Chapter 253: Forensic Toxicology Foundation (K8)
Chapter 252 – Forensic Toxicology Foundation Stone (4K8)
Inside the office of Scotland Yard, Arthur leaned back in his seat, twisting a long, dark brown hair in both hands, stretching it inch by inch and displaying it in the sunlight.
Although the hair looked plain and unassuming, it represented a key piece of evidence for Scotland Yard.
On Arthur’s desktop lay a copy of an academic paper that he had ordered Sergeant Charles Field, head of the Case Analysis Section of the Greater London Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division, to draft.
The long, sprawling paper included a variety of examples of arguments, but it was summarized as nothing more than a conclusion to illustrate – human hair grows about a centimeter per month, so it was possible to chemically analyze the victim’s physical condition based on the interception of different portions of the hair to find out exactly what time period they had ingested a large amounts of toxins.
A most appropriate verification experiment here would be to combine the conclusions of this paper with the Marsh method of testing for arsenic, just discovered by Mr. James Marsh, a chemical engineer at Woolwich Arsenal.
Yesterday’s verification experiment by the Criminal Investigation Department showed that although the element arsenic was present in every part of this hair, it was surprising to note that the arsenic mirror phenomenon produced by the experiment was most pronounced near the root.
And after discovering this anomaly, Arthur also specifically asked Scotland Yard to engage the assistance of a doctor from St. Mary’s Hospital to participate in a second professional autopsy.
But this seemingly reasonable request nearly brought down the thunderous wrath of the judges.
If placed in a few hundred years later, the judges’ anger would certainly have no basis or justification, and the autopsy should be left to a professional doctor, which seems natural. However, in the view of the judges, this is tantamount to provoking the entire judicial world of Britain, because Britain from the south to the north, from the east to the west, the special appointment of coroners in the courts of various places are almost exclusively lawyers.
Coroners had been lawyers’ work since centuries before, and in the eyes of the judges the examination of a corpse was a legal matter, not a medical one. To have a doctor do this is purely overstepping the mark.
Anyone who is not an authentic Briton, or who has not lived in a Christian society for some time, would surely be confused as to what kind of logic the judges were thinking.
But if we start from the beginning of the establishment of the Court of Britannia, it is easy to understand. On the small island of Britannia, the inhabitants are usually divided into parishes, so naturally, the first courts here were the various religious courts.
The so-called Inquisitional Courts were not confined to their literal meaning, and the burning of heretics was only one of their duties, and this duty was not often performed, for heretics were not so easy to find, and, after all, they were not grown in barns, and yielded a good harvest when the season came.
Most of the time, the religious court is similar to the ancient Chinese government office, the parishioners will come to the religious court to file lawsuits whenever they encounter any problems, such as the separation of brothers, contract disputes, stealing chickens and dogs, and neighborhood fights, all of which will come here, so that the clergy will invite God to give a judgement.
It is precisely for this reason that almost without exception the justices of the Christian countries in Britain and even in all of Europe had to be clergymen.
In the early days, productivity is more backward, in addition to the clergy in the parishes are farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters and so on, like a professional doctor, such as this occupation in the countryside may not be able to find out a, all day long to learn a variety of theological knowledge and natural science knowledge of the clergy naturally became the highest local intellectuals.
According to the Christian tradition, the clergy usually learns the art of healing, and most of the sick parishioners come to the clergy for help. Therefore, as a judge of the Inquisition, the clergy naturally took on the role of coroner.
Things until here, the logic is still smooth.
But the bad thing is bad in the back, Henry VIII period, the king because of the childlessness of a series of divorce a few times, and finally the Pope due to see his divorce divorce is too far, they resolutely no longer approved of his application for divorce.
Therefore, Henry VIII, in a rage, set up his own mountain, ordered the Church of England to separate directly from the Holy See, set up an Anglican Church to be its own spokesman, and began to crack down on the Catholic forces in the country, splitting up and reorganizing the various tribunals.
Judges were no longer the exclusive position of the clergy, and with the passage of time, the appointment of professional lawyers as judges began to become the consensus of society.
But the problem was that the lawyers not only took over the judgeships of the clergy, but also took over the duties of coroners, which used to belong to the clergy.
This has led to the strange phenomenon that most of the coroners in courts around the world are lawyers.
And, not surprisingly, the coroner appointed by the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the case of Senator Harrison was also a lawyer.
Although Arthur’s suggestion of a doctor’s autopsy was reasonable, according to the law, a coroner’s report submitted by a coroner who was not appointed by the court could not be used as evidence in court.
And what’s even more fucked up is that the judge of the Westminster Magistrates Court is still George Norton, and it’s basically impossible to get him to relent in this place.
Arthur reasonably guessed that there was probably a reason why Bernie Harrison was so emboldened.
So, if Harrison just wouldn’t drop the case, then there was basically only one way for Scotland Yard to go if they wanted to completely hammer Bernie Harrison to death from the chain of evidence.
If Sir Peel and the various Tories don’t come to terms and Bernie Harrison is still adamant that he won’t resign his seat as an MP, then Scotland Yard will have no choice but to take the case to the House of Lords.
For by law, the House of Lords, as the highest court of appeal in Britain, was the only place with the power to try MPs. Arthur could only go to the House of Lords with all sorts of materials and the recorded documents he had just gotten from the Thames Save the Drowned Association, and give them a live speech and scientific experiment in front of the Lords.
Then it would be up to the Lords to decide whether or not they wanted to appoint a separate professional doctor as coroner to submit a reasonable and lawful autopsy report.
Although this coroner’s report still can’t show that the person was killed by Bernie Harrison, but at least it can show that the victimized maid was definitely not drowned, and then linked to Bernie Harrison’s identity as a perfume merchant, even if he can escape the judgment, he is expected to be insulated from the political arena in this life.
And so, the Tory party will certainly be inevitable again, after all, Bernie Harrison is their people, and this is also committed to bridging the differences within the party Sir Peel is not willing to see.
When he thought of this, Arthur couldn’t help rubbing his face, and after half a day’s thought, he finally rang the bell in his office.
Tom pushed the door in and asked, “Arthur, what’s the matter?”
Arthur clipped his hair into the papers on the desktop, and then handed them all together into a kraft paper bag to Tom: “You go to Sir Peel’s mansion and give these things to him, hopefully what’s in here will help Sir Peel convince Harrison to know what’s going on. If Senator Harrison is a smart man, then he should know that with these alone, he’ll get none of what he wants.”
Tom nodded with a seemingly understanding sniff as he took the vellum bag and saluted at Arthur before closing the door and walking out.
The Red Devil hugged the candy canes and nestled in the sofa of the office, while throwing up the sugar cubes and sending them into his mouth, he asked, “Arthur, I can’t see that you’re quite nostalgic for old times. After this, Pierre will definitely be very grateful to you. If the Tory Party can be sustained in the future, it will not be possible without this effort you made today.”
Arthur picked up his teacup and took a sip, “Agareth, this is not me remembering any old feelings. If the Tory Party splits, what good will it do to the big guys? A strong opposition party is what can give the ruling party the most pressure, because usually only the opposition party is the most conscientious, and one party dominance is not a good thing in most cases.”
Agares raised his eyebrows at that and smiled, “Wow? Is that so? Don’t you have a little minuscule, personal peccadillo?”
“Agares, what are you thinking? I’m just a humble social utility.”
Saying this, Arthur took a sip of tea and picked up again, “Of course, if the Tory MPs, who are the opposition party, are willing not to put up too much resistance to that Police Equipment Renewal Bill when Parliament convenes next month, we at Scotland Yard would of course be more than happy to see that. You know, boys always like to primp a few fresh little toys, and that Colt revolver looks pretty good to me. Well …… maybe I should go to persuade that American boy to set up a factory in London in a couple of days, his family seems to be quite rich, the first production line is probably not a problem. Well …… right, but also have to solve the patent problem, the American nationality in Britain is not very convenient, perhaps I should persuade him to enter a British citizenship, the family’s things, we use also feel at ease.” Arthur said here, suddenly found Agares a pair of red oil eyes are staring at him not to be able to look away, the red devil mouth corner of the smile makes people look only feel a kind of indescribable nausea.
Arthur coughed softly and re-emphasized, “Of course, you understand, the purchase of the Colt revolver is not a matter of personal preference, and Scotland Yard will fully respect the council’s decision.”
Agares nodded repeatedly as he rubbed his hands together and smiled badly, “Yes, yes, that’s right, Scotland Yard is simply responding to a call from the public at large. After all, you can’t fight every operation as if it were the Battle of Waterloo at Regency Crescent House, you’re not the British Army.”
When Arthur heard this, he remembered that he seemed to have forgotten something, he suddenly stood up and prepared to go out, but when he was halfway to the door, he suddenly twisted his head and grabbed a bottle of cocoa powder originating from Central and South America bought from the Jermyn Street store and put it into his pocket, Arthur looked at the trademark on the tin and muttered to himself, “This cocoa powder Alexander drank is quite favorable, but I just don’t know whether it was his French genes are working, or it’s just that I don’t know whether it’s the old grandmother’s memories in him.”
……
The Scotland Yard cells contained a territory that was decidedly not quite the same as the other single cells.
The red brick walls were thoughtfully opened with two skylights, not too big a bed was covered with two clean and tidy quilts as if they had just been purchased, and next to the bed was a simple dresser, which, even more unbelievable to the other inmates, was full of bottles and jars of moisturizing oils, colognes and the like like like those reserved for pussies, and was even lavishly fitted with a mirror.
But that’s not what made the inmates feel new, the most coveted thing was that the cell was stuffed with a small dining table, and not only that, every day when they ate, everyone was served black bread with potatoes, but only that person was served with four dishes and one soup.
However, the prisoners were not jealous of this treatment.
They all guessed that the four-eyed boy who was locked up in there must not be alive for a few days, and he would be on the gallows in a few days, so why be jealous of him?
And just two days ago, this kind of people let the group greedy but not jealous of the people will be one more.
The next door of the four-eyed boy moved into a strong young man, the two people are basically the same treatment.
Perhaps due to the sympathy of ‘high-end technical talents’, or the sympathy of the same disease unique to death row inmates, the two of them would often chat through a window that could only fit half of their faces.
“Mr. Wheatstone, I recall you saying you were a researcher in natural philosophy, specializing in the field of acoustics?”
“I actually dabble in electromagnetism, but for some reasons that can’t be stated explicitly, I can’t disclose too much about my scientific achievements. But the field of acoustics is something I can tell you about, do you know about gramophones? All the gramophones in the London market are my products.”
“You are the inventor of that phonograph?” Louis Bonaparte marveled, “My God! Have the Englishmen gone mad? Why would they put a man of your eminence in prison?”
Wheatstone, with his eyes like snow, lit a cigar on the side of the table and leaned against the wall of the cell and let out a long puff of smoke, “That’s a long story.”
Hearing this, Louis Bonaparte tucked a bottle of gin that had just been delivered this morning along the bars of the window, “You’ve got a story, I’ve got a drink, let’s have a good chat. By the way, do you have any cigars left? Why don’t you give me one?”
Hearing this, Wheatstone directly grabbed a handful of cigars from the cigar box beside him and shoved it over, “Smoke, smoke hard, anyway, he said that all my spending here is on his account, so you don’t need to be polite with me.”
Louis Bonaparte bit off the head of the cigar and spit it on the ground, then hit the fire and took a sharp sip, only to feel that the whole person was energized, “By the way, who is that he you just said?”
“Who else?”
Wheatstone spoke: “That well-known scoundrel gentleman in London, the head of the street ruffians, the head of Scotland Yard ruffians, who can fight with swords and blood on the top, and oppress good citizens on the bottom, who is both a great pianist who plays beautiful music in concerts, and an impudent man who is addicted to listening to secret conversations on the eaves of the house, and who is a foot soldier of the Lord Chancellor Brougham, and who is highly valued by the Duke of Wellington, as well as the most important person in the world, and who has been a great friend of the Duke of Wellington. Duke of Wellington’s favorite police star, owner of police number MPS 6-001, and Superintendent Arthur Hastings with his morbidly incarcerated protective streak.”
“Hiss ……” Louis Bonaparte took a sharp drag on his cigar, “So he got you in too?”
Hearing this, Wheatstone put up a finger and pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, “Too? How did you get in?”
Louis Bonaparte, with a cigar in his hand, said with a despondent look, “I …… guess I offended him, didn’t I? The other day when I was being interrogated, I seem to have attached myself to someone else and called him an English bald man who hadn’t yet lost his hair.”
“Oh ……” nodded Wheatstone slightly, “Then you came in because of your opposition to Arthur Hastings?”
“Sort of. And how did you get in?”
“I’m in because I support Arthur Hastings.”
“And I’m not like either of you.”
“Hm? What do you do?”
“I’m Arthur Hastings.”
Leaning against the wall in the middle of the two cells with his arms wrapped around Arthur’s back, he gently fired up and the whole thing popped up at once.
He stood in the middle of the two cells, only half of his face visible from each side of the cell.
Arthur raised one eyebrow and opened his mouth to ask, ”I’m relieved to see the two gentlemen chatting so happily, I had thought that I would have locked you up with some kind of psychological problem. Now it seems that my worries were really a bit redundant.”
Seeing Arthur appear, Wheatstone rushed to the door and while slapping the cell door, he shouted at Arthur through the small window on the door, “Arthur, it’s been a few days, it’s about time for you to let me out, right?”
Arthur looked at him like that and just shrugged his shoulders, “Charles, that’s a very unkind thing to say. Do you know how much effort the Bureau went through so that you could live in peace?”
Wheatstone questioned, “How much effort? Is the living environment here even comparable to the Regency Crescent?”
Arthur sniffed helplessly, “Of course we couldn’t have moved your house here, but in order to make you live comfortably, we did invite your neighbors over.”
Wheatstone was puzzled, “Neighbors?”
Arthur nodded slightly as he pointed at Louis Bonaparte and spoke, “You don’t think you still don’t know, do you? This Mr. Louis Bonaparte should be living next door to you in the future, and the Bureau knows that you have a psychological barrier to socializing, so isn’t this a special invitation to bring him here to familiarize you with him? Charles, you have to understand that Scotland Yard up and down is under a lot of pressure for your sake.”
(End of chapter)