Explore "The Body in the Bunker" by Herbert Adams on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
A SHORT, thick-set, bull-necked man was Dr. Erie, the coroner. His eyes were keen and without attributing to them all the "gimlick" properties Mrs. Wicks suggested, it is certain that very little escaped them. He had strong opinions of his own, and those opinions were not altogether of an orthodox character, as his opening remarks to his jury indicated. The court was crowded and there was a profound hush when he rapped on the table to open the proceedings. He was not unaware of the large company that listened to his words; witnesses, journalists, officials and those drawn only by curiosity; but he addressed himself solely and quietly to his jurors, as if they only had been present.
"The Coroners Act of 1887 ordains that where there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person has died a violent or unnatural death an inquiry shall be held to ascertain what precisely was the cause of that death. The evidence you are to hear will, I think, satisfy you that the deceased in this case did die a violent and unnatural death and that the injury causing that death could neither have been self-inflicted nor accidental. In that case, being satisfied with the evidence of identity, you may feel compelled to record by your verdict that Arthur Melrose Crosbie was wilfully murdered."