R. Austin Freeman

“ Here the cobbler suddenly rose to his feet.
"I rise, Mr. Chairman," said he, "to protest against the statement that has just been made."
"What statement?" demanded the coroner.
"Against the aspersion," continued the cobbler, with an oratorical flourish, "that has been cast upon a honorable calling."
"I don't understand you," said the coroner.
"Doctor Summers has insinuated that this murder was committed by a butcher. Now a member of that honorable calling is sitting on this jury——"
"You let me alone," growled the butcher.
"I will not let you alone," persisted the cobbler. ”

“ Do you find anything in any of the bones, or all of them together, which would enable you to identify them as the bones of any particular individual?"
"No," replied Dr. Summers; "I found no peculiarity that could furnish the means of personal identification."
"The description of a missing individual has been given to us," said the coroner; "a man, fifty-nine years of age, five feet eight inches in height, healthy, well preserved, rather broad in build, and having an old Pott's fracture of the left ankle. Do the remains that you have examined agree with that description?" ”

“ The coroner cast a withering glance at him, and, turning to the witness, resumed the examination.
"Can you tell us, Doctor, how long a time has elapsed since the death of the deceased?"
"I should say not less than eighteen months, but probably more. How much more it is impossible from inspection alone to say. The bones are perfectly clean—that is, clean of all soft structures—and will remain substantially in their present condition for many years."
"The evidence of the man who found the remains in the watercress-bed suggests that they could not have been there for more than two years. ”