Inspector Thackeray calls door Kenneth James Loyd Mullen

The Train Robbers

There was a train to Manchester with old bank notes in it which should be burned there. That train is robbed the money is away. They think there were three thiefs. Thackeray finds a cigar end in the guards van. The guard doesn’t smoke. The guard was counting mail-bags at twelve o’clock that he heard a knock at the door and he opened the thick and strong door, against his orders. Three man pushed him back into the van, and tied him on a chair. The thiefs were wearing gloves and black clothes and shoes. Their faces were covered with nylon stockings. One was wearing a golden ring. The men went out ten minutes later, when the train stopped for a moment. The guard says one man smoked a cigar. He never took it out of his mouth.

Clues : 1. The guard said one man was wearing a ring, but they all wore gloves.
2. One man was smoking, while he had a nylon stocking over his head.
3. The door of the van is heavy, so you can’t hear a knock on the door.
4. The train makes a lot of noise, you can’t hear a knock on the door.

Answer: The three men were friends of the guard, so the guard is also a thief.

Death at Hilltop cottage.

Mr. Parkinson has died. Mrs. Parkinson called the police in Mr. Johnson’s house because they are new here. She cried. Normally she phones at the shop, but it was lunchtime, so the shop was closed from 12.30 till 13.30. Mr. Parkinson shot himself through his head. Mrs. Parkinson saw him last at the market at 12.15. He remembered an important letter. He didn’t use the car. Mrs. Parkinson thinks he killed himself between 12.45 and 13.00 he left the market at 12.15 and walked up the hill in half an hour. She had to buy still some things. She saw the gun never before. Mrs. Parkinson says he killed himself because he was losing a lot of money. The letter on the table ends in the middle of a sentence. The letter reports that he got
₤ 5000,-- from someone. Than Mrs. Parkinson answers on the question of Thackeray that it was an accident that he perhaps took the gun out of his room upstairs. Mr. Johnson saw them together walking up the hill. Finally Mrs. Parkinson says that her man was very ill. The doctor gave him drugs, but the pain came back. Than they gave him stronger drugs. It never stopped. And now it stopped. She killed her husband.

Clues 1. Mrs. Parkinson says her man took half an hour to walk up the hill while she can do it in two minutes.
2. Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson came home together, while she said he left the market 40 minutes earlier.
3. She said she didn’t see the gun before, but knew that it came from his room upstairs.

Answer: Mr. Parkinson was very ill, so Mrs. Parkinson murdered him.

The Driver Didn’t Stop

A girl had an accident and the driver of the car that collided her didn’t stop. Mrs. Palmer has been out to buy some milk at one o’clock. The shops close at a quarter past one at Wednesday afternoon. The girl knew a part of the number of the car namely: K7, and the car was black. The number of the car of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer is ABK75 and Mrs. Palmer drives. The car is black. John says that Mrs. Palmer not has been out, but her shoes were drying next to the fire.
Than they are going to look to the car. In the police office Mr. Palmer says that neither he nor his wife went out that evening. Than Mr. Palmer says that she was the driver.

Clues: 1. Mrs. Palmer said she put the shoes next to the fire when she came in at ten past one, so they had to be already dry, or the shoes are put there later on, but Mrs. Palmer doesn’t say so.
2. Mrs. Palmer said: ‘Poor little girl’ when the inspector told about the accident, but the inspector didn’t tell it was a girl. So she knew that already.
3. Mr. Palmer knew the place were the accident happened before it was told him.
4. The things the girl said were matching with the car, and the driver was a woman.

Answer: Mrs. Palmer was the driver who didn’t stop.

The Quiet Thief

There was a robbery in a small shop in Manchester. Mr. Brown and Mr. Davy are the owners. Mr. Davy was is away at the day that the inspector comes. .Mr. Brown shut the door of the shop and counted the money in the safe. He put that money on a table when he was again next to the safe he heard a voice saying: ‘Don’t move. I have a gun. Put up your hands. And don’t look behind you.’ Mr. Brown had not counted it. It was between seven and eighty hundred pounds. It happened at six o’clock. Mr. Davy enters. Mr. Brown says it was a big fellow. There is only one door. Mr. Brown shut that door at five-thirty and left the key in the big lock (inside). The windows were shut. The thief could only come in through the windows or the door. Mr. Davy was at Robbertson’s store to talk about buying that shop. Brown knows exactly that is was ₤716 and fifty pence. The inspector and the sergeant take Mr. Brown to their office. The inspector asks him some questions and finally the outcome is that Mr. Brown took the money because he doesn’t want to buy the Robbertson’s store. It was Mr. Davy’s idea to buy that shop.

Clues: 1. Mr. Brown couldn’t see the man, but knew that the man was a big fellow.
2. He said that the thief opened the door by pulling a piece of wire in it, but the key was at the other side, so that can’t be true.
3. He says that he had to count the money yet, it was about seven till eighty hundred pounds. Later on he knew it exactly, namely ₤716 and fifty pence.

Answer: Mr. Brown has stolen the money himself so that they couldn’t buy the shop, because Mr. Brown didn’t like that.

The Game of Chess.

A rich businessman, called Mr. Peter Black is killed. Inspector Thackeray is going to talk with Mr. Shipton, is a business partner of Mr. Black. Mr. Black was in his red pyjamas and brown dressing gown, knows Mr. Shipton. There was a knife in his back. In the room is a table with an empty whisky bottle, two glasses and a game of chess, there were only four moves made and the pieces are on the wrong place. A starters mistake. There was also a diary on the table. In that diary were the names of Mr. Shipton and Mr. Grace. Mr. Shipton saw the diary when he was talking to Mr. Black that evening at eight o’clock. He left at nine o’clock, to work at home. Than he phoned Mr. Black for some business figures, but Mr. Black didn’t answer. Mr. Shipton went again to the house of Mr. black to look and saw him on the floor. Dead. They played no chess from eight o’clock till nine o’clock. He drank no whisky. They didn’t leave the room. Mr. Black had no visitor when Mr. Shipton was there. There was also an empty bottle on the cupboard. Mr. Black offered Mr. Shipton to drink. The inspector telephones Mr. Grace. Mr. Grace says he phoned Mr. Black at ten to nine and he drinks whisky. He always drinks a glass whisky together with Mr. Black after playing a game of chess. Mr. Shipton doesn’t know that Mr. Grace phoned. Mr. Shipton says Mr. Black drank a lot. Thackeray and Silver are going to the police office. Mr. Shipton comes too. They ask Mr. Shipton a few questions. In four questions Silver knows that Mr. Shipton is the murderer.

Clues: 1. The pieces of chess are on the wrong places. That’s a real beginners mistake. Mr. Black and Mr. Grace were no beginners, so they couldn’t do that. Mr. Grace has also not been there.
2. Mr. Black and Mr. Shipton are good friends, so why offered Mr. Black Mr. Shipton a drink. If they were friends for years, like Mr. Shipton said, he would know that Mr. Shipton didn’t drink.

Answer: Mr. Shipton is the murderer.

PS: De clues zijn dingen waar aan Thackeray kon wie de dader was. Answer is de oplossing.