"Such are the facts of this case. I believe that they are not disputed,
and I assert that, taken together, they are susceptible of only one
explanation, which is that the prisoner, Alfred Draper, is the man who
murdered the deceased, Charles Hearn."
Immediately on the conclusion of this address, the witnesses were
called, and the evidence given was identical with that at the inquest.
The only new witness for the prosecution was Draper's housekeeper, and
her evidence fully bore out Mr. Bashfield's statement. The sergeant's
account of the footprints was listened to with breathless interest, and
at its conclusion the presiding magistrate--a retired solicitor, once
well known in criminal practice--put a question which interested me as
showing how clearly Thorndyke had foreseen the course of events,
recalling, as it did, his remark on the night when we were caught in the
rain.
"Did you," the magistrate asked, "take these shoes down to the beach and
compare them with the actual footprints?"
"I obtained the shoes at night," replied the sergeant, "and I took them
down to the shore at daybreak the next morning.
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