Trial of John Jasper, lay precentor of Cloisterham Cathedral in the County of Kent, for the murder of Edwin Drood, engineer

by England) Dickens Fellowship (London

Mr. Walters: Oh, he asked you what it was for. And did you tell him?

Witness: Yes; I told him it ’ud burn anything; burn your boots, and with a little handy stirring, it ’ud burn your bones.

Mr. Walters: It would burn your bones with handy stirring. And when he put that curious question to you, did it occur to you there was a reason for it?

Witness: Durdles thinks everybody ’as a reason for everything they says and does.

Mr. Walters: When he asked you would that quicklime burn, you thought he must have a reason for it?

Witness: Yes; so I did.

Mr. Walters: People use quicklime for quite innocent purposes, I believe, don’t they?

Witness: Yes.

Mr. Walters: They use it for cement?

Witness: Yes.