s, no
light was thrown on either murder for some time. But I was so much
interested in the mystery surrounding them that I carefully collected
all the newspaper accounts concerning the murder at Saltash and that
at Ravensdene Court, and pasted the clippings into a book, and from
these I can now give something like a detailed account of all that was
known of Salter and Noah Quick previous to the tragedies of that
spring.

Somewhere about the end of the year 1910, Noah Quick, hailing,
evidently, from nowhere in particular, but, equally evidently, being
in possession of plenty of cash, became licensee of a small tavern
called the Admiral Parker, in a back street in Devonport. It was a
fully-licensed house, and much frequented by seamen. Noah Quick was a
thick-set, sturdy, middle-aged man, reserved, taciturn, very strict in
his attention to business; a steady, sober man, keen on money matters.
He was a bachelor, keeping an elderly woman as housekeeper, a couple
of stout women servants, a barmaid, and a potman. His house was
particularly well-conducted; it was mentioned at the inquest on him
that the police had never once had any complaint in reference to it,
and that Noah, who had to deal with a rather rough class of customers,
was peculiarly adept in keeping order--one witness, indeed, said that
having had opportunities of watching him, he had formed the opinion
that Noah, before going into the public-house business, had held some
position of authority and was accustomed to obedience. Everything
seemed to be going very well with him and the Admiral Parker, when,
in February, 1912, his brother, Salter Quick, made his appearance in
Devonport.

Nobody knew anything about Salter Quick, except that he was believed
to have come to Devonport from Wapping or Rotherhithe, or somewhere
about those Thames-side quarters. He was very like his brother in
appearance, and in character, except that he was more sociable, and
more talkative. He took up his residence at the Admiral Parker, and he
and Noah evidently got on together very well: they were even
affectionate in manner toward each other. They were often seen in
Devonport and in Plymouth in company, but those who knew them best at
this time noted that they never paid visits to, nor received visits
from, any one coming within the category of friends or relations. And
one man, giving evidence at the inquest on Noah Quick, said that he
had some recollection that Salter, in a moment o