The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-13 00:00:00

surviving parent; and, as far as a stern attention to my re-
ligious instruction, and an active anxiety evinced by his pro-
curing for me the best masters to perfect me io those accom-
plishments which my station and wealth might seem to
require, could avail, he amply discharged the task. My
father was what is called an oddity, and his treatment of me,
though uniformly kind, flowed less from affection and tender-
ness, than from a sense of obligation and duty. Indeed, I
seldom even spoke to him at meal times, and then his man-
ner was silent and abrupt; his leisure hours, which were
many, were passed either in his study or in solitary walks;
in short, he seemed to take no further interest in my happi-
ness or improvement than a conscientious regard to the dis-
charge of his own duty would seem to claim. Shortly before
my birth a circumstance had occurred which had contributed
much to form and confirm my father's secluded habits—it
was the fact that a suspicion of murder had fallen upon his
younger brother, though not sufficiently definite to lead to an
indictment, yet strong enough to ruin him in public opinion.
This disgraceful and dreadful doubt cast upon the family
name, my father felt deeply and bitterly, and nut the less so
that he himself was thoroughly convinced of his brother's
innocence ; the sincerity and strength of this impression he
shortly afterwards proved in a manner which produced the
dark events which follow. Before, however, I enter upon the
statement of them, I ought to relate the circumstances which
had awakened the suspicion ; inasmuch as they ate in them-
selves somewhat curious, and, in their effects, most intimately
connected with my after-history.
My uncle, Sir Arthur T—n, was a gay and extravagant
man, and, among other vices, was ruinously addicted to
gambling; this unfortunate propensity, even after his fortune
had suffered so severely as to render inevitable a reduction in
his expenses by no means inconsiderable, nevertheless con-
tinued to actuate him, nearly to the exclusion of all other
pursuits; he was, however, a proud, or rather a vain man, and
could not bear to make the diminution of his income a mat-
ter of gratulation and triumph to those with whom he had
hitherto competed, and the consequence was, he frequented
no longer the expensive haunts of dissipation, and retired
from the gay world, leaving his coterie to discover his rea-
sons as best they might. He did not, however, forego his
favourite vice, for, though he could not worship his great
divinity in the costly temples where it was formerly his wont
to take his stand, yet he found it very possible to bring about
him a sufficient number of the votaries of chance to answer
his ends. The consequence was, that Carrickleigh, which was
the name of my uncle's residence, was never without one or
more of such visitors as I have described. It happened that
upon one occasion he was visited by one Hugh Tisdall, a
gentleman of loose habits, hut of considerable wealth, and
who had, in early youth, travelled with my uncle on the Con-
tinent. The period of this visit was winter, and, consequently,
the house was nearly deserted, excepting by its regular in-
mates: it was, therefore, highly acceptable, particularly as
my uncle was aware that his visitor's tastes accorded exactly
with his own. Both parties seemed determined to avail them-
selves of their suitability during the brief stay which Mr.
Tisdall had promised. The consequence was, that they shut
themselves up in Sir Arthur's private room, for nearly all the
day and the greater part of the night, during the space of
nearly a week, at the end of which the servant, having one
morning, as usual, knocked at Mr. Tisdall's bed-room door
repeatedly, received no answer, and, upon attempting to en-
ter, found that it was locked. This appeared suspicious, and
the inmates of the house having been alarmed, the door was
forced open, and, on proceeding to the bed, they found the
body of its occupant perfectly lifeless, and hanging half way
out, the head downwards, and near the floor. One deep
wound had been inflicted on the temple, apparently with
some blunt instrument, which had penetrated the brain, and
another blow, less effective, probably the first aimed, had
grazed the head, removing some of the scalp, but leaving the
skull untouched. The door had been double locked upon the
inside, in evidence of which the key still lay where it had
been placed in the lock. The window, though not secured
on the interior, was closed; a circumstance not a little puz-
zliug, as it afforded the only other mode of escape from the
room; it looked out, too, upon a kind of court-yard, round
which the old buildings stood, formerly accessible by a nar-
row door-way and passage lying in the oldest side of the qua-
drangle, but which had since been built up, so as to preclude
all ingress or egress; the room was also upon the second
story, and the height of the window considerable; near the
bed were found a pair of razors belonging to the murdered
man, one of them upon the ground, and both of them open.
The weapon which had inflicted the mortal wound was not
to be found in the room, nor were soy footsteps or other
traces of the murderer discoverable. At the suggestion of
Sir Arthur himself, a coroner was instantly summoned to
attend, and an inquest was held; nothing, however, in any
degree conclusive was elicited; the walls, ceiling, and flour
of the room were carefully examined, in order to ascertain
whether they contained a trap-door or other concealed mode
of entrance—but no such thing appeared. Such was the
minuteness of investigation employed, that, although the
grate had contained a large fire during the night, they pro-
keeded to examine even the very chimney, in order to disco-
ver whether escape by it was possible ; but this attempt, too,
was fruitless, for the chimney, built in the old fashion, rose
in a perfectly perpendicular line from the hearth to a
height of nearly fourteen feet above the roof, affording in its
interior scarcely the possibility of ascent, the flue being
smoothly plastered, and sloping towards the top, like an in-
verted funnel, promising, too, even if the summit were at-
tained, owing to its great height, hut a precarious descent
upon the sharp and steep-ridged roof; the ashes, too, which
lay in the grate, and the soot, as far as it could be seen, were
undisturbed, a circutnstance almost conclusive of the ques-
tion. Sir Arthur was of course examined ; his evidence was
given with clearness and unreserve, which seemed calculated
to silence all suspicion; he stated that, up to the day and
night immediately preceding the catastrophe, lie had lost to
a heavy amount, but that, at their last sitting, he had not
only won back his original loss, but upwards of four thousand
pounds in addition; in evidence of which he produced an
acknowledgment of debt to that amount, in the hand-writing
of the deceased, and bearing the date of the fatal night; he
had mentioned the circumstances to his lady, and in presence
of some of his domestics; which statement was supported by
their respective evidence. One of the jury shrewdly ob-
served, that the circumstance of Mr. Tisdall's having sus-
tained so heavy a loss might have suggested to some
ill-
minded persons accidentally hearing it, the plan of robbing
him, after having murdered him in such a manner as might
make it appear that be had committed suicide; a supposition
which was strongly supported by the razors having been found
thus displaced, and removed from their case; two persons
had probably been engaged in the attempt, one watching by
the sleeping man, and ready to strike him in case of his
awakening suddenly, while the other was procuring the ra-
zors and employed in inflicting the fatal gash, so as to make
it appear to have been the act of the murdered man himself;
it was said that while the juror was snaking this suggestion,
Sir Arthur changed colour. Nothing, however, like legal
evidence appeared against hint, and the consequence was,
that the verdict was found against a person or persons un-
known, and for some time the matter was suffered to rest,
until, after about five months, my father received a letter
from a person signing himself Andrew Collis, and represent-
ing himself to be the cousin of the deceased; this letterstated
that Sir Arthur was likely to incur not merely suspicion, but
personal risk, unless he could account for certain circum-
stances connected with the recent murder, and contained a
copy of a letter written by the deceased, and bearing date,
the day of the week, and. of the mouth, upon the night of
which '
the deed of blood had been perpetrated. Tisdall's
note ran as follows:
" DEAR CoLLIS,—I have had sharp work with Sir Arthur;
he tried some of his stale tricks, but soon found that I was
Yorkshire too—it would not do—you understand me—we
went to the work like good ones, head, heart, and soul; and,
in fact, since I came here, I have lost no time. 1 am rather
fagged, but I am sure to be well paid for my hardship; I
never want sleep so long as i can have the music of a dice.
box, and wherewithal to pay the piper. As I told you, he
tried some of his queer turns, but I foiled him like a man,
and, in return, gave him more than he could relish of tho
genuine dead knowledge. In short, I have plucked the old
Baronet as never Baronet was plucked before; I have scarce
left him the stump of a quill; I have gut promissory notes
in his hand to the amount of—if you like round numbers, say
£30,000, -safely deposited in my portable strong box. alias
double-clasped pocket-book. 1 leave this ruinous old rat-
hole early on to-morrow, for two reasons—first, I do not
want to play with Sir Arthur deeper than I think his secu-
rity, that is, his money, or his money's worth, would warrant
—and, secondly, because I sin safer a hundred miles from
Sir Arthur, than in the house with him; look you, my
worthy, I tell you this between ourselves—l may be wrong,
but, by G—, I am as sure as that I am now living, that Sir
A— attempted to poison me last night; so much for old
friendship on both sides. When I won the last stake, a
heavy one enough, my friend leant his forehead upon his
hands, and you'll laugh when I tell you, that his head literally
smoked like a hot dumpling I do not know whether his
agitation was produced by the plan which he had against
me, or by his having lost so heavily; though it must be al-
lowed that he had reason to be a little funked, whichever way
his thoughts went; hut h. pulled the bell, and ordered two
bottles of champaigne. - While the fellow was bringing them
he drew out a promissory note to the full amount, which he
signed, and, as the man came in with the bottles and glasses,
he desired him to be off; he filled out a glass for me, and,
while he thought my eyes were off, for I was putting up his
note at the time, he dropped something slyly into it, no doubt
to sweeten it; ut I saw it all, and, when he handed it to me,
I said, with an emphasis which he might or might not un-
derstand, there is some sediment in this, I'll not drink it.'
said he, and at the same time snatched it from
handmy there,'
and threw it into the fire. What do you think of
that? have I not a tender chicken to manage? Win or lose,
I will not play beyond five thousand to-night, and to-mor-
row sees me safe out of the reach of Sir Arthur's chain-
paigne. So, all things considered, I think you must allow
that you are not the last who have found a knowing boy in
yours to command,

"HUGH TisnALL."
Of the authenticity of this document, I never heard my
father express a doubt ; and I am satisfied that, owing to his
strong conviction in favour of his brother, he would not have
admitted it without sufficient inquiry, inasmuch as it tended
to confirm the suspicions which already existed to his preju-
dice. Now the only point in this letter which made strongly
against my uncle, was the mention of the "double-clasped
pocket-honk," as the receptacle of the papers likely to involve
him, for this pocket-book was not forthcoming nor any where
to be found, nor had any papers referring to his gaming
transactions been found upon the dead man ; however, what-
ever might have been the original intention of this Collis,
neither my uncle or my father ever heard more of him; but
he published the letter in Faulkner's newspaper, which was
shortly afterwards made the vehicle of a much more mvs-
terious attack ;. the passage in that periodical to which I
allude, occurred about four years afterwards, and while the
fatal occurrence was still fresh in public recollection ; it com-
menced by a rambling preface, stating that "a certain person
whom certain persons thought to be dead, was not so, but
living, and in full possession of his memory, and moreover,
ready and able to make great delinquents tremble;" it then
went on to describe the murder, without, however, mention-
ing names; and in doing so, it entered into minute and cir-
cumstantial particulars of which none but an eye-witness
could have been possessed, and by implications almost too
unequivocal to be regarded in the light of insinuation, to
involve the " titled gambler" in the guilt of the transaction.
My father at once urged Sir Arthur to proceed against the
paper in an action of- libel, but he would not hear of it, nor
consent to my father's taking any legal steps whatever in the
matter. My father, however, wrote in a threatening tone to
demanding a surrender of the author of the ob-