Judith Ford, may be believed, she was not a stranger to him, Mr. Billiter.”
“True, your worship; but you will scarcely feel inclined, I fancy, to accept that young woman’s word before Mr. Carlton’s. I repeat, there’s not a shadow of proof, if you put that witness’s word aside, that Mr. Carlton had any previous acquaintance with Mrs. Crane. All the probabilities tend the other way; and, without that proof, it is impossible to pursue this charge against him. Mrs. Crane herself spoke of Mr. Carlton as a stranger to her, as she did of the Messrs. Grey. The widow Gould———"
It seemed that Lawyer Billiter’s eloquence was fated to be perpetually cut short. A noise at the back of the hall caused him to turn angrily. “What was the cause of the noise?” the magistrates as angrily demanded, and they were answered by their clerk, Mr. Drone.
“Some important evidence has arrived from town, your worships.”
Important evidence from town! Their worships gazed in the direction of the commotion; everybody else gazed; the prisoner gazed. But all that could be seen was the blooming person of Mrs. Pepperfly, who was making her appearance late, and not altogether steady on the legs. Some policemen were endeavouring to force a way for her through the dense crowd, for they supposed her testimony would be wanted; but their efforts were useless. A slim figure might have been got through, but Mrs. Pepperfly, never. Groaning, exhausted, a martyr to heat, and dreadfully cross, she commenced a fight with those around her as effectually as her crushed state permitted.
But the stir, while it baffled Mrs. Pepperfly, enabled another to get through the mass: a tall, slim young man, who twisted in and out like an eel, and got to the front at last.
He was the important evidence from town; that is, he had brought it with him. After conferring a few moments with Mr. Drone, he took from his pocket-book a folded paper. Mr. Drone inspected it with curious eyes, and then handed it to the waiting magistrates.
It was a copy of the certificate of a marriage solemnised in London, at St. Pancras Old Church, early in July, 1847, between Lewis Carlton and Clarice Beauchamp.
THE POLICE AND MECHANISM OF RAILWAY TRAINS.
The Press rings with an outcry for safety in railway travelling. Some cry out for communication between driver and guard; others between passengers and guard; others, again, for the patrolling of the guard along the train by means of outside galleries. It does not seem to enter into their imagination that this outside passage for the guard, even if practicable, would also be very convenient for the thief or murderer to go from one carriage to another. There is a vague notion about the “six foot,” or the space between the two lines of rails; but this “six foot” is imaginary. The overhang of the carriages beyond the rails on each line reduces it to two feet, and two guards on two passing trains coming in contact, each at thirty miles per hour, would be, as the Americans call it, “rubbed out” of existence. Nor is it easy to see that in a case of murder a cord to the guard would be of any great use to the victim, as the first act of the would-be murderer would be to cut the cord.
Transit outside the train being impracticable, for reasons before shown, and transit on the roof being impracticable by reason of the overhead bridges, the only remaining thing is transit through the train. But this could only be practicable by sacrificing the centre seats in the first-class carriages. This, again, would not suffice, for the first-class passengers would not give up their privacy. If it were put to the vote of the first-class passengers whether they would ensure absolute safety without privacy or take comparative safety with privacy, there is no doubt that they would choose the latter. They would not vote for the American mode of travelling, with an open passage-way through the train.
There is one arrangement which might, perhaps, be accomplished. Carriages might be built ten feet wide, which would leave one foot in width between the passing trains. This would permit a passage-way two feet in width through the middle of the first-class, leaving cabins for four passengers each, to be partitioned off on either side. They would be provided with the ordinary doors outside, and with sliding doors opening into the passage, and with access at either end of the passage. The Great Western first class have this arrangement, so far as the rows of compartments are concerned, but they open into one another, having no through passage.
There is a vehicle analogous to that which is now proposed—the police van,—which has a central passage through it for the officer, and separate cells for single persons to prevent communication. Make the single cell into a compartment for four, with external and internal doors, and the arrangement would be complete. Only, as the railways have not been made originally for wide carriages, it would be imperative to arrange the windows so that passengers could not protrude their heads. But probably this would be considered a grie-