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Detective-inspector Japp was the first witness called when the trial was
reopened, and gave his evidence succinctly and briefly. After relating the
earlier events, he proceeded:
"Acting on information received, Superintendent Summerhaye and myself
searched the prisoner's room, during his temporary absence from the house.
In his chest of drawers, hidden beneath some underclothing, we found: first,
a pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez similar to those worn by Mr. Inglethorp"--
these were exhibited--"secondly, this phial."
The phial was that already recognized by the chemist's assistant, a tiny
bottle of blue glass, containing a few grains of a white crystalline powder,
and labelled: "Strychnine Hydrochloride. POISON."
A fresh piece of evidence discovered by the detectives since the police court
proceedings was a long, almost new piece of blotting-paper. It had been
found in Mrs. Inglethorp's cheque book, and on being reversed at a mirror,
showed clearly the words: ". . . erything of which I die possessed I leave to
my beloved husband Alfred Ing..." This placed beyond question the fact that
the destroyed will had been in favour of the deceased lady's husband. Japp
then produced the charred fragment of paper recovered from the grate, and
this, with the discovery of the beard in the attic, completed his evidence.
But Sir Ernest's cross-examination was yet to come.
"
"
"
"
"
What day was it when you searched the prisoner's room?"
Tuesday, the 24th of July."
Exactly a week after the tragedy?"
Yes."
You found these two objects, you say, in the chest of drawers. Was the
drawer unlocked?"
"Yes."
"
Does it not strike you as unlikely that a man who had committed a crime
should keep the evidence of it in an unlocked drawer for anyone to find?"
168
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