The Pit-Prop Syndicate - Freeman Wills Crofts (red queen ebook .TXT) 📗

also found something over £700,000, mostly in Brazilian notes, and Benson admitted later that the plan had been to scuttle the Girondin off the coast of Bahia, take to the boats and row ashore at night, remaining in Brazil at least till the hue and cry had died down. But instead all seven men received heavy sentences. Archer paid for his crimes with his life, the others got terms of from ten to fifteen years each. The managers of the licensed houses in Hull were believed to have been in ignorance of the larger fraud, and to have dealt privately and individually with Archer, and they and their accomplices escaped with lighter penalties.

The mysterious Morton proved to be a private detective, employed by Archer. He swore positively that he had no knowledge of the real nature of the syndicate’s operations, and though the judge’s strictures on his conduct were severe, no evidence could be found against him, and he was not brought to trial.

Inspector Willis got his desired promotion out of the case, and there was someone else who got more. About a month after the trial, in the Holy Trinity Church, Eastbourne, a wedding was solemnised⁠—Seymour Merriman and Madeleine Coburn were united in the holy bonds of matrimony. And Hilliard, assisting as best man, could not refrain from whispering in his friend’s ear as they turned to leave the vestry, “Three cheers for the Pit-Prop Syndicate!”

List of Illustrations

A map showing the location of the observation point. It lies on the opposite side of the River Lesque and just upstream from the sawmill, which itself is across the clearing from the manager’s house.

A map showing from top to bottom a road, railway lines, and the River Humber. Along the railway lines, from Ferriby towards Hull, there the syndicate’s depot, a cottage, Ackroyd & Holt’s and a signal box.

A map of the rail network in the area. The line from London to the north crosses the line between Leeds and Hull at Selby. Between Selby and Hull lies Straddlethorpe, Ferriby and Hessle. There’s also a local line from Straddlethorpe that goes through Goole before meeting the London line at Doncaster.

Colophon

The Pit-Prop Syndicate
was published in 1922 by
Freeman Wills Crofts.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Robin Whittleton,
and is based on a transcription produced in 1999 by
An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
View of the Seine,
a painting completed in 1883 by
Georges Seurat.
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