They Hanged My Saintly Billy (43 page)
They
heard
Cook
say:
'Turn
me
over
on
my
side,'
and
when this
was
done,
he
lay
quiet.
Dr
Palmer
prepared
to
administer
the
ammonia
as
a
stimulant, but
first
felt
Cook's
pulse.
Suddenly
he
turned
to
Dr
Jones
and the
maids
by
the
bedside
and
cried,
aghast:
'Oh,
my
God!
The poor
devil
has
gone!'
Dr
Jones
listened
to
the
heart
with
a
stethoscope—a
curious
instrument,
somewhat
like
a
sixpenny
trumpet —and
agreed
that
life
was
extinct.
The
convulsions
had
lasted
for a
quarter
of
an
hour
only.
The
maids
were
sent
off
to
summon
Dr
Bamford
and,
while Dr
Jones
took
a
glass
of
spirits
at
the
bar
with
Masters,
the
landlord,
Dr
Palmer
stayed
by
the
corpse.
Elizabeth
Mills,
returning to
announce
that
Dr
Bamford
would
soon
come,
found
him
going through
Cook's
pockets
and
feeling
b
eneath
his
pillow
and
bolster. Later,
he
handed
Dr
Jones,
as
Cook's
nearest
friend,
five
pounds in
sovereigns
and
half-sovereigns,
five
shillings
in
silver,
and
the dead
man's
gold
watch
and
fob;
but
neither
bank-notes
nor
personal
papers.
In
answer
to
Dr
Jones's
inquiries,
Dr
Palmer
said: 'No,
somehow
I
can't
find
the
betting-book.
Still,
it's
not
a
particle
of
use
to
anyone.
Death,
my
good
Sir,
voids
all
gambling debts.'
After
a
while,
he
added:
'I
doubt
if
you
are
aware,
Jones, what
a
very
bad
thing
for
me
this
is?
Cook
and
I
jointly
owe betting
debts
of
between
three
and
four
thousand
pounds.
Let
us hope
Cook's
friends
won't
make
me
responsible
for
his
share
as well;
because,
unless
they
show
me
a
little
charity,
every
one
of my
horses
will
be
seized.'
Layers-out
were
sent
for,
but
it
was
not
until
one
o'clock
in
the morning
that
a
respectable
widow
named
Mary
Keeling
arrived, with
her
sister-in-law,
to
undertake
the
task.
Mrs
Keeling
had been
delayed
by
the
necessity
of
engaging
a
neighbour
to
look
after
her
sick
child
while
she
was
absent
from
home.
The
two women
found
the
corpse
lying
so
stiffly
on
the
bed
that
they needed
tape
in
securing
the
arms,
which
Elizabeth
Mills
had
officiously
crossed
over
the
breast,
to
eith
er
side
of
the
body;
and in
making
the
right
foot,
which
was
twisted
outwards,
lie
flat against
its
fellow;
they
also
experienced
great
difficulty
in
closing
the
eyes.
However,
attendants
at
a
death
bed
usually
close
the corpse's
eyes,
place
its
arms
along
the
sides,
and
straighten
its
feet as
soon
as
the
last
moment
has
come;
the
rigour
was
therefore
less remarkable
than
the
Prosecution
has
alleged.
Indeed,
Cook's
body must
have
been
perfectly
lax
at
death
,
to
let
Elizabeth
Mills
cross the
arms
over
his
heart.
Dr
Jones
at
first
suspected
tetanus
but,
since
some
of
the
symptoms
seemed
irreconcilable
with
this
diagnosis,
afterwards
decided that
Cook
died
of
violent
convulsions,
due
to
over-excitement. Upon
Dr
Bamford's
suggesting
apoplexy,
he
replied
that,
though the
case
still
puzzled
him,
the
seizure,
in
his
opinion,
rather
pointed to
epilepsy.
Chapter XVI
STEPFATHER
TO
THE
DECEASED
O
N Wednesday, November 21st,
the morning of Cook's death, Palmer wrote to Pratt, the moneylender:
My
dear
Sir,
Ever
since
I
saw
you
I
have
been
fully
engaged
with
Cook
and
not able
to
leave
home.
I
am
sorry
to
say
that,
after
all,
he
died
today. So
you
had
better
write
to
Saunders;
but,
mind
you,
I
must
have Polestar
if
it
can
be
so
arranged;
and
should
anyone
seek
to
know what
money
or
moneys
Cook
ever
had
from
you,
don't
answer questions
until
I
have
seen
you.
I
will
send
you
the
£75
tomorrow
and,
as
soon
as
I
have
been
to Manchester,
you
shall
hear
about
other
moneys.
I
sat
up
two
full nights
with
Cook
and
am
very
much
tired
out.
Yours
faithfully,
William
Palmer
Pratt
replied
by
return
of
post:
My
dear
Sir,
I
have
your
note
and
am
greatly
disappointed
at
the
non-receipt of
the
money
as
promised,
and
the
vague
assurances
as
to
any
other payment.
I
can
understand,
'tis
true,
that
your
being
detained
by
the illness
of
your
friend
has
been
the
cause
of
not
sending
up
the
larger amount,
but
the
smaller
sum
you
ought
to
have
sent.
If
anything
unpleasant
occurs,
you
must
thank
yourself.
The
death of
Mr
Cook
will
now
compel
you
to
look
out
as
to
the
payment
of the
bill
for
j
£5°°
on
th
e
2nd
of
December.
Yours
faithfully,
Thos.
Pratt
The
seventy-five
pounds
which
Dr
Palmer
intended
for
Pratt was
to
come
from
the
three
hundred
and
fifty
pounds
which Weatherby
owed
Cook;
and
the
five
hundred
mentioned
by
Pratt was
the
loan
made
to
the
Doctor
in
September,
supposedly
on Cook's
behalf,
and
supported
by
an
assignment
of
Polestar
and
his
stablemate
Sirius.
Dr
Palmer,
as
has
already
been
explained,
had laid
his
hands
on
this
money
by
forging
Cook's
receipts
to
Pratt's cheque,
and
placing
it
in
his
own
account
at
the
bank.
He
now also
wanted
Polestar,
the
value
of
which
had
risen
to
over
seven hundred
pounds.
However,
Weatherby
did
not
send
the
three hundred
and
fifty
pound
cheque,
being
mistakenly
informed
by the
Clerk
of
the
Course
at
Shrewsbury
that
Cook
had
already received
the
value
of
the
Handicap
Stakes,
and
thereby
exhausted his
funds.
On
November
26th,
Dr
Palmer
wrote
to
Pratt
again:
Strictly Private & Confidential
My
dear
Sir,
Should
any
of
Cook's
friends
call
upon
you
to
know
what
money Cook
ever
had
from
you,
pray
don
t
answer
that
question
or
any other
about
money
matters
until
I
have
seen
you.
And
oblige
Yours
faithfully,
William
Palmer
This
anxiety
about
possible
inquiries
resulted
from
the
suspicions
of
Dr
Palmer
which
Cook's
next-of-kin,
Mr
William
Vernon Stevens,
began
to
entertain.
Mr
Stevens,
a
retired
City
merchant, had
married
Cook's
mother
(now
dead)
eighteen
years
previously; and
been
made
executor
to
his
father-in-law's
will,
under
which Cook
inherited
twelve
thousand
pounds.
He
last
saw
Cook
alive at
Euston
Square
station,
a
fortnight
before
he
died.
His
greeting on
that
occasion
was:
'My
boy,
you
seem
to
be
very
well;
you don't
look
anything
of
an
invalid.'
Cook,
striking
himself
firmly on
the
chest,
exclaimed:
'Indeed,
I'm
quite
well
now,
Pater,
and I'd
be
a
happy
man
but
for
so
many
financial
anxieties.'
Mr
Stevens,
not
having
heard
of
Cook's
illness,
was
shocked when
Dr
Jones
arrived
on
November
22nd
to
report
his
death, bringing
with
him
the
five
guineas
and
the
watch.
The
next
day, accompanied
by
Dr
Jones,
he
visited
Lutterworth
to
search
for Cook's
will
and
any
personal
papers
he
might
have
left.
They found
the
will,
which
appointed
Mr
Stevens
sole
executor,
and took
it
to
Rugeley
that
Friday,
November
28th.
Meanwhile,
Dr
Palmer
had
gone
up
to
London,
where
he
paid Pratt
one
hundred
pounds
on
account.
He
also
paid
some
Rugeley drapers
sixty
pounds,
long
owing
them,
plus
the
cost
of
a
writ issued
against
him;
and
settled
a
debt
of
some
forty-six
pounds with
Spdlsbury,
a
local
farmer
who
had
supplied
fodder
to
his
mares.
This
money
Dr
Palmer
cannot
have
drawn
from
the Market
Square
bank,
where
his
balance
then
stood
at
no
more than
£9
6s.;
and
since
the
packet
of
notes
which
Fisher
returned to
Cook
were
missing
from
the
money-belt,
it
looks
as
if
the Doctor
had
purloined
them.