Notes　Scene 7: The Girl in the Wood

"The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court."

「猟場番のウィリアム・クラウダーが二人を見失ったあとにも、マッカーシー親子は目撃されている。ボスコム池の周囲は深い林で、岸辺には草や葦が細く縁取りを作っているだけだ。ボスコム谷の屋敷の門番の娘、十四歳のペイシェンス・モランが、その林の一つで花を摘んでいた。そこにいたとき、林の端の池のすぐそばで、マッカーシーとその息子を見かけたと彼女は言う。二人は激しい口論をしているようだった。父マッカーシーが息子を激しい言葉でののしるのが聞こえ、息子が父を殴ろうとするように手を振り上げるのも見た。二人の激しさにひどくおびえた彼女は逃げ出し、家へ着くと母親に、ボスコム池のそばでマッカーシー親子が言い争っており、けんかになるのではないかと心配だと話した。その言葉を言い終わったばかりのところへ、若いマッカーシーが門番小屋へ駆けてきて、林の中で父の死体を見つけたと言い、門番の助けを求めた。彼はひどく興奮し、銃も帽子もなく、右手と袖には新しい血が付いているのが認められた。彼についていくと、池のそばの草の上に、死体が長く横たわっていた。頭は、重く鈍い凶器で何度も殴られ、陥没していた。その傷は、息子の銃の銃床の先で付けられたとしても、十分につじつまの合うものだった。その銃は、死体から数歩の草の上に落ちていた。こうした事情から若者は直ちに逮捕され、火曜日の検視審問で『故意の殺人』との判断が下されたのち、水曜日にはロスの治安判事たちの前へ連れていかれた。事件は次の巡回裁判へ付託された。以上が、検視官の審問と警察裁判所で明らかになった、事件の主な事実だ」