Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-04-24
= "CLUBNOSE.s 50

CLUBNOSE."
It was in hospital at the east end of
London that 1 first made the acquaint-
ance of .sClubnose.' An old college
friend of mine, who was one of the resi-
sdentssurgeons, was showing me over the
wards, and there passed us two or three
times a hospital nurse, whose remark
able appearance arrested my attention.
She had / think, the most hideous and
repulsive face / ever saw on man or
woman. 1t was not that the features
were naturally ugly, for it was simply
impossible to tell in what semblance
nature had originally nodded them; but
they had been SO completely battered
out of shape, that one would have fancied
she must have been subjected to much
the same treatment as the fgure-head on
which Daniel Quilp used to vent his inn
potent fufy.-Fhe hero'o score of un-
successful prize-fghts could not have
shown worse facial Disagreement than
this tidily dressed. cleanly looking
woman.
When we had finished our tour of the
wards, I turned to my friend, and point
ing to the receding figure of the nurse,
who had just passed us again, I said:
..What dreadful ill-looking nurse you
have there! Why, it must be enough to
send patient into fits to have that face
bending over him"
corr said he, laughing, 6. that's Club
nose Then lowering his voice, he
added: She's not nurse really-she's S
detective
"A detectiver' exclaimed. "Why,
you don't mean to say that the police
dog the steps of a poor wretch even in
the hospital?''
:. No. he replied; "I don't think she
has her eye upon any of the patients-it
is the friends who come to visit the pa
tients that she watches. 1t is her way
of doing business. Whenever there has
been crime committed in a neighbor-
hood, she goes out as a nurse to the
hospital of the district. don't exactly
know what her nsod1ts operdaadi is. She
has proper certificate as a nurse, and
performs her duties like any of the rest;
but it is understood that every facility
for getting the information she requires
is to put in her way, without of course
exciting suspicion. How she picks up
her Information l don't know, but I sus-
pect it is by listening to the talk of the
patients and their friends, on visiting
days. At any rate, believe she has OBJ
tanned clues under this disguise when
others have failed her; and if the game
wasn't worth the candle, I don't sup
pose she'd try it.
ss Do the other nurses know her real
characterP''
No. They may have their suspic-
ionsi but it is kept secret from all but
the authorities
ssIs Clubnose' your nickname for
her, or is she generally known by that
sobyiquet ?'' l asked.
mo; did not christen her so; it is
the name she is known by in the force.
Her real name is Margaret Saunders.
She has a very queer history, l believe;
but she is exceedingly reserved, and /
have never had chance of drawing her
out.'
And this was all I learned about
sClubnoseh on that occasion.
Three or four days later two ladies,
with whom Twas intimately connected
were robbed of considerable quantity
of valuable jewelry, and I was intrusted
with the investigation of the case. had
paid numberless visits to Scotland Yard,
and had had no end of interviews with
detectives, but still there was no salts
factory clue to the identity of the thieves,
One evening / was sitting alone after
dinner, when the servant entered and
said that ss a person" wished to see me.
.sMan or womanp'' asked.
ss..' .' A woman, sir-says she wishes to
: see you partickler, SIR
Well, show her in,'' I said, inwardly
wondering who the strange female might
- be who wanted to see me at so unreasOn-
able an hour.
The door opened, and a respectable
looking woman wearing thick veil
was shown in. 1 requested her to take
seat. She did so; and as soon as the
= servant had retired and the door was
closed, she threw back her veil and re-
yealed the distorted features of Club
nose
| remembered her in an instant; indeed
who that had once seen that face could
ever forget itp
.sYouhave come from Scotland Y ardp''
8 I.said, mterrogatively.
's Yes, sir,' she answered, quietly. ss
am Margeret Saunders. from the detective
department. -
Her voice was harsh and unpleasant
but there was a firmness and decision
about her manner, and look of intelli.
gence and resolution in her keen gray
eyes, which at once inspired confidence.
Il
tain extent the terrible Disagreement Of
her face; but even then the most reck.
less flatterer dared not have called hel
physiognomy prepossessing. It was moi
bad face; but one could not look at il
without shudder, SO frightfully was il
mutilated The nose in particular no
tced had been knocked into grotesque
= 1y fantastic shape, thereby giving rise te
the sob7Tquet by which she was familiarly
known. She had come to inform me- O.
a very important piece of evidence which
she had discovered, and which, say a
once, led ultimately to the Identification
aud conviction of the thieves. Into thu
details of the case / need not enter; i
was only remarkable because it intro
duced me personally to .sClubnose, ;
and enabled me eventually to learn from
her own lips the story of her life, which
Ipurpose here briefly setting down.
Some five-and-twenty years ago
crime was perpetrated in London which
was marked by such exceptional feature
of atrocity as to send thrill of horro
through the whole community. A mid
dle-aged gentleman of eccentric habit
was attacked in his own house, and no
only beaten and left for dead, but mutt
lated in peculiarly shocking manner
The miscreants also carried off a consid
cradle quantity of valuable property
The victim of this atrocious crime, strang
to say, in spite of the horrible injuries b
had sustained, was not killed outright
and though for weeks his life was de
SPARED Of, he eventually recovered, only
however, to be for the remainder of hi
days a helpless cripple.
For some time the police could find NJ
clue to the perpetrator of this barbarou
outrage; but at last suspicion was at
tracted to a woman who was known t,
have been occasionally employed abou
the house to do odd jobs of cleaning. 1
person answering to her description,
was discovered, had been seen leaving
the house in company with man oi
the day on which the crime was com