The Carew Murder

Nearly a year later, in October 1880, there was a terrible crime in a London street. Everyone in London was shocked when they heard about it.

A young woman servant saw it happen. She lived alone in a house not far from the river. At about eleven o'clock on the night of the crime, she went up to her room. She sat on a chair near the window and looked out at the moonlit streets. She was a romantic young woman and she began to think about love.

After a time, she noticed an old man with white hair coming along the narrow street below her window. Then she saw another, very small man going along the street the opposite way. This man carried a heavy stick in his hand. When the two men were quite close, the old man stopped. He seemed to ask the small man a polite question. The girl saw him pointing. She thought that he was asking the way. The moon shone on the old man's kind face as he spoke.

The girl looked at the other man.To her surprise, she knew his face. He was a man, Mr Hyde, who once visited her employer. She remembered feeling a strong dislike for him at that time.

Suddenly this Mr Hyde became crazy with anger! He waved his stick and started shouting. The old man looked very surprised. He took a step back. And then Mr Hyde really went mad ('like a wild animal', as the girl described it later).

He hit the old man over the head with his stick, and knocked him to the ground. Then he jumped on the old man's body and hit him again and again with the heavy stick. He did not stop until the old man was dead.

This terrible thing was too much for the girl. She fell to the floor, her eyes closed, and for some time she knew nothing.

It was two o'clock before the girl opened her eyes again. When she remembered the murder, she immediately called the police.

The murderer was not there, of course, but the murdered man was still on the ground in the middle of the narrow street. The heavy stick was broken, and one half of it lay near the body.

The police looked in the murdered man's pockets and found some money and a gold watch. There was also a letter, ready to post. The envelope had Mr Utterson's name and address on it.

A police inspector brought this letter to the lawyer just before nine o'clock in the morning. He told Mr Utterson about the crime.

Mr Utterson listened carefully, then he said, ' This is a very serious matter. But I don't want to say anything until I see the body.'

' I ' l l take you now, ' said the police inspector.

The body was at the police station. When Utterson saw it, he said, 'Yes, I know him. This is the body of Sir Danvers Carew.'

' Really, sir? ' said the police inspector.' He's a very famous man.'

And Utterson could see the police inspector thinking, 'Yes, and perhaps I ' l l be famous, too, if I catch the murderer! '

' Yes, ' said Utterson.' Sir Danvers was very famous.'

' Perhaps you will be able to help us in our search for the killer, sir, ' the police inspector said. He told Utterson what the girl saw.

Mr Utterson was worried when he heard the name of Hyde. Then he saw the broken stick — and he knew it immediately.

' I gave it to Henry Jekyll personally, many years ago, ' he thought. But he said nothing.'

The police inspector was waiting for Mr Utterson to say something, so the lawyer asked, ' Is this Mr Hyde a small man? '

'Yes, ' said the police inspector. 'Very small, and very evil- looking, the servant-girl says.'

Mr Utterson thought for a moment. Then he said: ' Come with me. I think that I can take you to his house.'

•

The taxi moved slowly through the streets with Mr Utterson and the police inspector in the back. The address on Hyde's card was not a pleasant part of Soho. The street was narrow and dirty. Between the houses, there was a cheap French eating house and some small shops. Poor children in dirty clothes sat in doorways.

The taxi stopped outside Hyde's house, and Utterson and the police inspector got out. Mr Utterson knocked on the

door. An old woman opened it. She had silver-coloured hair and an unpleasant face, but she spoke politely and answered Mr Utterson's question.

' Yes, ' she said.' This is Mr Hyde's house, but Mr Hyde is not at home.' And in answer to more questions from Mr Utterson she said, 'Yes, Mr Hyde came in very late last night.That's not unusual. He comes and goes at all sorts of times, and he's often away'

' When did you last see him before last night? ' asked Utterson.

' More than two months ago, ' said the woman.' He went out one day and I didn't see him again.'

'We want to see his rooms, ' said Utterson.
 ' That's impossible —' the woman began.
 Utterson stopped her.' This person is Police Inspector Newcome, '

he said.
 An unpleasant smile came to the woman's face. ' A h! ' she said.

' Mr Hyde is in trouble! What did he do? '
 The inspector did not answer. 'Just show us his rooms, ' he said. The rooms had good furniture, and some good pictures on the

wall. But there were signs that the place was left in a hurry.There were clothes lying on the floor, but with nothing in the pockets. There were a lot of burned papers in the fireplace. From some of the half-burned papers, the inspector pulled out part of a cheque book. Then he found the other end of the broken stick behind the door.

' Now we've got him, ' the police inspector said to Mr Utterson. ' We must just wait for him at the bank. He can't do anything without money'

But it was not as easy as that. Police watched the bank, but Mr Hyde did not go near it. It wasn't possible to get a good description of the man, and there were no photographs of him. People gave very different descriptions of him, but they all agreed about one thing. He looked wild and evil, and there was something terrible about him.