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Updated: May 10, 2025
He had indeed been so sure that Beamish was his man that he had failed sufficiently to consider other possibilities, and now he found himself without any alternative theory to fall back on. But he remained none the less certain that Coburn's death was due to his effort to break with the syndicate, and that it was to the syndicate that he must look for light on the matter.
That night I encamped at Eagleville, and next day reported to Granger at Franklin, arriving in the midst of much excitement prevailing on account of the loss of Coburn's brigade, which had been captured the day before a little distance south of that point, while marching to form a junction with a column that had been directed on Columbia from Murfreesboro'. Shortly after Coburn's capture General Granger had come upon the scene, and the next day he advanced my division and Minty's troops directly on Spring Hill, with a view to making some reprisal; but Van Dorn had no intention of accommodating us, and retired from Spring Hill, offering but little resistance.
The door behind him was locked, and in Mr. Coburn's pocket was the key as well as a revolver, while Merriman was unarmed. Moreover, Mr. Coburn was the larger and heavier, if not the stronger man of the two. It was true his words and manner were those of a friend, but the cold hatred in his eyes revealed his purpose.
"It's a nasty knock having to give up the only theory we were able to think of, but it's a hanged sight worse not knowing how we are going to carry on the inquiry." "That is true," Merriman returned, Madeleine Coburn's face rising before his imagination, "but we can't give it up for all that. We must go on until we find something." "That's all very well. What are we to go on doing?"
That comprised the finding of Miss Coburn, the learning of Mr. Coburn's life history, the tracing of his movements during the last four or five days, the finding of the purchaser of the black cloth, and the following up of clues discovered during these inquiries.
But though she listened to his entreaties and was always kind and gentle, she remained inflexible in her resolve. Merriman felt that his only plan, failing the discovery of Mr. Coburn's assassin, was unobtrusively to keep as much as possible in her company, in the hope that she would grow accustomed to his presences and perhaps in time come to need it.
Neither the manageress nor any of the staff had seen anyone resembling the tall man. Inspector Willis was considerably disappointed by the news. He had hoped that Mr. Coburn's fellow-guest would have been the murderer, and that he would have left some trace from which his identity could have been ascertained.
But there were two parts of the plan of which nothing was yet known. Firstly, where was the brandy obtained from originally, and, secondly, how was it distributed from the distillery? It seemed to Willis that each of these operations would require additional accomplices. And if so, these persons might also have been implicated in Coburn's death.
Well, after the inquest I set to work," and he briefly related the story of his investigations in London and in Hull, his discoveries at Ferriby, his proof that Archer was the actual murderer, the details of the smuggling organization and, finally, his suspicion that the other members of the syndicate were privy to Mr. Coburn's death, together with his failure to prove it.
As a result of his careful investigation of the movements of the prisoners during the previous three years, the entire history of the Pit-Prop Syndicate was unravelled, as well as the details of Coburn's murder. It seemed that the original idea of the fraud was Raymond's. He looked round for a likely English partner, selected Archer, broached the subject to him, and found him willing to go in.
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