Erle Gardner: The Case of the Horrified Heirs

A heavy rain in Scotland had swollen the streams. As one of them subsided, a small bundle was left by the receding waters.

This bundle contained human flesh.

A search revealed more bundles. Some of them were found days apart. Apparently, many of them had been thrown from a bridge into the turbulent flood waters.

Nearly a month after the first discoveries, a left foot was found on the roadside some distance from the stream bed. Nearly a week later, a right forearm with hand was discovered.

All of the recoveries were, of course, in a state of advanced decomposition.

When the pieces were assembled, it was found there were two heads which had been mutilated by removal of eyes, ears, nose, lips and skin. All teeth had been extracted.

It was apparent that a skilled hand had deliberately butchered two human beings in an attempt to make identification humanly impossible.

While visiting in Glasgow, I was privileged to discuss this case with the distinguished medicolegal expert whose work contributed so much to a solution of the murders.

This man is John Glaister, D. Sc., M.D., F.R.S.E. He is learned in the law and in medical science, being a barrister as well as a doctor of science and of medicine. His academic honors, the positions he has held in his long and distinguished career, would make this brief note too long for available space, should I attempt to enumerate them.

Suffice it to say he helped make medicological history by his work in this baffling murder case. The distinguishing features of the bodies were “reconstructed” by scientific methods. Brilliant deduction determined the general neighborhood where the victims had lived, and shrewd detective work resulted in apprehending the murderer.

My friend Professor Glaister is the author of Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology (E. 8c S. Livingstone, Ltd., Edinburgh amp; London; 11 thEdition), one of the most comprehensive and authoritative books in the field. Those who wish to learn more of the puzzling murder case mentioned, and the scientific methods used to identify the bodies and apprehend the murderer, will find an account of the case in that book.

Professor Glaister is a dedicated man. His is an honored name in his profession. He has contributed much to a science which protects the living by making the dead reveal their secrets. He is a dignified, impartial man, devoid of bias, devoted to finding out the truth, regardless of where the chips may fall.

And so, I dedicate this book to my friend

JOHN GLAISTER, D. Sc., M.D., F.R.S.E.

Murder is not perpetrated in a vacuum. It is a product of greed, avarice, hate, revenge, or perhaps fear. As a splashing stone sends ripples to the farthest edges of the pond, murder affects the lives of many people.

Early morning sunlight percolated through the window of a private room in the Phillips Memorial Hospital.

Traffic noises in the street which had been hushed to a low hum during the night began to swell in volume. The steps of nurses in the corridors increased in tempo, indicating an increase in the work load.

Patients were being washed, temperatures taken, blood samples collected; then the breakfast trays came rolling along, the faint aroma of coffee and oatmeal seeped into the corridors, as if apologetically asking permission to push aside the aura of antiseptic severity, promising that the intrusion would be only temporary.

Nurses holding sterile hypodermic syringes hurried into the rooms of surgery patients, giving the preliminary quieting drug which would allay apprehensions and pave the way for the anesthetic.

Lauretta Trent sat up in bed and smiled wanly at the nurse.

“I feel better,” she proclaimed in a weak voice.

“Doctor promised to look in this morning right after surgery,” the nurse told her, smiling reassuringly.

“He said I could go home?” the patient asked eagerly.

“You’ll have to ask him about that,” the nurse said. “But you’re going to have to watch your diet for a while. This last upset was very, very bad indeed.”

Lauretta sighed. “I wish I knew what was causing them. I’ve tried to be careful. I must be developing some sort of an allergy.”

Out at the Trent residence, set in its spacious grounds reminiscent of a bygone era, the housekeeper was putting the finishing touches on the master bedroom.

“They say Mrs. Trent will be home today,” she said to the maid. “The doctor asked her nurse, Anna Fritch, to be here and she has just arrived. She’ll stay for a week or two this time.”

The maid was unenthusiastic. “Just my luck. I wanted to get off this afternoon-it’s something special.”

It was at this moment that a pair of hands hovered briefly over the washbowl in a tiled bathroom.

A trickle of white powder descended from a phial into the bowl.

One of the hands turned on a water faucet and the white powder drained down the wastepipe.

There would be no more need for this powder. It had served its purpose.

Over the spacious house was an air of tense expectancy as various people waited: Boring Briggs, Lauretta’s brotherin-law; Dianne, his wife; Gordon Kelvin, another brotherin-law; and Maxine, his wife; the housekeeper, the maid, the cook; the nurse; George Eagan, the chauffeur. Each affected differently by the impending return of Lauretta Trent, they collectively managed to permeate the atmosphere with suppressed excitement.

Now that the morning surgery was over and the surgeons had changed to street clothes, there was a lull in the activities at the Phillips Memorial Hospital.

The patients who had been through surgery were in the recovery room; the first of them, recovering from the more minor operations, were beginning to trickle through the corridors, eyes closed, faces pale, covered with blankets as they were wheeled to their respective rooms.

Dr. Ferris Alton, medium height, slim-waisted despite his fifty-eight years, walked down to the private room of Lauretta Trent.

Her face lit up as the doctor opened the swinging door.

The nurse looked over her shoulder, and seeing Dr. Alton, moved swiftly to the foot of the bed, where she stood waiting at attention.

Dr. Alton smiled at his patient. “You’re better this morning.”

“Much, much better,” she said. “Am I to go home today?”

“You’re going home,” Dr. Alton said, “but you’re going to have your old nurse, Anna Fritch, back with you. I’ve arranged for her to have the adjoining bedroom. Technically, she’ll be on duty twenty-four hours a day. I want her to keep an eye on you. We shouldn’t have let her go after that last upset. I want her to keep an eye on your heart.”

Mrs. Trent nodded.

“Now then,” Dr. Alton went on, “I’m going to be frank with you, Lauretta. This is the third gastroenteric upset in eight months. They’re bad enough in themselves, but it’s your heart that I’m concerned about. It won’t stand these dietary indiscretions indefinitely. You’re going to have to watch your diet.”

“I know,” she told him, “but there are times when the spiced food tastes so darn good.”

He frowned at her, regarding her thoughtfully.

“I think,” he said at length, “when you’re more yourself we’ll have a series of allergy tests. In the meantime, you’re going to have to be careful. I think it’s only fair to warn you that your heart may not be able to stand another of these acute disturbances.”

The hands and the powder had done their work. The way had been paved; the preliminaries were all out of the way.