts of the four who stood beside him. They made vigorous assurances to Sir John that indeed Palgrave had admitted them for payment of a shilling. “There was some in before us,” shouted one of the prisoners, perhaps Satterthwait. “He made a pretty penny off her.”

“Is that so?” said Sir John. “How many paid to look upon the corpus? How many shillings did you earn from this bizarre enterprise?”

“Not a great many — well, ten altogether. But as I told you earlier, this whore, Tribble, was behind on her rent to the amount of seven shillings. I felt it was my right, as landlord, to recompense myself as I saw fit. And since I was owner of the dwelling — of the entire court — I had the right to admit whomever I pleased.”

“Mr. Palgrave, something interests me. You have referred to Mistress — or perhaps Mrs. — Tribble by epithets indicating you thought her to be engaged in prostitution. Or perhaps you meant them loosely, only to indicate that she was a woman of loose morals, a woman of low degree?”

“No, by God, she was a proper whore!”

“You’re certain of that?”

“Course I am! I saw her bring her men in her room all hours of the day and night. I spied on them a few times, too. Once I even saw money changing hands. If that doesn’t say she’s a whore, I don’t know what does! Everyone knew what she was.”

“And yet you allowed her to continue paying rent and occupy a room in the court?”

“What of it?” said Mr. Palgrave defensively. “A man’s got to get income from his property. It wasn’t till later she fell behind in her rent. She was quite regular the first year.”

“Why then,” declared Sir John, “we have another charge against you, sir. You were running a bawdy house, knowingly giving over your premises for the purpose of prostitution and sharing in the proceeds. But let us go on. Tell me, when you first looked upon the body of that woman this morning, how did you find her? In what condition?”

“Why, dead, of course.”

“You miss my point. Was she sitting or lying? Clothed or unclothed?”

“Well, then, her body was on the bed, and she was unclothed, though at first look, what I thought to be a covering of some sort turned out to be a great hole dug in her middle.”

“And you took a shilling each from these men and others so that they might view this sight?”

“Yes.”

“Since you admit to that, I now charge you with offering to the public a lewd and obscene show and taking money for admission to said show.”

Albert Palgrave sputtered for a moment, trying to find words suitable for a denial. “It was no show,” said he, having recovered himself. “It was more of an exhibition — like — scientifical and not for entertainment.”

“She was naked, was she not? And obscenely hacked open? No, Mr. Palgrave, I reject your argument. The charge stands, and I find you guilty on it and sentence you to ninety days in the Fleet Prison.”

“The Fleet? I am no debtor, no bankrupt!”

“You may be by the time you emerge, for I am not done with you yet. I further find you guilty of knowingly running a bawdy house and receiving the proceeds of prostitution, and for that I sentence you to sixty days in the Fleet, and finally, in the matter of impeding an inquiry into the death of Mistress Tribble, I also find you guilty and sentence you to thirty days in the Fleet. Sentences to run consecutively — six months in all. And if you wish to add to your sentence, you will continue to argue against me, so I may find you guilty of contempt.”

Mr. Palgrave, shocked into silence, bit his tongue. And Sir John, satisfied that he had dealt his last with him, slammed down his gavel, indicating that the matter was done.

“And now, let us deal with Edward Tribble. We have heard Constable Fuller declare that this man, who claims to be the victim’s husband, was offering parts of her body for sale, as ‘souvenirs.’ Mr. Fuller, how came you by this information? What was seen and what was heard by you?”

The constable stroked his chin in thought. “Well, sir,” said he after a bit, “when I come into the murder room, there was three men between me and that fellow Tribble, so I was not recognized as a constable right off. I said nothing for a spell, so shocked was I by the condition of the victim I could scarce believe my eyes. Yet I become aware there was dealing going on between Tribble and that one, I believe he gave his name as Lemuel Tinker. They seemed to me to be haggling over the price of something. I, bein’ taller than the rest, got myself into a spot where I might have a better view of what was goin’ on. And I saw Tribble holding out to him something smallish and all covered with blood. Tinker asks him, ‘What part of her is it?’ and Tribble replies, ‘I know naught of inwards, but for three shillings, what does it matter?’ ‘If I’m to buy it,’ says the other, ‘then I should know what to call it.’ At that moment, realizing what they were about, I drew sword and pistol and arrested the lot of them.”

“So you did not actually see the purchase made, the money change hands, or the body part given over, even for inspection?”

“No, sir, I did not. I’d never seen the like, or even heard of such a thing, and I wished to put an end to it at that moment.”

Sir John nodded approvingly. “I’m sure,” said he, “that I, in your place, would have done the same. But now, Mr. Tribble, it is time for you to speak. Do you accept the constable’s account?”

“Not a bit, I don’t,” said Tribble most impudent. “I knows a deal of how the law works. You got to prove it against me. So I denies it all!”

Those in the courtroom did not like this, indeed did not like Tribble. A resentful rumble went round the benches. Had he, at that moment, been turned over to those assembled, I do not think he would have survived longer than a few minutes’ time.

“I should think,” said Sir John, “that we were well on our way to proving it with Mr. Fuller’s account. It was reasonable. He did not claim to have seen or heard more than he did. But perhaps another witness. The logical choice would be Mr. Lemuel Tinker. So speak up, Mr. Tinker, was the constable’s account of what passed between you and Mr. Tribble an accurate one? Would you care to enlarge upon it?”

“It was remarkable accurate, sir,” said he, a small weasel-faced fellow, “right down to the very words was used. What went before was this fellow was in the room when us three come in after payin’ a shilling each to the landlord. He says to us. This is a great crime has been committed here. It will be historical. This poor darlin’ was my wife, and much as it pains me to do it, I shall offer to sell these parts of her that was cut out by him who committed this foul murder upon her. I do this for to raise money to give her a proper Christian burial.’ He made it seem like we’d be doin’ charity if we bought something of her. I swear to God he did, sir. Her heart he put a great price on, asking a ned for it, the liver ten shillings, and the smaller part he offered me five shillings. I talked him down to three. I was the only one of us with money to spare. And the rest of what was said went just like the constable told it.”