The Cretingham Murder by Sheila Hardy Read Free Book Online Page A

strangely, this information that Arthur himself wished to be relieved of his duties was not to appear again.
    This same representative of the press mentions in passing that Arthur frequently accompanied Mrs Farley to Framlingham and elsewhere and then goes on to make some pertinent comments on the case:
    Although in all the main particulars, the tragedy seems to be as simple as it was horrible, there are two or three mysterious circumstances which have yet to be explained. Mrs Farley was under the impression that the curate, after he committed the murder, took his own candlestick with him to light the way back to his room. Afterwards, however, both candlesticks were found in the room of the murdered man. How that came about is still a mystery.
    So it was, that by the time the inquest was held on that Monday afternoon, most, if not all of those who were called to take part, would have been fully acquainted with what had been written in the East Anglian Daily Times .
    That this was no run-of-the-mill case is borne out by the fact that after Supt Balls of Framlingham had visited the scene on Sunday morning, he immediately sent a telegram to the Deputy Chief Constable, Mr F. Fisher. He, accompanied by Inspector Shipp and several more constables, arrived later in the day and having been fully informed as to what had occurred, took the preliminary measures for setting up the inquest at the Bell Inn at 2 o’clock on Monday.
    Arthur, meanwhile, had been placed in an ordinary cell in Framlingham police station, but under the close supervision of a constable. He was reported as saying nothing either during the journey or thereafter but presented ‘a quiet but sullen demeanour’. Both reporters commented that he dozed fitfully most of the time, the more ‘atmospheric’ writer ascribing this to weariness following his wandering around the countryside during the night.
    As Sunday drew to a close, telegrams must have been sent and delivered all over the country. Farley’s sons and daughters had to be informed of the awful fate that had overtaken their father, while in Kent, the Revd and Mrs Gilbert-Cooper must have been distraught to learn that their son, whose last letter had suggested he was depressed, now stood accused of murder.

4
    MONDAY 3 OCTOBER 1887
    Early Monday morning, Sgt Bragg and PC Codd, who had been detailed to guard Arthur throughout the night, were able to announce that the prisoner had slept soundly from 10 p.m. the night before right through to 8 a.m. that morning. After washing and dressing he had eaten a hearty breakfast. The two police officers described his behaviour at times as eccentric, though without any elaboration as to what that involved, but what struck them most was that he did not seem to appreciate the gravity of the situation in which he found himself.
    Promptly at 11 o’clock he was brought up from the cells to the courtroom. Since this was only a remand session, there was only one magistrate present, the Revd R.G. Gorton. The only others in attendance were John Martin, the magistrates’ clerk and two members of the press.
    Before the prisoner was taken into the court, Supt Balls made his sworn statement that he had ‘just cause to believe and suspect, and did believe and suspect that on the second day of October at the parish of Cretingham, one Arthur Edward Gilbert-Cooper did feloniously, wilfully and with malice aforethought, kill and murder one William Meymott Farley, against the peace of our Lady the Queen, her crown and dignity.’
    When Arthur was led in he appeared bewildered as he looked about him. He flatly refused to stand on the raised platform used as a dock and when Supt Balls tried to force him forward, he resisted, throwing his arms back and shaking himself free. The magistrate decided that he should be allowed to stay in the body of the court while the formal charge was read.
    On hearing the words ‘wilful murder’, Arthur, much surprised, turned to the clerk and said,