Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-10-31
The STORY Teller.
A STRANGE FREAK.
THE INSPECTORS LOSS.

THE INSPECTORS LOSS.
Inspector Hookyer had served his
|25 years in the detective force and
his colleagues were entertaining him
at a little farewell dinner, in anticipa-
ton of his forthcoming retirement.
The chairman having eulogized the
guest of the evening to an extent that
brought a blush to the face of that
cuse- hardened officer, the inspector
rose to reply, and at the finish he
said:
"The chairman has said that I never
let man slip through my fingers after
1 had once got on his track, but 1 am
sorry to say he is wrong. 1 am bound
to acknowledge that once an offender
was too clever for me-"
"Tell us about it % arose sponta-
neously from almost every throat
and Inspector Hookyer, in response
to the request, gave the story.
''It was good many years ago now
when 1 had intrusted to me case of
q Young woman named Eliza Thick
broom, who had been found dead
|Ievidently murdered by having her
throat cuD in some fields adjoining
the canal near a town in Lancashire.
She had been domestic servant, and
was of a retiring disposition, and bore
an irreproachable character. Her
friends lived in quite another part of
the country, and her mistress had no
knowledge of her keeping company or
ANYTHING of that kind. For some
time I had considerable difficulty in
fixing the crime or any reason for it
upon anyone; but at last, after lot of
Inquiry, 1 ascertained that she had
been walking out with a man named
|Lamprey, who lived near Stockport,
lin Cheshire, some 80 miles from where
Eliza Thickbroom resided.
"It seemed that the girl had been in
the habit of spending her holiday,
when she had day off, in going to
Stockport, where Lamprey met her,
and. that she had become engaged to
him, but that, hearing something to
his discredit, she had refused to have
anything more to do with him; and,
|so far, nothing further was known to
|implicate Lamprey in the crime ; but
II, of cousre, at once took the train to
Stockport and proceeded to hunt up
Lamprey, and to make inquiries in the
town where he resided.
I knew nothing about him except
his name, but from the local police
and cautious questions of one and an.
other, ascertained that he had been
a sailor and was then a 'steeple, jack !
+, and one of the best climbers known.
"tJack Lamprey! cried one man to
whom I had spoken. 'Ah, he can
climb, for sure, can Jack Why, he
climbed up to the very top of yon
steeple (pointing to the church hard
by, which had a spire remarkably tall,
and slender, but very hard to mount).
After the storm had damaged the
weathercock, Jack climbed up and
fixed it all alone for the parson, and
} he refused to be paid for it,
"The man seemed to look upon
Lamprey's refusing payment as more
wonderful than his climbing the steeple,
and perhaps he was right. Well, bit
by bit, I found little things which,
when pieced together, pointed unmis'
takably to Jack Lamprey as the MUIR
derer. He had, until recently, been
seen frequently in and about Stockport
with the girl, but for the last two OF
three months she had not been observ.
in his company. He had been jolly
sort of fellow, but since the girl had
ceased her visits it had been noticed
that he had become moody and silent
and he had previously been a most
abstemious man.
"He was away from his lodgings on
the night OF" the murder, and on his
return early the next day he was trav-
el-stained, as if he had walked a long
way. His landlady remembered that
he told her he had fallen down in
some chemical works where he had
been on a job, and had stained his
clothes; and she recollected that i'm
meQldCely alCer LIS aiilHal hono ho
had busted himself brushing and spong-
Ing his garments.
"There was sufficient evidence to
Justify me in obtaining warrant; but
he was away on job-no one knew
where exactly, except that it was
somewhere near Liverpool-and it was
useless for me to leave Stockport,
where had the best chance of catch
ling him, on a w;ldgoose chase to Liver.
pool, without better information. My
only course was to wait and keep quiet
till he came back, which he expected
to do the following day.
"I took every precaution to prevent
any one knowing that he was wanted,
but some pal must have got to sus,
pect it, an given him warning. The
police in Liverpool had been wired to-
and had kept watch on all trains in
the direction of Stockport, and toward
the evening of the second day receiv'
: ed the intimation that man resemb'
ling his description had taken the
train, and was on his way. Assisted
Il, he