The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-04-01
THEINSPECTOR'S LOSS

twenty-five years in the detective force
and his colleagues were entertainin:
| him at a little farewell dinner. in an
:icipation of his forthcoming retirement
The chairman having eulogized thu
guest of the evening to an extent tha
brought blush to the face of that case
hardened officer, the inspector rose tt
reply. and at the finish he said:
''Thc chairman has said that | never
let a man slip through my fingers aftel
| had once got on his track. but | an
sorry to say he is wrong. | am bound
to acknowledge that once an offender
was too clever for me-"
Tell us about it, arose spontaneous
ly from almost every throat, and In
spector Hookyer. in response to the re
quest, gave the story.
ut was n good many years ago now
when had intrusted TO me Il case of 4
young woman named Eliza Thick
broom, who had been found dead levi
IDENTIFY murdered by having her throat
cuD in some fields adjoining a canal
near town in Lancashire. She had
been domestic servant, and WAS of 4
very retiring. staid disposition, and bore
an irrcproachable character. Her
the country. and her mistress had no
knowledge of her keeping company or
anything of that kind. For some time
| had considerable difficulty in fixing
the crime or any reason for it upon
anyone. but at last. after lot of in
Iuiry. | ascertained that she had been
out walking with a man named Lam
prey. who lived near Stockport, in Che
shire, some thirty miles from where
Eliza ThickbrOom resided.
ut 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 fur
ther was known to implicate Lamprey
in the crime, but l. of course, at once
took the train to Stockport and proceed
ed to 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
cautious questions of one and another
ascertained that he had been a sailor
and was then 'steeplejack,' and one
Of the best climbers known.
"'Jack Lamprey" cried one man to
whom l had spoken. 'Ah, he can climb,
for sure, can Jack! Why. he climbed to
the very top of yon steeple.' pointing to
the church hard by. which had spire
remarkably tall and slender, and very
hard to mount. After the storm had
damaged the weather cock Jack climb
ed and fixed ii all alone for the parson,
and he refused to be paid for it,
The man seemed to look upon Lam
prcy's refusing payment rs more WON
1erful than his climbing the stecple. and
perhaps he was right. Well, bit by bit.
| found little things which, when picced
together, 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 n 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 good deal. although he had pre-
viouSly been most abstcmious man.
He was away from his lodgings on
the night of the murder, and on his re-
turn early the next day he was travel
stained. as if ne had walked long way.
His landlady remembered that he told
her he had fallen down in some chem
ical works where he had been on q Job
and had stained his clothes. and she
recollected Immediately after his ar
rival home he had busted himself brush
ing and sponging his garments.
There was sufficient to justify me in
warrant: but he was away
on Il jOb-no one knew where exactly,
except that it was somewhere near Liv-
it WAS useless for ne to
leave Stockport. where had the best
chance of catching him. on a wild goose
chase to Liverpool without better in
formation. My only course was TO wait
and keep quiet till he came back. which
he was expected to do the following
day.
Il took every precaution to prevent
anyone knowing that he was wanted
but some pal must have got to suspect
II and ,r;vnn hin, w., ,,,;n, u-h> ,,aI;.
in Liverpool had been wired to. and had
kept watch of all trains i'm the direction
of Stockport. and toward evening of
The second day received the intimation
that man resembling his description
lad taken the train and was on his
way. Assisted by a local detective who
knew the man. | watched every pas
senger out of the train on its arrival at
but no Jack Lamprcy alight-
ed. and, on inquirng of the guard. it
seemed pretty certain that he had got
out at Cheadle. n station few miles
outside of Stockport
1T was the beginning of winter and
night had set in. so that it was extreme
ly doubtful if we could follow the man.
but We took il train which was Just 90
ing out of the station. and in few
were at Chcadlc 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 left
the station Immediately on leaving the
train: no one knew him and we could
find no one 10 tell us anything more SO.
hoping perhaps to pick up a clew on the
road we walked back TO stockport and
on to the town where he lived. which
was Il few miles the other side. but our
tramp WAS in vain.
I'VE had left instructions at Stockport
for I.amprey'S lodgings to be watched.
but by some blunder Il man had not
been sent there for some time. and
much to my anger and disgust. when
arrived at his house found that he had
been there. just for five minutes. his
said. and had left again with 4
bag Of clothes.
81 was mighty savage. you can guess.