Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1886-01-16 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

THE SECRETS OF CREMATION.  the reply. seat ae though a, violent effort t. sacceeeed only conaplioation as; dangerous ' all hir  Mysterious as it _ to us plans of future aggrandisement! Ebstow Tasker alive and searching for Jasper, know• ing nothing of Jasper's whereabouts I Yet, according to Mr Brothewood's own confession, Ebstow Tasker had called upon him some little time before, and had been murdered in Jasper's house. True, Foley. had not succeeded in discovering the body where Jasper had declared it to be, and if there were not two Ebstow Taskers no murder had been committed at all—the crime was an hallucination of Jasper's. While the delusion lasted (if delusion it were) Jasper would pay Foley the money he had promised for keeping silent, and it would not be of much importance to the detective whether murder had been done or not.. Should Ebstow Tasker succeed in finding Joseph Brothewood his appearance in the flesh would clear the old man's mind of the extraordinary fancy that had possession of it, and the eight thousand pounds which he bad promised John would vanish into thin air. The detective's reflections at this moment were confused and agitated, but one thought ran swiftly through his mind—this man Tasker must be kept from Brothewood, and from Richard Dearwell also, who would take him to Paisley. "You seem surprised," said Ebstow. " Have you heard my name before 16 "You know something about me ?" "I know that you committed a robbery, and were sent to prison, but your sentence must have expired some time ago 7" " Ab, yes," said the man, mournfully; "my term of imprisonment for the robbery of which I was not guilty has prpired long ago."  Fatty 1 YOU  '"Not guilty ?" echoed Foley, incredulously —this being, as be knew, a favourite phrase with all criminals.  "Not guilty," the other persisted, "and Jasper can and shall prove my innocence." " Your term of imprisonment is over—you are free ?"  "I am free," the man answered, "but my term of imprisonment has not expired, nor will it while I live. Goaded on by brutal treatment, maddened by the disgrace that has fallen upon me, I one day fell upon one of the barbarous gaolers, and inflicted such injuries upon him that be died. I was insane at the time, or I could not have done it. I would have given anything could I have brought him back to life. God alone knows what my sufferings have been since. For this I was tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life."  "So now—" "Now I am an escaped convict." "When did you reach England ?" " Early this morning. I came straight here."  " Will they make any determined effort to retake you P" "In France, yes; but not over here. When I once find Jasper Brothewood I can prove my innocence of the first crime with which I was charged. lam hopeful that the Government will grant me a free pardon."  trumph," said Foley, drily, "don't trust too much to that. If I were you I would give the French authorities a wide berth. Now, tell me your whole history, and you may depend on me doing all I can for you." As Mr Tasker's history comes out later on in this narrative, we need not frarthet follow his conversation with Mr Foley. Let it for the present suffice to say that when he left that office he felt convinced that he was in excellent hands. By this time Foley's expression had,grown more severe. "My only plan," he muttered, "will be to communicate with the French police. They will effectually prevent him from ever seeing Jasper Brothewood." For a moment his conscience felt uneasy. "Tut I" he continued, "why should I care? By his own showing he is a murderer, and there is no reason why I should aid him to escape from justice. His son is wonderfully like him. I never saw two faces so much alike. I'll have Tasker arrested without delay." This man bad called again in the afternoon, but Foley was out. Hanging about the neighbourhood, he had stumbled against the lady whom he now rather roughly pulled into the Private Enquiry Office.