cover
the body the next day and give information to the police, for fear he
should not be able to retain sufficient control of himself to convince
the detectives that he was wholly ignorant of the crime, and he also
thought that if Hill had a share in writing the letter he would feel an
additional complicity in the crime, and keep silence for his own sake.
Birchill was right in his calculations--up to a point. Hill was at first
too frightened to disclose what he knew, but as time went on his
affection for his murdered master, and his desire to bring the murderer
to justice, overcame his feelings of fear for his own share in bringing
about the crime, and he went and confessed everything to the police,
regardless of the consequences that might recoil upon his own head. The
case against Birchill depends largely on Hill's evidence, and the jury,
when they have heard his story in the witness-box, and bearing in mind
the extenuating circumstances of his connection with the crime, will have
little hesitation in coming to the conclusion that the prisoner in the
dock murdered Sir Horace Fewbanks."

The first witness called was Inspector Seldon, who gave evidence as to
his visit to Riversbrook shortly before 1 p. m. on the 19th of August as
the result of information received, and his discovery of the dead body of
Sir Horace Fewbanks. He described the room in which the body was found;
the position of the body; and he identified the blood-stained clothes
produced by the prosecution as being those in which the dead man was
dressed when the body was discovered. In cross-examination by Holymead he
stated that Sir Horace Fewbanks was fully dressed when the body was
found. The witness also stated in cross-examination that none of the
electric lights in the house were burning when the body was discovered.

The next witness was Dr. Slingsby, the pathological expert from the Home
Office who had made the post mortem examination, and who was much too
great a man to be kept waiting while other witnesses of more importance
to the case but of less personal consequence went into the box. Dr.
Slingsby stated that his examinations had revealed that death had been
caused by a bullet wound which had penetrated the left lung, causing
internal hemorrhage.

Mr. Finnis, the junior counsel for the defence, suggested to the witness
that the wound might have been self-inflicted, but Dr. Slingsby permitted
himself to be positive that such was not the case