The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1897-01-08
THE INSPECTORS LOSS.

years lIi lle uebecllNe loTct.- anu MS COL
leagues were entertaining him AT a lit
tie farewell dinner, in anticipation 81
l:is forthcoming retirement i iic o--.lir-
man having eulogized thr guest of the
evening TO AN extent that brought a
blush To the face of that case-haldenei
officer. the inspector rose to repl.,, and
at the finish he sid:
The chairman has said that ! never
let Il man slip through my fingers after
had once got on his tiuck, hut | aIn
sorry To say he is wrong. | am hound
to acknoVy ledge that once an offender
was TOO clever for me.
Tell us about it, arose spontan"-
ously from almost every throat, and In
spector Hookyer, in response To the re-
guest. gave The story:
lit was Il good many years ago now
when | had intruSted TO me ease of u
Young Won. n named Eliza Thickbroom.
VINO had been found dead evidently
murdered by having her throat cutb in
some fields adjoining the canal near "A
town in Lancashire. She had been a do
mestic servant and was of very re-
firing. staid disposition. and bore al
irreprodchable character Her friends
lived in quite another part of the com
try and her mistress had no l,nu'Nle1lgr
of her keeping company o. anything OF
that kind. For some t.u.c l had con
siderable difficulty in fixing the crime
OF any reason for il upon anyone: but
at last. after lot of inquiry. | ascer-
tanned that she had been walking on!
with n man named Lamprey- who lived
near Stockport, in ChcGhiTc. some 30
miles from where Eliza Thicl,EroOm re
sided.
1T seemed that the girl had been IN
the habit of spending her holiday. " hen
she had day off. in going TO Stock
port. where Iamprey met her. and that
she had become cE~a%rd IN him, but
that. hearing something IT, his discred-
it. She refused to have anything more
to do with him. and. 50 far, not hing fur
ther was known to implicate LampreV
in the crime; but |. of course. AT oncH
took the train to Stockport and pro
ceeded to hunt up Lamprer and To
make inquiries in the town where he
resided.
Il knew nothing about him except
his name. but from the local Police and
cautious questions of one another /
ascertained THAT he had been a sailor
of the best climbers known.
Jack Lamprey!' cried one man 10
whom had spoken. 'Ah. he can climb,
for sure. can Jack, Why. lac climbed up
to the very top of yon steeple' u,oirtin.y
to the church hard by. which had
spire remarkably tall and slender. and
very hard to mount. After the sto:rl
had damaged the v,eafhercocll. .IaesS
parson, and he refused to br paid for it,
The man seemed tO look upon lam
prcy's refusing payment as more woE-
dcrful than his climbing the stccrlg.
and perhaps he WAS right. WClI. b.
by bit. found little things which. when
pieced together. pointed unmisIallahiy
TO Jack BampTey as the murderer. He
Lad. until recently. been seen frequent
ly in and about Stockport with the
girl. but for the last two or three
months she had not been observed in
his company. He had been n Jolly sort
of fellow but since the girl had ceased
her visits If had been noticed that he
had become moody and silent. and he
had taken TO drink good deal. al
though he had previously beeD " most
ahstcmious man.
"IIe was away from his lodgings on
the night of the murder. and on his re
turn early the next day he MAS travel
stained. as if he had walked long way
His landladv remembered that he told
her he had fallen down i'm some chem
ic;il works where he had been on 4 job
and had stained his clothes. and she rec
objected that Immediately after his ar
rival home he had busted himself brush
ing and sponging his garments
There was sufficient evidence TO JUS
tiry me in obtaining Il warrant; but lie
was aNvay on Il job-nD one knew where,
exactly. except that il WAS somewhere
near Liverpool-and IL was useless foI
me to leave Stock port. where had tht
bcSt chance of catching him. on wild
goose chase 10 Liverpool without bet
ter information. Ny only course Wa:
to wait and keep quiet till he camt
back. which he was expected to do the
following day.
Il took every precaution 10 prevent
anyone knowing that he was wanted.
but some pal must have got to suspec
it and given him warning. The polics
i'm Liverpool had been wired TO and
had kept watch of all trains in the di-
evening of the second day | received
the intimation that man resembling
his description had taken the trair
and was on his way. Assisted by loca
detective who knew the man, watched
every passenger out of the train on IL
arrival at Stockport. but no Jack Lam
prey alighted, and. on inquiring of tho
guard. il seemed pretty certain that h
H,I S-+.a f,aNs
miles outside Stockport.
ut was the beginning of winter and
night had set in so that il was extreme
| IL doubtful if we could follow the man
| Int we took a train which was just go
| ing out of the station, and in a few
minutes were at Cheadle. | there made
certain that my man had got out He
| had booked for Stockport and had given
up his ticket: but. do all we could We
could get no trace of him. He had Ief,
the station Immediately on leaving the
train: no one knew him, and we could
| find no one to tell us anything more. s..
hoping perhaps to pick up clew on { he
road. we walked back to Stockport and
on to the town where he lived. which
was n few miles the other side, but our
tramp was in vain.
'.We had left instructions at Stock
port for Lamprey's lodgings to L.
watched: but by some blunder n man
had not been sent there for some tine,
and .much To my anger and DISCUS w hen
l arrived at his house l found that Lc
lad been there. Just fer five minutes.
his landIady said. and had left again
with bag of clothes.
Il was nightly savage. you NAV