Explore "The Duke of York's Steps" by Henry Wade on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The inquest on the exhumed body of Sir Garth Fratten was held at Scotland Yard, as any unnecessary movement was considered undesirable in view of the stage of decomposition that had been reached. For a similar reason it was arranged to hold the first stage of the inquest at once, without waiting for the collection of further evidence. After the inspection of the body by the jury, evidence as to identity, cause of death, and other preliminaries, an adjournment could be obtained and the body decently re-buried.
As can be imagined, the news of the prospective inquest was received with intense interest, and even excitement, by the press and public. The applications for the few available seats ran into hundreds, and for every curious spectator who found a place in the body of the court, twenty were turned away. When the Coroner, Mr. Mendel Queriton, took his seat at eleven o'clock on Wednesday 6th November, the room was packed to suffocation -- so much so, indeed, that the jury, filing back from their unpleasant duty, demanded and obtained a wholesale opening of windows.