that the man
was a pickpocket, and that this was his plunder, was discounted by the
fact that all six were of American make and of a type which is rare in
England. Three of them bore the mark of the Rochester Watchmaking
Company; one was by Mason, of Elmira; one was unmarked; and the small
one, which was highly jewelled and ornamented, was from Tiffany, of New
York. The other contents of his pocket consisted of an ivory knife
with a corkscrew by Rodgers, of Sheffield; a small, circular mirror,
one inch in diameter; a readmission slip to the Lyceum Theatre; a
silver box full of vesta matches, and a brown leather cigar-case
containing two cheroots--also two pounds fourteen shillings in money.
It was clear, then, that whatever motives may have led to his death,
robbery was not among them. As already mentioned, there were no
markings upon the man's linen, which appeared to be new, and no
tailor's name upon his coat. In appearance he was young, short,
smooth-cheeked, and delicately featured. One of his front teeth was
conspicuously stopped with gold.

On the discovery of the tragedy an examination was instantly made of
the tickets of all passengers, and the number of the passengers
themselves was counted. It was found that only three tickets were
unaccounted for, corresponding to the three travellers who were
missing. The express was then allowed to proceed, but a new guard was
sent with it, and John Palmer was detained as a witness at Rugby. The
carriage which included the two compartments in question was uncoupled
and side-tracked. Then, on the arrival of Inspector Vane, of Scotland
Yard, and of Mr. Henderson, a detective in the service of the railway
company, an exhaustive inquiry was made into all the circumstances.

That crime had been committed was certain. The bullet, which appeared
to have come from a small pistol or revolver, had been fired from some
little distance, as there was no scorching of the clothes. No weapon
was found in the compartment (which finally disposed of the theory of
suicide), nor was there any sign of the brown leather bag which the
guard had seen in the hand of the tall gentleman. A lady's parasol was
found upon the rack, but no other trace was to be seen of the
travellers in either of the sections. Apart from the crime, the
question of how or why three passengers (one of them a lady) could get
out of the train, and one other get in during the unbroken run between
Willesden and R