Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-23

although Doggett endeavored to dissuade
him from his purpose, he eventually con.
sented to accompany him.
On their arrival at the Jews establish.
ment they found the shop left in charge OF a
younger member of the tribe of Israel, who
fetched by two policemen to see if he could
identify the body of man which had been
drawn from the water, and that they had
driven away in a cab to the parish mortuary.
Thither Lord Salincourt and Doggett rapidly
followed
1t was loathsome sight which met theil
eyes. There, on a stone slab, rested the
body of tall and well-made man, so far as
the swollen condition of the remains enabled
the onlookers to judge.
The body had been denuded of its cloth
ing. Decomposition had advanced very far.
But worse still, the rats had gnawed away
the hands, leaving nothing OF that part oil
the person except the putrefying stumpsi
nothing certainly to furnish any evidence
whether the body was that of a laboring
man or that of a man whose hands had
known no harder work than is involved in
riding to hounds.
The features had been entirely obliterated
by the same agency. Even the very ewes
had been scooped out of their sockets by
these voracious denizens of the Shiny river.
The empty sockets added to the gruesome
horror of the spectacle. There was nothing
left as means of Identification except the
hair and teeth, and the clothing which had
been removed from the body, and which
Isaac with trembling fingers was leisurely
examining, casting occasional glances from
the horrid sight which Law on the slab to the
pallid face of Lord Sellincourt.
The surgeon who had Just completed his
repulsiye Office of examining the body was
washing his hands, debating to an assistant
his notes, which Doggett also proceeded rap
idly to transcribe. Here they are:
BODY of strong athletic man of six feet
exactly; well-nourished; features oblit-
Grated; hands gone; eyes judging from the
size of sockets, full; probably been dark
| judging from color of hair which is deep
black; teeth white, regular and good; head
well shaped; evidently remains of a hand
some man: age about 80, more or less.
| Been in water ten days or more. No marks
of violence upon the body. That's all, I
think"
"See," said Lord Selincourt, handing
Doggett one of the published descriptions,
sit exactly corresponds"
Doggett nodded his head and said moth
ing. He was keenlv watching the Jew who
had pricked up his ears on hearing Lord
| Selincourt's name.
police sergeant asked. "The clothes came
from you, that is certain. They bear your
name To whom did you sell them? Let us
| get at the mans name if we can"
81 sold them to a shentleman Is days ago, !"
Isaac replied.
''Sold them to gentleman" the police
sergeant asked, incredulously.
"Yes, and that shentleman there" point
ing to Doggett, "has is photograph. in his
pocket
Whereupon Lord Selincourt declared that
to the best of his belief the body lying there
was that of his son-in-law, Mr.. Newnham
| Constam, the Squire of Greystoke, who had
| left the Elysium Club on the night of the
9th instant, and had not since been heard Of
care there any birthmarks on the body?"
asked Doggett, addressing the surgeon, we'll
knowing that Mr.. Constants body was free
from congenital defect of any kind; but
urging the question in the slender hope of
breaking through the chain of evidence
which he saw being pitilessly forged, link
| by link, before his eyes.
"I can discover no blemish of anv kind.
| In fact there are no marks natal or post
natal. Nothing except what the rats have
made. The man has been drowned, that is
all"
At the inquest which was held in due
course, the legal representatives of Mr..
Constam and the solicitors to the Universal
fought and wrangled to very little purpose
The most important evidence next to that
of the surgeon was that of Isaac the Jew,
who swore that "the clothes were those he
had sold to the 'shentleman' whose portrait
had been shown him by the detective"-the
portrait of Newnham Constam.
Isaac was subjected to q severe cross
examination in the interests of the insur-
ance companies involved, without shaking
his testimony in the least degree. He was
quite certain that the clothes produced at
the inquiry were the same that he had sold
to Mr.. Constam. He had sold no others of
the same size that year. They were extra
mems size, and garments of that size were
not often asked for. 1t was 10 days SINCE
The clothes, though stained with their long
immersion in the dirty river, were evidently
new and bore no marks of wear.
The surgeons testimony. threw no fresh
light on the mystery. The man was alive
when he fell into the water (or was thrown
into it, and there were no marks of violence
on the body. All post mortem appearances
pointed to an ordinary case of death from
drowning.
The Universal could not oppose their un-
supported doubts to the calm certainty
which had obtained possession of the minds
of the Coroner and his jury, and a verdict
was rendered in the following terms:
''That the body viewed by the jury was
the body of Mr.. Constam, of Grevstoke
Court; that he was drowned; but how he
came into the water there was no evidence
to show.
And so this Thames derelict, inclosed in
a coffin of richly polished oak with massive
armorial mountings of solid silver, bearing
the name, (supposed) date of death and age
of the deceased Mr.. Constam, was conveyed
to Greystoke for burial, and there laid to
rest beneath the chancel of the venerable
church; and the strange disappearance of
Mr.. Constam thus cleared up to the entire
satisfaction of British jury soon dropped
out of the memories of men. Probate was
granted to the executors in due course, and
the Universal met the claim, not without
wry faces on the part of the directors.
But how Mr.. Constants body, which bore
no marks of violence, came into the water
remained a sealed mystery, which Mr.. Dog
get often endeavored to elucidate, but in
vain.
eve have not got to the bottom of the
business vet, he said. "Old Isaacs knows
more than he has chosen to tell us. A war
rant to search his premises would probably
bring to light the missing clew to the mys-
terry"
".
Seven years later.
Lady Barbara Constam is q widow still. |
though she has long since laid aside the |
conventional symbols of her great sorrow.