American Sherlocks Nick Rennison (best big ereader txt) 📖

‘No trace of either woman had been found, and there was consequently nothing to do save to hold Buck on suspicion while the search for the bodies was being conducted. The search speedily bore fruit, for, within an hour of Buck’s arrest, the body of a woman was found floating in the harbour. The features had been obliterated, being so badly hacked and battered as to make recognition impossible, but the clothing on the body was speedily identified as being that of Mrs Buck. As no trace of the cousin was found it was decided that her body must have floated out to sea on the tide, and Buck was held, charged with the murder of both women.

‘At the trial circumstantial evidence figured strongly in securing Buck’s conviction, but there was also a beautiful train of circumstantial evidence in his favour. He pointed out that no blood-stains had been found on his clothing, and defied the prosecution to demonstrate a way in which he could have hacked a body as his wife’s had been mangled and then have conveyed it to the water without having become stained with blood. He also showed a streak of genius by defying the police to show conclusively that his cousin, Emma Bray, was really dead, as no trace of her body had been found. This part of the indictment was shortly dropped, and he stood accused of only the one murder, that of his wife.

‘Of course his rash words in the saloon played an important part against him, but in his favour was the absence of blood-stains upon him and that fact, together with his drunkenness and the well-known frequency with which his wife had assaulted him, both orally and physically, saved him from execution. He was, however, convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment for life; but, even after Buck had been imprisoned, there remained many people who did not believe him guilty of the crime. Consequently, after he had served a term of years, a movement was set on foot to have him pardoned, the movement being eventually successful.

‘After his release Buck returned to Gloucester and quietly resumed his old life, taking up his residence in his former home and again entering the employ of the Bay State Codfish Company. For two years he lived quietly and then, like a sudden thunderclap, came a piece of news which entirely upset his every thought. An associate came to him, giving him positive assurance that he had seen Mrs Buck in Beverly, and had been told that she was employed by a rich man as a cook. For days Buck brooded over that information, striving to make himself realize that he had not only been sent to prison for a crime which he had never committed, but also for one which, possibly, had never been committed at all.

‘At last he could stand the strain no longer, and so set out one night for Beverly, to prove for himself the truth or falsity of the weird rumour. Before starting, moved by some instinct which even he himself cannot define, he secreted one of the company’s knives in his coat, giving it no more thought after his departure from Gloucester.

‘On his arrival in Beverly he had no difficulty in locating Lamson’s estate and, proceeding here at once, he slipped about in the darkness, searching for the woman who might or might not prove to be his wife. He soon stumbled on the cook’s cottage, and, peering through one of the lighted windows, he was able to clearly view the woman within and his feelings cannot be described when he realized that she was indeed his wife. Overcome by a blind, insensate fury, he made his way quickly to the front of the house, burst open the door, and confronted her.

‘According to his story the woman showed no surprise at seeing him, but merely sat staring into his face with a smile of contempt on her lips. She made no reply when he accused her of allowing him to be falsely imprisoned, but continued to gloat over him with an air that aroused his already nearly uncontrollable fury to a pitch which it had never hitherto reached. He broke into savage denunciation of her, and, at last, stung her into replying to his charges. To his intense surprise she admitted them to be true. Not only that, but she boastfully asserted that she had killed his cousin out of revenge, and had then dressed the body in her own clothes to throw suspicion on him, had dragged it into the water and had then fled from the place in disguise. As she warmed up to the recital she added almost fiendish details, and through it all she continued to glory in her own success and Buck’s resulting conviction.

‘Naturally such a scene could have but one ending. Buck’s temper became more and more savage and at the conclusion of her story he had reached a point but little, if anything, short of insanity. He told her he was going to kill her and that he would be justified in the act. The announcement sobered her and silenced her tongue; but, instead of screaming for help as he had expected her to do, she launched herself fiercely at his throat. You know the result. The struggle was short-lived, and at its conclusion Buck hurried from the place, making his way immediately back to Gloucester, where I found him.

‘Now, gentlemen,’ and with the words Quincy straightened impressively, ‘now we come to the sensational part of the whole affair. The question to be decided, and it is an important one, is: Can Buck be punished for the murder?

‘At first glance the natural reply would be that he can; but, can he? Can the courts touch