The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-06-07

receipt for the money they had taken care OF for
him; Sid not forget his unpacked trunk IN the
hall. But they might want him as witness;
they might send to Liverpool after him: Could
they do it in time to stop his sailing! Yes, that
troubled him; and as he alighted from the train
towards evening he received rude shock.
"How do you do, Needham?" said gentleman
on the platform. II thought / was the only man
who felt obliged to travel an Sundays"
II beg your pardon" sa,d Needham, with
real stammer an exaggeratinn of his customary
slight hesitation of manner, ''you have the
advantage me-"
.sMr Needham, is it notr said the other. Mr..
John Needha1n, surely cannot be mistaken"
GU are, sir; my name is Norbury
II beg your pardon" said the other. my
name is Green-Wilfred Green. I am the
member for HARDWOOD and could have sworn
you were a colleague of mine"
you honor me-" said Needham; Il have
never aspired to a seat in Parliament"
II beg your pardon" said the stranger again;
Needham smiled, took off his hat, and moved
away.
Curse him" he muttered between his teeth;
II always hated him-the jabbering idiot! What
will he say when he reads the papers tomorrow
What did he say9 When he read of the dis
covery of the body he rubbed his hands with
pleasure. Not that he disliked Needham, but be-
cause he spritualist one of the first active,
talking, and writing spirltualists OF the modern
stition; and he believed he had seen Needhams
materialized spirit on its travels. He suddenly
remembered that he and Needham had not many
weeks previously had long conversation OF a
psychological and Biblical character, in which
Needham had expressed his entire belief in the
Biblical visions and in ghosts and had confessed
that he saw no reason why the nineteenth CEN
fury should be deprived of spiritual intercourse
with those who had gone before them to the
spirit land. Mr.. Wilfred Green M. F., wrote a
letter tn no M Stafi a might
than coincidence, the appearance unto him at
Liverpool on Sunday of John Needham; and he
suggested several curious psychological explana,
tons of the same. 1t might have been an optical
effort of the mind or a communication from the
spirit world: John Needham's personality might
for the moment have been unconsciously assumed
by another, for spirit purposes but he left the
facts to the learned and the scientific, contenting
himself with setting them forth. And for sew
eral days the learned and scientific gave him
fits" to quote popular, if vulgar phrase, while
one very imaginative and sensational journalist
limited that If Green had seen anybody it was
really John Needham, and that the body upon
which the inquest had sat was spurious
corpse"
These and other strange circumstances set up
in the sensitive mind of Kate Norbury great
and dreadful fear.
CHAPTER XII.
DESCRIBES THE CoRoNER's INQUEST. THE MA
TURE OF THE EVIDENCE, AND THE RESULT.
The inquest was opened on Tuesday morning
The body had been identified by the deceased's
brother Henry, and by the butler. Several per-
soual friends were present, including two mem
bers of Parliament. There had not been the
smallest doubt, of course as to the suicide, and
the evidence of the servants showed how COM
pletely Needham had laid his plans. Some of
the jury while chatting among themselves, had
expressed surprise that the deceased should
have taken so much trouble about it, and that
he should do such an odd thing as to drive up to
Hampstead In answer to this it was suggested
that he might have done these curious things
for the purpose of leading up to verdict Of in
sanity.
This was the nature OF the conversation that
took place while the jury were going to view the
body and returning to Jack Straw's Castle. where
the inquest was held.
James Rogers was the first witness called He
deposed that he was butler of the deceased, and
resided at his masters house. Portland Place.
He had seen and identified the body as that of
Mr.. John Needham whom he had last seen alive
at about o'clock on Saturday evening at which
time he waited upon him at dinner Mr.. Need
ham had sent the footman and the coachman to
Leighton Buzzard an hour or so before His
master took very light dinner, and afterwards
he (Rogers) went out with the other servants to
the opera. The witness then related the circum-
stances under which he and the rest had gone to
the opera, and afterwards to supper. They did
not return home until nearly 2 in the morning
when he left In the library there
were--the. remains of some coffee, and
the spirit bottles and other things were
on the table Mr. Needham had, he should say
had his cup of coffee and cigar as usual The
cup had since been washed, and so also had the
coffee-pot OF course, if he had known of the
sad business he would have had the things re-
main as they were Nobody had been to the
house during the day except Mr. Nolan, the So
licitor. He came to breakfast and the master
drove him home in the afternoon. The carriage
used was the pairhorse brougham, and the
coachman and footman were on the box. Had
not observed anything peculiar in his masters
manner during the last few months. Thought
it curious at the time his treating every body to
the opera and being so particularly affable, but
put it down to a sudden act of generosity and
being his birthday, though he must say it as
tonlshed him very much. The parlor maid, how
ever, had said she thought the master was mad;
but it was way she had"
"A way she had?" the coroner asked
Eyes, sir. Anyone ADDING anything she don't
quite see, she'd say: oh, he's mad-mad as a
halter" Laughter
land she did not quite see the masters invi-
tation to the opera, ehs"
THAT was it, sir: and so she bounces as
understands, into the kitchen, and says the mas
ter's mad"
Eyes, that will do we don't want to hear what
you understand, but what you know of your own
knowledge"
yes Sir; that's what was a-sayin-'
THAT will do. The next witness
Thomas Bobbins was then called. He said he
was bird-catcher-" dealt in em'-and lived at
Tickheel Court Hampstead. Came across the
body at 8 on Sunday morning Saw the horse
first then the body; then the brougham; called
to chap as he see near the Castle to come afore
he touched it; and then the police, some time
afterwards. All the clothes was on the body
and the deceased had laid his overcoat down first
to lie upon, that was evident: and close by was
the opera hat. and the bottle and flask now pro-
duced The clothes were wet, as it had rained
heavy the first part of the night The bottle had
Essential Oil of Almonds" on it, and poison"
in big letters, and the druggists name
Here the coroner explained that he had pre-
ferred to let this witness give his evidence ex-
actly in his own words before asking him any
him great many, further eliciting that there
was no evidence of struggle and no particular
footmarks, seeing that the spot where the body
was lying was Furry" and not calculated to
;v,t ha IF rlc Rutr