DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0045
THE MURDERED TAILORS WATCH. 33
could scarcely otherwise account for Burge's demeanour. He
appeared so surprised and innocent, whereas a man thus de-
tected in the act of wearing such a thing, knowing its terrible
history, could scarcely have helped betraying his guilt.
_ My fear, then, as I made my way to the house of Anderson's
widow, was that she, woman like, would no sooner see the
mark on the case than she would hastily declare it to be the
missing watch. To avoid as far as possible a miscarriage of
justice, I left the watch at the Office, carefully mixed up with
a dozen or two more then in our keeping, one or two of which
resembled it in appearance. I found the widow easily enough,
and took her to the Office with me, saying simply that we had
a number of watches which she might look at, with the possi-
bility of finding that of her husband. The watches were laid
out before her in a row, faces upward, and she slowly went over
them with her eye, touching none till she came to that taken
from Burge. Then she paused, and there was a moment's
breathless stillness in the room.
" This ane's awfu' like it," she said, and, lifting the watch,
she turned it, and beamed out in delight as she recognised the
sharp nick on the back of the case. "Yes, it's it! Look at
the mark I told you about."
She pointed out other trifling particulars confirming the
identity, but practically the whole depended on exactly what
had first drawn my attention to the watch—the nick on the
case. Now dozens of watches might have such a mark upon
them, and it was necessary to have a much more reliable proof
before we could hope for a conviction against Burge on such a
charge.
I had thought of this all the way to and from the widow's
house. She knew neither the number of the watch nor the
maker's name, but with something like hopefulness I found that
she knew the name of the watchmaker in Glasgow who had sold
i} to her husband, and another in Edinburgh who had cleaned
it. I went through to Glasgow the same day with the watch in
my pocket, found the seller, and by referring to his books dis-
covered the number of the watch sold to Anderson, which, I
was electrified to find, was identical with that on the gold lever
I carried. The name of the maker and description of the watch
also tallied perfectly; and the dealer emphatically announced
himself ready to swear to the identity in any court of justice.
My next business was to visit the man who had cleaned the
watch for Anderson in Edinburgh. I was less hopeful of him,
T.T. C
could scarcely otherwise account for Burge's demeanour. He
appeared so surprised and innocent, whereas a man thus de-
tected in the act of wearing such a thing, knowing its terrible
history, could scarcely have helped betraying his guilt.
_ My fear, then, as I made my way to the house of Anderson's
widow, was that she, woman like, would no sooner see the
mark on the case than she would hastily declare it to be the
missing watch. To avoid as far as possible a miscarriage of
justice, I left the watch at the Office, carefully mixed up with
a dozen or two more then in our keeping, one or two of which
resembled it in appearance. I found the widow easily enough,
and took her to the Office with me, saying simply that we had
a number of watches which she might look at, with the possi-
bility of finding that of her husband. The watches were laid
out before her in a row, faces upward, and she slowly went over
them with her eye, touching none till she came to that taken
from Burge. Then she paused, and there was a moment's
breathless stillness in the room.
" This ane's awfu' like it," she said, and, lifting the watch,
she turned it, and beamed out in delight as she recognised the
sharp nick on the back of the case. "Yes, it's it! Look at
the mark I told you about."
She pointed out other trifling particulars confirming the
identity, but practically the whole depended on exactly what
had first drawn my attention to the watch—the nick on the
case. Now dozens of watches might have such a mark upon
them, and it was necessary to have a much more reliable proof
before we could hope for a conviction against Burge on such a
charge.
I had thought of this all the way to and from the widow's
house. She knew neither the number of the watch nor the
maker's name, but with something like hopefulness I found that
she knew the name of the watchmaker in Glasgow who had sold
i} to her husband, and another in Edinburgh who had cleaned
it. I went through to Glasgow the same day with the watch in
my pocket, found the seller, and by referring to his books dis-
covered the number of the watch sold to Anderson, which, I
was electrified to find, was identical with that on the gold lever
I carried. The name of the maker and description of the watch
also tallied perfectly; and the dealer emphatically announced
himself ready to swear to the identity in any court of justice.
My next business was to visit the man who had cleaned the
watch for Anderson in Edinburgh. I was less hopeful of him,
T.T. C