Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Adverse Evidence

At eight o'clock that night, when the four of them were sitting in front of the fire in the "Blue Lion" room where Elliot was staying, Dr. Fell spoke. "We now know," he said, gesticulating with his fingers, "who the murderer was, how and why he killed. We know that a string of crimes was the work of this man. We know that the evidence against him is so great that it has It's close to the time when the truth comes out." Chief Inspector Postrick grunted, and Major Crowe nodded in satisfaction. "Even at the happiest of times," he said, "this man circles among us!"

"And disturb the atmosphere," Dr. Phil added, "yes. That's what bothers the Inspector General. This man disturbs everything we touch. You can't pick up your teacup and go for a ride without this man disturbing you, Or buy negatives. Quiet corners of the world are turned upside down because of him. There are shootings in gardens, stunned people who haven’t even seen a gun. Stones are being thrown in the street, bees are buzzing under the hats of police chiefs and inspectors. Everything Because of this person." Dr. Phil took out his watch and put it on the table next to him.He carefully filled his pipe, lit it, took a sniff, and went on: "Therefore," he said, "you think of evidence, and I think of poison, and let me give you a few examples.

"First, we might as well aim at a group of murderers. Curiously enough, I have never seen them grouped together, though their characters are often strikingly similar. They are eternal hypocrites, and a duty to wives. Eternal warning, I mean male poisoners. "Female poisoners are very dangerous. But male poisoners are especially harmful to society because they have terrible dominance abilities, are good at applying business principles, and have the will to achieve their goals by poisoning with arsenic or strychnine. Although they are a Small group, but they are notorious and they look alike. There are some exceptions, like Seddon. I think if we take a dozen famous examples from real life, we will find that these examples have the same mask, There are also many false ideas. The murderers of Sodbury Cross were like this group.

"First of all, they are generally imaginative, educated, well-bred people. Their occupations show that. Palmer, Pritchard, Lanson, Buchanan, Kerim are doctors. Richson is a priest, Wainwright is an artist, Armstrong is a lawyer, Hodge is a chemist, Waite is a dentist, Vaquier is an inventor, Carlyle Harris is a medical student. These people interest us. We do not Concerned about idiots beating up people in bars, we care about intelligent criminals. Of course, I don't deny that most criminals are idiots. But intelligent criminals are idiots with a charming attitude, their imaginations are active, and they The operatives are top-notch, and some of them have brilliant modus operandi.

"Dr. George Harvey Lanson, Dr. Rob Buchanan, and Arthur Warren Waite murdered in 1881, 1882, and 1915 respectively. At this time, detective novels In infancy. But look at the way they commit crimes. "Dr. Lanson killed his 18-year-old disabled nephew with a cake made of poisonous grapes dry-baked at the coffee table. He cut the cake in front of the boy and the boy's principal, and the three ate the cake together, so Lanson could claim when the boy was poisoned Innocent in itself. You know, I've read about this method of poisoning in novels. "Dr. Buchanan poisoned his wife with morphine. Because the victim's eyeballs contracted, morphine poisoning was easily recognized by the doctor. So Dr. Buchanan added some scopolamine to the morphine, which can prevent the eyeballs from contracting, so that the victim appeared normal and Obtain a natural death certificate from the doctor. The modus operandi of this case is so clever that if Dr. Buchanan hadn't slipped his tongue in a conversation with a friend, the deceased's grievances would never have been resolved.

"The boyish jovial criminal Arthur Warren Waite attempted to kill wealthy parents-in-law with pneumonia, diphtheria, influenza germs. This method was too slow, and later he resorted to less sophisticated poisons; The tuberculosis bacillus in the sprayer killed the father-in-law." Dr. Phil pauses— He talked with gusto.Had Inspector Headley been there, he would have shouted and cut off the conversation.But Elliott, Major Crowe, and Chief Inspector Postrick could only nod. They were seeing the way Sodburycross was poisoned. "Then," continued Dr. Phil, "what is the most striking characteristic of a murderer? It is this. He is usually known as a good man among his friends. He is a jovial fellow, a genial companion, and a good-hearted man. .Sometimes he can be puritanical and religious, but his friends don't mind because he's such a nice guy.

"Thomas Griffith Wainwright, who stuck to social norms and poisoned people for insurance money, was the most hospitable man a hundred years ago. William Palmer himself was a sober man, but he liked to invite Drinking with friends. The Reverend Clarence Richson of Boston was very popular with the congregation. Dr. Edward William Pritchard, bald and brown-bearded, was the beloved object of the Glasgow fraternity. You see these are the ones we're after Isn't it very similar?" Major Crowe nodded— "Yes," Elliot said with satisfaction, as if a picture appeared in the room of the "Blue Lion".

"But in their character there lay a concealed indifference to the pain of others. It was not just their indifference to death that struck us, but their indifference to the pain of death. You have all heard Wainwright's famous reply, 'You Why poison Miss Arbeck Robbie?' 'I swear I don't know, unless it's because of her thick ankles.' "That's a bluff, of course, but it does express the poisoner's attitude toward human life. Wayne Wright wanted money, so someone had to die. William Palmer needed money to bet on the horses, so his wife, his brother, his A friend must be poisoned. This is an egocentric narrative. Many poisoners have 'I have to do it' thoughts. Charming-eyed Reverend Clarence Litchson tearfully denies he married Edmund for money or status but he poisoned his ex-mistress with potassium cyanide to prevent her from interfering in the marriage. The sentimental Dr. Edward Pritchard spent four months poisoning his wife with tartar, to no avail; he poisoned his mother-in-law Only got a few thousand pounds. But he wanted to be free. He 'had to do' to be free. Which brings us to the next trait of the poisoner: his unbridled vanity.

"All murderers have vanity, but the poisoner's vanity is unrestrained. He is vain for his intelligence, his looks, his manners, his deceit. He has the qualities of an actor, and usually he is Very good actors. Pritchard opening the coffin and kissing his dead wife goodbye; Carlisle Harris debating science and theology with the pedagogue on the way to death in the electric chair; Palmer looking shocked and angry in front of the investigators. Scenes like this There are countless, and their root is vanity. "This vanity is not necessarily superficial. The poisoner may be a gentle, blue-eyed, professional figure, such as lawyer Herbert Armstrong, who, after poisoning his wife, tried to use arsenic from a round cake to remove a business rival .When fantasies come to nothing or when he sits on trial, everything goes wrong. The vanity of the male poisoner is most evident in his domination of women.

"Nearly all male poisoners murder women. Armstrong dominates women. Wainwright, Palmer, Pritchard use power over women to kill. Harris, Buchanan and Richson argue He has power over women. Even squinting Neil Krim thinks he has power over women. There's a swagger motive behind what male poisoners do. Bluebeard Hodge hides in tap water The arsenic in the pen poisoned a dozen wives. Few scenes are more absurd than the sight of the poisoner Jean-Pierre Vaquier stroking his beard and laughing on the dock. In the bromine salt of the victim, while getting the victim's wife and tavern, he shouted when he was dragged to behead: 'I want justice.' Maybe he thought he didn't get it!

"We can see that these people kill for financial need. I think Kerim is an exception because Kerim is crazy and his fanatical extortion cannot be taken seriously. But others commit crimes mainly based on desire for money, status. A poisoner poisons his wife or mistress to get a richer woman who stands in the way of his future; without her he can live better. He cannot stand a woman standing in the way of his future. Therefore a useless wife or mistress Just a symbol, she could be Aunt or Next Door Neighbor or Barnacle Bill the Sailor. We must consider the corrupt organization of the brain; the murderer of Sodbury Cross is out of his mind." Major Crow, who had been staring at the fire in thought, moved violently: "I know Dr. Phil is right." He looked at Elliott, "You have proved it." "Yes, sir. I think I have proved it." "Everything he does makes one want to kill him," Major Crowe snapped. "Even the reasons why he didn't get away unscathed. The show failed because—" "The show fails because he's trying to change criminal history," Dr. Phil replied. "It won't work, trust me." "Stop, sir!" said Postrek. "I don't understand you." "If you try to kill someone with poison," Dr. Phil said solemnly, "remember this saying, of all forms of murder, poisoning is the most difficult to get away with." Major Crowe stared at him. "Wait a minute," he protested, "it's probably the easiest too, isn't it? I'm not what you'd call imaginative. But I wonder sometimes—well, listen to me! People die every day, mostly of natural causes; doctors issue certificates, but who knows how many of them may be murders? We don’t know.” "Ah!" Dr. Phil took a deep breath. "What do you mean 'ah'?" "I mean I've heard that said before," Dr. Phil replied, "and you might be right. I don't know. I want to emphasize that we don't know. You mean something special, and it dazzles me. Like Say, a hundred people die every year in Vigands, and you suspect that some of them may be poisoned, and you turn to me for this, pointing out that poisoning is easy. You may be right; as far as I know, in the cemetery Possibly full of souls clamoring for vengeance. Let's stop there, there must be evidence before we assume something to be true." "Well, what's your position then?" Dr Phil put it more mildly: "Debating the cases of poisoning that we have seen, it is clear that poisoning is the hardest crime to get away with because so few people go unpunished. "I mean, the poisoner is doomed from the start because of his character. He can't get away with it. If he gets away with it the first time, he keeps poisoning until he is arrested. The aforementioned Personally. He is betrayed by his own character. You or I may shoot, stab, club or strangle people, but we don't fall madly in love with bright revolvers, shiny new daggers, talons or silk A handkerchief. That's what a poisoner would do. "He took a lot of risks. A murderer takes one risk, a poisoner takes three. Unlike shooting or stabbing, his work isn't over when he's done with it. He has to make sure the victim doesn't live long enough to expose He, the first risk; he must prove that he has no chance or reason to use the poison, the second risk; he must successfully obtain the poison, the worst third risk. "Horrible stories go on and on. X died under suspicious circumstances, it was known *reasonably to want X to die, and there was an opportunity to poison X's food or drink. The body was dissected, and the poison was found. The next rule is to trace *How to buy poison; then arrest, trial, sentencing, execution. "Now, the poisoner at Sodbury Cross knows this. He doesn't have to be a student of criminology to know it, he just has to read the newspapers. Knowing it, he constructs a killing plan that overcomes one of the aforementioned crises with an alibi. He Tried to commit what no criminal has ever successfully accomplished. He failed because a wise man could see through every detail of a conspiracy. Now let me show you something." Dr. Fell took a note box from the inside pocket of his coat, and a letter from the box.He always keeps all the notes in the box and keeps them in his pockets, never leaving them. "Let me tell you," he continued, "Marcus Chesney wrote me a letter a few days ago. I haven't shown it to you because I don't want you to be misled. There are too many Evidence. This letter may mislead you. But now that we have discovered the truth, it is time to read this letter and see how you interpret it." He spread the letter out on the table, next to the watch.The top of the letter read: "Bailegar House, October 1st," and proceeded with the theory they had just heard.Dr. Phil's finger points to the final paragraph: Metaphorically, all witnesses wear dark glasses.They can neither see nor interpret the colors of things.They don't know what's going on on stage, let alone in the audience.Show them a black-and-white film of the performance afterwards, and they'll believe you; but even then, they won't be able to explain what they saw. I'm about to give my short performance in front of a group of friends.If it goes well, I wonder if you'd like to see it later?I know you are in Bath and I can send a car to fetch you.I'll scare you around.But since you are unfamiliar with this area, and as you know only a little of my relatives, I would like to give you a hint: keep a close eye on my niece Marjorie. Major Crowe whistled. "That's it," Dr. Fell muttered as he folded the letter, "and with what we're going to see and hear tonight, the evidence is complete." There was a discreet knock on the door.Dr. Phil took a deep breath and looked at his watch.He looked around at the others, who all nodded ready.Dr. Fell put his watch aside when the door opened; an acquaintance, who looked a little strange because he was wearing ordinary clothes instead of the usual white coat, poked his head into the room. "Come in, Mr. Stevenson," said Dr. Phil.