The herald., 1897-01-09
THE LAST STEEPLE JACK

Inspector Hookyer had served his
twenty-five years In the detective SER
vice, and his colleagues were entertain
ing him at farewell dinner in artici-
patton of his Forthcoming retirement.
The chairman having eulogized the
! guest of the evening to an extent that
brought blush to the face of the case
hardened official, the Inspector arose to
reply, and at the finish he said:
The chairman has said that never let
man slip through my fingers after
l had once got on his track but am
sorry to say he is wrong. l am bound
to acknowledge that once an offender
was too clever for me-"
| Tell us about it," arose spontaneously
from almost every throat. and Inspector
Hookyer in response to the request gave
| the story.
| 1T was a good many years ago now
when had intrusted to me a case of a
young woman. Eliza Thickbroom, who
had been found dead G1evidently murder
| ed oy having her throat cuC in some
| fields In Lancashire. She had been
domestic servant ard was of a very
retiring. staid disposition and bore an.
irreproachable character. Her friends
| ived In quite another part of the coun-
try, and her mistress had no knowledge
OF her keeping company or anything Of
|
| siderable difficulty in fixing the crime
| or any reason for 1t uron anyone. but
| AT last. after a lot of inquiry. | ascer-
| tained that she had been walking with
a man named Lamprey, who lived near
stockport. in Cheshire. some thirty miles
from where Eliza Thickbroom resided.
1T seemed that the girl had hsen in
the habit of spending her holiday wher
she had day off, in going to Sto, kport,
Where Lamprey met her. and that she
| had become engaged to him, bnt 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 l. OF course, at once took the
| train to Stockport and proceeded 10 hunt
| up Lamprey and to make inquiries in
| the town where he resided
Il knew nothing about him except his
name. but from the local police and cur
| ious questions of one and another. as
certained that he had been a sailor and
was then 'steeple jack and one of the
| best climbers known.
Jack Lamprey,' cried one man to
whom had spoken. All. he can climb
for sure, Jack can. Why. he climbed
up to the very top of yon steeple point
| ing to the church hard by, which had
| spire remarkably tall and slender and
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 Lam
prey's refusing payment as more Won
| derful than his climbing the steeple, and
perhaps he was right. Well bit by bit
l found things which. when placed to-
gether, pointed Enthusiastically to Jack
Lamprey as the murderer He had un-
til recently been seen frequently 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 a 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 taken to drink a good
deal. although he had previously been
a most abstemious man.
He was away from his lodgings on
the night of the murder. and on his ar
rival early next day he was travel
stained, a. il he had walked long way
His landlady remembered 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 recol-
lected that Immediately after his ar
rival home he had busted himself brush
ing and sponging his garments
There was sufficient to Justify me in
| obtaining a warrant but he was away
%
| except shat he was somewhere near
Lfverpool-and it was useless for me to
leave Stockport, where l had the best
chance of catching him, on Wild goose
chase to Liverpool without better in
formation. NY only course was to wait
and keep quiet until he came back
which he was expected to do the follow
ing day
Il took every precaution to prevent
! anyone knowing that he was wanted,
but some pal must have got to sis-
pect it and given him warning. The po-
| lice In Liverpool had been wired to
and had kept watch of all trains in the
direction of Stockport. and toward the
everirg of the second day I received the
information that q man resembling his
description had taken the train and was
on his way. Assisted by local detec-
tive who knew the man watched every
passenger out of the train on its ar
rival at Stockport but no Jack Lamprey
alighted, and on inquiring of the guard
it seemed pretty certain that he had
got out a Cheadle, a station a few miles
outside of Stockport.
1T was the beginning of winter and
night had sat in. so that it was extreme
ly doubtful if we could follow the man,
but we took A train which was just GO
ing out of the station. and in few min
utes were at Cheadle. there made Ger
booked for Stockport and had given up
his ticket: but. do all we could. we could
get no trace of him. He had left the
station imm ediately on,leaving the train;
no one knew him and we could find no
one to tell us anything more. So. hoping
perhaps to pick up a clew on the road
we walked back TO Stockport and on to
the towr, where he lived. which was but
few miles the other side, but our tramp
was in vain.
1--WE had left instructions AT Stockport
for Lamprey's lodgings to be watched,
but by some blunder a man had not been
sent there for some time and, much to
my anger and disgust. when I arrived
at his house I found that he had been
there, just for five minutes his land
lady said. and he had left again with
bag of clothes.
II was mighty savage you may guess,
both with myself and with the police
of the place. for not keeping a better
lookout but it was no use losing my
head over il, and I at once set to work
lodging his footsteps after he had left
his lodgings. In the public house which
he frequented ! came across man to
whom 7 had previously spoken, who
seemed to know Lamprey in. very dis
tant sort of way, and I turned the con-
versation on the man ] wanted.
"'Ah! I've just seen him said the
fellow About an hour ago, or mayhap
a little more He was going to Maccies-
field, he said, to catch the early train in
the morning into Staffordshire, where