Blood on the Cobbles by Grahame Farrell

Author:Grahame Farrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kembra Publications Ltd.
Published: 2014-06-21T16:00:00+00:00

Frederick Cobb, needless to say, believed otherwise, and for nigh on a year, during which time he was promoted to sergeant, he listened out for any information, seemingly unimportant though it may be, which might have a bearing on the case. No new leads were forthcoming, however, and Sgt. Cobb, though still as diligent as ever in his normal duties, was becoming a little dispirited. Then, in the summer of 1884, on the strength of a tit-bit of information relating to one Henry Mortimer, he picked up a vital thread which looked as if it just might unravel the mystery.

Henry Mortimer was a petty criminal who was three months into a prison sentence of one year at Coldbath Fields Prison in North-East London for theft. He was also a ‘copper’s nark’ – a police informer. Learning that Mortimer had some interesting information to impart, Sgt. Cobb paid him a visit without further ado.

Doubtless hoping for a reduction in his sentence, Mortimer began his story. He told Cobb that on the day of the murder he had received a visit from two old acquaintances; one was a certain Frederick Miles; the second was none other than Thomas Orrock. With them was a man of about the same age whom Mortimer had never met before called Arthur Evans, another furniture-maker. Mortimer had taken up their offer of a visit to a local pub. He had parted company with them after a very swift drink, but three months later he had bumped into Orrock who, in the course of their conversation, had asked him if he knew about the murder of the constable in Dalston.

“Yes,” Mortimer had replied, “I read about it.”

“Would you be surprised,” Orrock had asked nonchalantly, “to know that I did it?”

This was all Sgt. Cobb needed to know. He immediately went in search of Thomas Henry Orrock.

It was, alas, a fruitless exercise. Orrock was nowhere to be found, nor had anyone seen him for several months. Had the bird flown?

Very well, thought Cobb, let’s try Miles and Evans.

Both men, interviewed separately, proved co-operative to an almost unbelievable degree, providing the kind of witness evidence of which policemen usually only dream. Their stories, which tallied in all essential details, also showed that Henry Mortimer – despite his co-operation – had known more than he had let on.

On the evening of 1st December 1882, Miles, Evans and Orrock had turned their evening, after Mortimer’s departure, into a pub-crawl which took in several hostelries in the Dalston area. Orrock, looking suitably conspiratorial in a newly purchased black wide-brimmed hat, had voiced his intention of breaking into the Ashwin Street chapel for the purpose of stealing the sacramental plate housed therein. As a former member of the chapel’s congregation, he knew his way around the premises, and earlier in the evening he had gone into the building and, while speaking to a female member of the congregation, had surreptitiously opened a window that would allow him access later on. He had also co-opted

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