The Crime of the ''Liza Jane,' etc

Front matter

BY THB SAME AUTHOR. THE DWARFS CHAMBER, and Other Stories. iy.AT.AMT. MTDAS. London : Ward, Lock & Bowden, Ltd. THE CRIME OF THE '"LIZA JANE" " He reeled, and would have fallen on the sands." The Crime of Ihe " 'Liza Jane."] [Page 238. THE CEIME OF THE '"LIZA JANE" BY FERGUS HUME AUTHOR of Jf "the mystery of a hansom cab," "the dwarf's chamber," etc. WITH TWO FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY GEORGE HUTCHINSON LONDON WARD, LOCK & BOWDEN, LIMITED WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C. NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE 1895 [All rights reserved] CONTENTS CHAP. page I. AN OCEAN TRAMP ... ... ... ... 1 II. CAPTAIN Jill's THEORY ... ... ... 10 III. BAD NEWS ... ... ... ... ... 18 IV. INSPECTOR TRUMPET TALKS ... ... 26 V. I TAKE AN OATH ... ... ... ... 35 VI. A RECOGNITION ... ... ... ... 44 VII. MAGSEY TYKE ... ... ... ... 52 VIII.

COMPARING NOTES ... ... ... ... 60 IX. MANXBY ... ... ... ... ... 69 X. BLONDE AND BRUNETTE ... ... ... 77 XI. A DIFFICULT SUBJECT ... ... ... 85 XII. NEWS FROM LONDON 92 XIII. AN OPERATIC STAR ... ... ... 99 XIV. A NEW LIGHT ... 107 XV. I GO INTO SOCIETY ... ... ... 116 XVI. SIR DIGBY SPEAKS ... ... ... 124 XVII. ADELAIDE ERSKINE ... ... ... 132 XVIII. A SURPRISE ... ... ... ... CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE XIX. AN UNWILLING WITNESS ... ... ... 147 XX. GRACE MAKES A DISCOVERY ... ... 154 XXI. WHAT MARTHA FOUND ... ... ... 162 XXII. A CONFESSION ... ... ... ... 170 XXIII. AS THE CASE NOW STANDS ... ... 180 XXIV. I AM AGAIN PUZZLED ... .. ... 188 XXV. INSPECTOR TRUMPET ... ... ... 196 XXVI. THE MOTHER'S STORY ... ... ... 204 XXVII. THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE ... ... 212 XXVIII. ON BOARD 'THE SEEKER' ... ... 220 XXIX. THE SOLUTION OF THE MYSTERY ... ... 228 XXX. A FINAL EXPLANATION ... 'LIZA JANE

Chapter I An Ocean Tramp

rvN the 14th of June, 1891, which day, if I recollect " rightly, fell on a Tuesday, I found myself standing up Channel ahoard Hie Seeker, a bark of some four hundred tons. After tramping the ocean for nearly two years, touching at various ports over and under the Line, and picking up casual cargoes at odd times for the earning of her wages, she had put into Havannah some months before with an eye to freight. There I chanced on her, and as she shortly shipped tobacco and other commodities for the port of London, I persuaded Captain Jim to rate me as doctor for the voyage. Thus I secured a passage to England without drawing on my meagre purse. That I should be driven to such shifts was my own fault. Some strain of gipsy blood had set me off on the long trail, which I trod hot-footed from the age B 'IIZA JANE 2 of twenty.

I should have taken up my father's practice in Hampshire; I should have married and begot children ; physicked patients as he had done, pocketed the moderate fees of a country practitioner, and so rusted out my life in comfortable ease. But the wild drop in my veins sent me far afield, and placed me in queer straits among queer people. Several times I was in danger of my life ; on many occasions I lacked bed and bread; but somehow or another I managed to tumble through life, till my roaming was brought up short, for the time being, by an incident on board tbat lubberly tramp. It occurred shortly before we entered the Solent, and altered the whole of my future career. So does Fate drive us into far lands in search of fortune, yet leads us back to find it — as I may say in this instance — on our own door-steps.

Captain Jim, or — to give him his full name — Captain James Cyrus Barry, was the owner and commander of the vessel which bore me and my impaired fortunes. The crew, a mixture of Swedes, Dagoes, Englishmen, and Americans, was handled by three mates ; and notwithstanding racial differences, worked together in harmony from force of lono companionship. The skipper, as shrewd a man as ever trod the quarter-deck, stood no nonsense from those under him, and so long as he was obeyed willingly, he treated the men fairly well. Otherwise he made things unpleasant all round. I became intimate with him on the voyage, princi pally on account of his having saved my life off the Azores. A falling block knocked me overboard half stunned, and as we were making nine knots in a rough sea, I would have been drowned had not Captain Jim plunged after me on the instant.

I recovered my senses in the saloon, to swear eternal friendship with my preserver, an offer that he took coolly enough, as was his custom in all things. I liked the man notwithstanding his dissimilarity to myself, but, frank as he appeared to be, it took me some time to learn his character. Simple in many ways, outspoken even to rashness, mild of eye and of temper, there was yet an underlying steadfastness of purpose not apparent in the first flush of acquaint ance. If, seduced by his ostensible simplicity and calm, a man ventured too far, that man speedily regretted his presumption, and never required a second lesson. Captain Jim took life seriously, and was in deadly earnest in small as in great matters. He was not prone to make friends, and he hesitated to accept my advances, but after some observation, he admitted me into the secret places of his mind, and by the time we sighted the Lizard we had laid a firm foundation of mutual liking and respect for future intercourse.

The results of that intercourse form the gist of this story. The others on board Tlie Seeker call for no special mention. They were a fairly decent pack, none too virtuous, yet not devoid of good points. Rough and illiterate, rude in speech, uncleanly in habits, I classed them as animals ; and so they were, Circe's swine on two legs. Even the three mates were scarcely dis tinguishable from the common herd; so by preference I kept company with Captain Jim as the most civilized. Simple and garrulous as he was, the creature well knew how to keep his own counsel, and it was only bit by bit that I succeeded in extracting the details of his early life. He parted with each morsel of information in a grudging manner, as though doubtful of the use to which I intended to put his confessions ; but as we drew eastward he relaxed his taciturnity, and yarned freely.

Many a pleasant chat I had with him pacing the deck, or face to face at the table in the stuffy cabin. Grog and tobacco, a congenial listener, and the small hours, unloosened his tongue to some purpose. He was not unphilosophic, and had formulated from experience a theory of life which was an odd mixture of the real and the ideal. His materialism was coloured by a vein of romance inherent in his Celtic nature, and he could invest the commonplace with visionary splendours. In religion he was Roman Catholic, but owned to a belief in the transmigration of souls which did not come within the tenets of Holy Church. I doubt, for all his religious protestations, but he would have tasted fire and faggot in the good old days. In these frequent discourses I learned that he first saw light in Cork, that he was fairly well-off, un married, and devoted to his only brother.

As the whole of my tale hangs on this brother and his doings, I judge it wise to let Captain Jim speak in the first person. It is necessary, however, to tone down his brogue and Irishisms, as these frequently rendered his conversation unintelligible save to the experienced listener. " D' y' mean to say, Doctor, as ye've never heard of Patrick Cyrus Barry ? " said he, when the subject of our several relations was first broached. " James Cyrus Barry perhaps, but never " " See that now," he interrupted briskly ; " ye've no notion of the finest journalist in the three kingdoms. Begad, the dirty Saxons tremble at his name." "Oh!" said I dryly. "I suppose, like all your countrymen, he's ' agin all governments.' " " He's agin everything except what's right, sir," retorted Captain Jim ; " he holds by his own ideas, that the world should share and share alike.

And to get that same, Dr. Fairfax, he preaches blood and blue murder with tongue and pen." " Humph ! An anarchist." " A socialist, Doctor. An equality man. Why should the capitalists grind down the poor to swell their money-bags? Why should " " I know ! I know, skipper ! I've heard that equality racket in every quarter of the globe. We can discuss such problems later. Meanwhile, how comes it that your brother bears your Christian name ? " " Sure 'twas my father's idea — rest his soul, he's out of purgatory by this time," sighed the Captain piously. " He was a school-master in Cork, sir, and as proud as Cæsar of the pair of us. ' Boys,' said he, 'Cyrus was a great king — divil a greater, and I called yez each by his name to mind ye 'tis your duty to climb. I don't rightly know which is the cleverist of ye,' he said, ' but if ye disgrace the names of Cyrus and Barry, my curse on ye both.' Begad, Fairfax," added the skipper with a heavy sigh, " it wasn't J. Cyrus who did credit to the name.

What's he fit for but managing this old mud scow, while P. Cyrus is making the bloody Saxons shake in their shoes ? " " Your brother will get into trouble if he's not careful," said I grimly. " The world isn't overfond of your revolutionary reformers." " What's that to him, sir ? If dry land gets too hot for him, he can pace the quarter-deck along with me. It's his duty to do away with kings and priests and dirty aristocrats ; and mine to tramp the seas in this coffin — for that she is, by Jasus, having smelt salt water these thirty years — and earn the dollars. P. Cyrus, God bless him ! has a soul above work, but he writes like the divil and speaks like an angel, no less." "And spends your hard-earned coin," I finished dryly. "And why not, sir ? Isn't he all brains and blarney and the genius of the Barry family ?

Begorra, Doctor, if ye only saw him, it's a proud man ye'd be to shake his fist." I did see him at that moment in my mind's eye. A blethering, windy demagogue, all fire and fury and talk, talk, talk. I could picture him denouncing the loaves and fishes of his more prosperous fellow creatures in Hyde Park ; I could fancy him mutter ing his sordid treason in fifth-rate restaurants ; and conceive lurid articles from his pen, breathing racial hatred in the columns of flimsy newspapers. He was probably a fanatic, a sweeping iconoclast, who proposed to knock down present day idols, without thinking what others were to be set up in their places. I could not understand how he reconciled his equality theories with the damning fact that he lived on his brother. In a word, I believed P. Cyrus Barry to be a humbug, unworthy of the affection of Captain Jim.

It was much more pleasant to think of this latter ; to hear him talk of the family genius, and watch him sweating for the money to be spent by the socialist. For years Captain Jim had tramped the seas in search of gold : he had languished in the tropics, he had shivered off the Horn, and he risked his life daily in this crazy old tub. I wondered whether Cyras Barry the genius appreciated the self-sacrifice of the man, and concluded that he did not. The mere fact that he was supported by his brother damned him in my eyes. No man with noble aspirations would do such a thing. I liked Captain Jim, but I was certain I would despise and dislike his brother. As we passed up Channel the skipper dwelt fondly on the fact that his brother would meet him at the Docks. I had no doubt the demagogue would do so, to learn if The Seeker brought him more money; but I had not the heart nor indeed the courage to say so to Captain Jim.

He leaned over the taffrail by my side, watching the panorama of the Enghsh coast moving westward, and built cloud-castles of the future glories of P. Cyrus Barry. " I'll take ye to a meeting, Doctor," said he complacently, " and ye'll hear Cyrus denounce the House of Lords and the grasping Capitalists. Every man to labour, and every man to get the price of his labour. That's his text, sir." " A very good one. I suppose he practises what he preaches, skipper ? " Captain Jim looked rather confused at this home thrust, and not having an answer ready, he put up his glass to look at a boat which drifted some distance ahead betwixt us and the shore. " Now what on earth's that ? " said he in a puzzled tone ; " there's no man in the craft. What's she doing splashing about here ? " I was unable to answer him, and felt as curious as he to know what was the matter.

As we approached the boat drifted almost across our course, and in due time grated against the side of the bark. The skipper, his three officers, and myself craned our necks to look at the sight, and simultaneously we uttered an ejaculation of astonishment. That we should do so was only natural, for the sight which met our eyes was gruesome in the extreme. At the bottom of this pleasure-boat, whose name, Eliza Jane, I could see plainly, a naked man was spread-eagled. His arms and legs were bound by ropes to the thwarts, and on his left breast gaped a ghastly wound, from which the blood, now black and coagulated, had flowed. It was a plain case of murder; and we eyed the boat in horrified surprise.

Chapter II Captain Jim's Theory

"T)Y Cæsar, that's a fine welcome from the old -■^ country," said the skipper as we sipped our grog that evening. The corpse was decently laid out in a neighbour ing berth, and the pleasure-boat was trailing in our wake. It was Captain Jim's intention to take these evidences of crime, and place them in the hands of the police. So extraordinary an occurrence had pro duced an unpleasant impression on us all, and ex cepting the skipper and myself, no one relished the idea of entering the Thames with that ghastly burden. Nevertheless it was impossible to get rid of the body by burial, seeing that a foul crime had been perpetrated, so the grumblings of the men were dis regarded, and the dead man was taken up Channel. Common humanity insisted upon this course. Captain Jim talked over the matter wath me before we turned in for the night.

The three mates were absent, one on duty, the others asleep, so we had the cabin to ourselves ; and as it was our last JO night aboard, the skipper and myself prepared for a long talk. Little did we think that the subject of our conversation would prove to be so gruesome. Captain Jim led the way by making the above remark touching our adventure. "And the burnin' shame of it, Fairfax," he continued, " to send the poor creature before his God without a decent shirt to cover him. Nttdus intravi, modus exeo. Many a time have I heard Father Terence say that same, and it comes in mighty pat for this poor divil — rest his soul." " Of course it is a clear case of murder," said I, paying httle attention to the skipper's moralizing. " There's no two questions about that, sir. Naked, bound hand and foot, with his heart almost ripped from his body.

It's a blackguard murder, and I hope the man as did it will swing for his devilry." " A man, skipper ! It's my opinion it was two or three men." " What d' y' mean by that, Fairfax ? " " Why," said I with a shrug, " to strip and tie a man up, to stab him in so savage a fashion, and send him afloat in a cockle-shell, looks to me impossible for one human being. There was a couple, sir, or it may be a gang of them." " And why should a gang set on a poor creature like heathen savages, Doctor ? " " I think you'll find an answer to that in your log, Captain." He stared at me in surprise, and without a word vanished into his own cabin. In two minutes he returned, and placed the log-book on the table directly under my eyes. "There you are," said he dryly. "I've given a picturesque account of the affair.

Perhaps you'll read it out, Doctor, and tell me what you're driving at." " Here you are, then," I answered, skimming the pages and reading aloud. "'Picked up pleasure boat with dead body in lat. 50 N. Name of boat Eliza Jane. Description of body. That of a man five feet two in height — slender of build. Head of thick red hair, unusually long moustaches of the same colour, blue eyes, clear skin. Wound in left breast, evidently made by some sharp instrument — wound ragged and wide at edges. Over wound a tattooed inscription, " Down with Tyrants." The body was bound hand and foot, spread-eagle fashion.' I need not read any more," I added, closing the book; " so much is enough to explain my idea." " Blest if I can get the hang of it." " I should think the tattooing explained all," said I leisurely ; " the dead man was an anarchist."

"What!" roared the skipper, leaping to his feet with a spurt of real Irish temper, "is it castin' reflections on P. Cyrus Barry ye'll be after doin' ? " " No ! no ! I take your assurance that the family genius is a socialist." " Begorra, he's that same ; and a defier of blackguard kings and dirty tyrants." The last word bore too closely on the tattooing to be happy, and in my own mind I was assured that the great Cyrus was an anarchist pure and simple. Still it was not my design to increase Captain Jim's wrath, so I judiciously let the remark pass in silence. "So ye think this red-headed corpse was an anarchist ? " said the skipper, dropping into his seat with recovered temper. " That is my idea, and a very bitter anarchist he must have been. An ordinary reformer would not go the length of tattooing his war-cry on his breast."

" There's something in that, sir. Well, I'll grant ye the anarchist, so long as I know ye don't couple the blackguard with P. Cyrus." "I assure you I do not! Though of course," I added delicately, " the dead man is Irish." " An' why should he be Irish, Doctor ? " " Red hair, blue eyes, clear skin, anarchistic opinions. I'm sure he's an Irishman." I thought the captain would have exploded again at the affront to his nation, but he merely rapped the ashes out of his pipe, and smiled good humouredly. " Get along with ye, Doctor," said he ; " it's plain ye've never seen the finest peasantry in Europe. They're not all anarchists, poor souls, but leave such blood and thunder opinions to the scourings of France and Italy. However, it's no use talking, for a more obstinate man than yourself I never saw.

The dead man's an Irishman and an anarchist. What else d' y' tell me he is ? " " A traitor ! " " Look at that now ! And for why ? " " He has betrayed the secrets of the special society to which he belonged, and has been punished, as you see. Now you can understand why I refer to a gang of men. Depend upon it, the unlucky creature spoke too freely, and so jeopardized the success of some dastardly plot. He fled for his hfe to some obscure seaside town on the Channel shores, but in his absence he was judged and condemned. Traced to his hiding-place by his brother bloodhounds, he was caught. I can see the picture of the whole cruel affair," I continued excitedly : " the traitor afraid to venture out in the day-time, parading the shore at midnight. I can fancy the lying in wait of the gang in the lee of some stranded boat — the approach of the victim — the spring of his assailants — the struggle — the cries for aid — the death.

Then, Captain, think of the end. Sure that he is dead, the murderers strip the body to prevent recognition by the clothing ; they bind it in a pleasure-boat conveniently lying on the beach, and then set the Eliza Jane and her ghastly burden afloat. Perhaps they rowed out with it far from the shore, then cast off the painter and returned, satisfied that no one would hear of the crime. But mark the ways of Providence, skipper. The boat with its dead occupant drifts with the tide, and so crosses our course. We take it aboard, and now we are on our way to London, carrying sufficient evidence to hang these anarchistic brutes." " Begad, it's a fine novelist ye'd make," said Captain Jim dryly. " But ye've forgotten one thing : that there's nothing by which the dead man can be identified ; and if he's not identified, how d' y' propose to track those who killed him ?

Tell me that now." "Oh, I'll leave all that to the police. Our task is to carry the body to London." "And a mighty fine job the pohce will make of it," grumbled the skipper ; " poker murders and pickpockets are their stand-bys. Not that I want to meddle with it. By gum, no ! I shoot the corpse at the Docks, and there's an end of it, so far as I am concerned. You can rip up the matter if you like." " I ? What do you take me for, Captain ? I've more to do than hunting round after a parcel of blackguards ; but I own that I am curious to know what will turn up next in connection with this affair. If we had the dailies I am certain the head-lines would run — ' Strange Disappearance,' ' Theft of a Boat,' 'A Seaside Mystery,' and all that sort of thing." " We'll look up the papers when we're berthed," replied Captain Jim, getting on his feet.

" I haven't seen one since we left Havannah, and I'm anxious to know what Cyrus is doing. He was on a big gamble when last I heard from him." " It is to be hoped that his gamble has nothing to do with the red-headed man," I thought grimly. " I guess Cyrus and this corpse are all of a piece for rascality." " I'm going on deck, Doctor," said the skipper from his berth; "it's my duty to see this old hooker clear up Channel. I don't want her run down, or piled up. It would be a bad thing for me," he added, with a chuckle, "and a worse one for P. Cyrus. — Turning in, sir ? " " Not yet, skipper. This yarning has set my brain on the work, and I'm for a stride to think it out." " Going to take a hand ? " asked Captain Jim carelessly, as we left the cabin. I did not think I would take a hand, and told the captain as much.

All the same, as I steadied myself to the roll of the ship, I was tempted to reply in the affirmative. This queer adventure excited my curiosity in no small degree, and I had a longing to interest myself personally in the sequel. That the man was the victim of some secret society I had little doubt, and I wondered at a vengeance so swift, so certain, so deadly. In no part of the world had I met with so odd an experience. A drifting boat, a murdered man, a tattooed motto : all these hinted at romance, at a story wilder than aught conceived by the brain of a novelist. I clung to the weather-rigging, and swung with the ship as she rolled into the crackling waters. Her cordage hummed hke the strings of a harp, and her cotton-white cloths bulged like a woman's breasts to the increasing wind. A pale moon showed at intervals from behind a wrack of flying clouds, while to right and left flashed the red stars of light indicating other vessels.

But I thought little of the scene. My brain was busy with the mystery of the dead man who lay below; and so with our ghastly freight we stood for the Port of London. c

Chapter III Bad News

s THINK the devil must have come aboard with -*- the corpse, as from the time we shipped the dead body till we laid up in the Docks, misfortune haunted ship and crew. Dirty weather in the Channel battered our crazy tub till I thought she would splinter into match-wood; only by a miracle did we save Tlie Seeker from being struck 'midships by an outward liner. During the gale a sailor was lost in the trough of the sea; and as a crowning mis fortune Captain Jim slipped on the cabin-stairs, to be picked up with a broken leg. Such a run of bad luck I have never known. "The deil's rinnin' his rigs aboord The Seeker," said Henders, the Scotch first mate, who took com mand, vice Captain Jim on the sick-list. " Ma certie, 'tis a guid thing we lifted the Lizard before we met wi' the corp, or Nicky Ben wud hae gripped us aw by the lugs lang syne."

And then with dismal relish he fell to yarnino of the misfortunes entailed by a shipped corpse, till I was glad when duty called him away. The un canny atmosphere of the ship struck a chill to my heart, and not until we were off Gravesend did I recover my spirits. In the narrows of the river, under a cheerful and sunny sky, I rejoiced to think that the voyage was at an end, and that our misfortunes were over. I was never more mistaken in my life, for the worst was yet to come. Poor Captain Jim lay below with his leg in splinters, fervidly imploring me to keep a sharp look-out for his brother. "P. Cyrus," said he hopefully, "will be in the neighbourhood of the Docks, for I wrote him from Havannah regarding our probable arrival. If it wasn't for this leg — bad luck to it ! — I'd watch myself."

" What about the corpse, skipper ? " " The black curse on it," was his angry reply ; " it brought its blessing with it anyway. Tell Henders to ask the police inspector aboard when we berth the ship. The sooner it's away, the better shall I be pleased." In due course we threaded our way through the tangle of shipping, and reached our anchorage. Henders sent at once for the inspector, and I watched for P. Cyrus Barry, whom I hoped to recognize by the aid of a photograph produced by the skipper. Not a ghmpse could I catch of the man, or of any one resembling him, and I was reluctantly compelled 'IIZA JANE 20 to report this to Captain Jim. I was unwilling to do so, as my patient was feverish from his accident, but so eager was he in his inquiries that I could not refuse to own the truth. "Send a telegram," said he, when informed of the non-arrival of his brother.

" Sure the poor boy's mistaken the day. Forty-two, Fitzclarence Square, will reach him, and by the evening he'll be with me. Is that red-headed carrion off yet, Doctor?" "No; but we expect the police every minute." " I should be sore to think of it being here when P. Cyrus comes," said Captain Jim gloomily, "it's brought us bad luck already. Doctor, my dear, it's a heavy heart I have at this minute. I doubt but something's wrong with the boy." " Nonsense, skipper ; a busy man like your brother is sure to be delayed in some way. I'll wire to the address, and we'll have him down in no time. You lie quiet, and don't excite yourself." " You'll not be after leaving the ship yet, sir ? " "Not I. Rest assured you won't see the back of me till your leg is sound ; you saved my life, and I'm not the man to desert you now."

Leaving him in a more agreeable frame of mind, I went ashore to dispatch the telegram myself, and returned to the ship to find Inspector Trumpet in possession. He was a fine burly creature, red-faced and plump of person, with a twinkling grey eye, and a habit of pinching his nether hp when perplexed. Henders had already given him a history of the Channel episode, and when I appeared he was demanding an interview with the captain. I put a stop to that forthwith. " You can't see the captain now, Inspector," I said resolutely; "he has broken his leg, and is rather feverish. The man isn't fit to attend to business." " Well, Doctor Fairfax," replied Trumpet, who had made himself acquainted with my name and position, " you'll do as well. It's a queer story the mate tells me." "Queer and unpleasant," I answered promptly.