Читать книгу Daniel O'Thunder - Ian Weir - Страница 14
ОглавлениеCitizens Pursue Nightwalker Slayer By William Piper The Morning Register 27 May, 1851
The talk of St Giles Street, Holborn, is of a murder discovered yesterday morning, and a subsequent chase through the streets. It began when the body of a young woman, later identified as Louise Maggs, a prostitute, was found in an alley by an early rising tradesman. Our information, gleaned from witnesses who came upon the scene shortly thereafter, is that the woman had been assaulted and then most horribly slashed by a knife or similar cutting instrument, as if her assailant had begun with one intention but then worked himself into a frenzy. Members of the Watch being summoned, a search of the area was commenced, leading to the discovery that the perpetrator had gone to ground in a nearby cellar—either for fear of discovery in his gore-soaked habiliments, or (which is thought more likely) because like a wild beast’s his instincts compelled him to watch over his kill. Flushed from his hole, he took to his heels. But the hue and cry was taken up, and chase was given by constables and members of the citizenry, who sprang instantly to their duty. For a time, the killer appeared to give his pursuers the slip, before the scent was found again and pursuit resumed. At last he was traced to a well-known house of vice and sedition in the Gray’s Inn Road, and apprehended, following a violent struggle with his friends, including a great Scottish brute who put witnesses horribly in mind of Sawney Bean, and two ancient slatterns who fought on the murderer’s behalf like shrieking harpies. The killer has been identified as Joseph Gummery, who is notorious in the district, being known as the Devil’s Printer.
