“Was he in the habit of taking a walk in that direction after riding?”
“I can’t say.”
Then the surgeon was recalled.
“The bruise upon the right hand is recent, you say?”
“Yes.”
“Supposing the deceased had shot himself, it would have been almost impossible that he could have fired the pistol with his left hand?”
“Quite impossible, I should say, and considering the position of the wound there would have been some little difficulty with the right; but of course he could have used both hands; the wound is quite compatible with the supposition of suicide.”
The superintendent of police was also recalled, and he said that at the place where the deceased gentleman fell there were marks as if a struggle had taken place, and on searching the body no papers had been found. Morris, his lordship’s man, had seen the deceased with a pocket-book, and from the way in which the breast-pocket of his coat had been dragged open and torn, it would seem as if something (perhaps the pocket-book, as that could not be found) had been forcibly removed. He would also venture to point out to the coroner that although the groom hurried to the spot immediately upon hearing the noise, the Captain was there before him with the deceased’s head upon his knee. If he had committed suicide the Captain must have been close to the spot at the time, and yet he heard voices.
Mr. Masters protested against this police statement.
The coroner said it was not evidence, and he was not taking it down.