had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the least. That is as much as

I have been able to gather about the families. Now for the facts.


“On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at

Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe Pool,

which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream which runs down

the Boscombe Valley. He had been out with his serving-man in the morning at

Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of

importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came back alive.


“From Hatherley Farmhouse to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a mile,

and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was an old woman,

whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keeper

in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was

walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.

McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with

a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually in

sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the

matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred.


“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