Chapter 97

90 MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE have so dragged a corpse at all as to have left evident traces of the dragging? “And here we must refer to an observation of ‘Le Commercial/ an observation upon which I have already, in some measure commented. ‘A piece/ says this journal, ‘of one of the unfortunate girl’s petticoats was torn out and tied under her chin, and around the back of her head, probably to prevent screams. This was done by fellows who had no pocket-handkerchiefs/ “I have before suggested that a genuine blackguard is never without a pocket-handkerchief. But it is not to this fact that I now especially advert. That it was not through want of a handkerchief for the purpose imagined by ‘Le Commercial’ that this bandage was employed, is rendered apparent by the handkerchief left in the thicket ; and that the object was not ‘to prevent screams’ appears also from the bandage having been employed in preference to what would so much better have answered the purpose. But the language of the evidence speaks of the strip in quesiton as ‘found around the neck, fitting loosely, and secured with a hard knot/ These words are sufficiently vague, but differ materially from those of ‘Le Commercial/ The slip was eighteen inches wide, and therefore, although of muslin, would form a strong band when folded or rumpled longitudinally. And thus rumpled it was discovered. My inference is this. The solitary murderer, having borne the corpse for some distance (whether from the thicket or elsewhere by means of the bandage hitched around its middle), found the weight in this mode of procedure too much for his strength. He resolved to drag the burthen — the evidence goes to show that it was dragged. With this object in view, it became necessary to attach something like a rope to one of the extremities. It could be best attached about the neck, where the head would prevent its slipping off. And now the murderer bethought him, unquestionably, of