Investigation #0014 · Closed file
The House on Gallows Lane: Cash and Silver
Registry clerk reports receiving antique coin for the Gallows Lane taxes.
- Where
- Town Hall & Registry of Deeds, Downtown Arkham
- Opened
- Saturday, 16 October 1926, 23:00
- Closed
- Saturday, 23 October 1926
- Investigators
- Silas Osgood, Beatrice Lowe, Walter Ferris
- Line of inquiry
- The House on Gallows Lane
- Outcome
- Escaped.
Afterwards: Whateley Residence is still not safe; Osgood has become more careful; Bea has become more careful.
Findings
- A lodger describes a quiet man in the cellar who pays no rent.
- A lump of black wax pressed with a seal. Nobody at the site admits to having seen it before.
- A photograph with one face scratched out. There are marks on it that match the marks found earlier.
- Neighbours describe the same man in the same grey coat, for as long as they have lived here.
- The 1867 census lists an unnamed lodger at the address.
- A drawing of 1692 and a photograph of 1867 show a man in a grey coat at the cellar window. The same man.
- The pictures were made by different families, generations apart.
The record
Saturday, 16 October 1926
- Initial report received. Registry clerk reports receiving antique coin for the Gallows Lane taxes.
- A new development in an older matter: The House on Gallows Lane: The Lit Window, closed 2 October (failed).
Sunday, 17 October 1926
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris take up the investigation.
- Bea arrives 12 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Search of the attic.
- Investigators report a smell of cold ashes.
- Investigators note a clock stopped on the mantel.
- Clue recorded: “Taxes Paid in Cash”.
- Back parlour: nothing unusual.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Bea arrives 23 minutes late.
- Ferris arrives 19 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Statement taken from Mr. Morris Whitlock (a clerk).
- Statement taken from Mr. Barnabas Cole.
- Accounts conflict. Mr. Morris Whitlock (a clerk) says it started on Tuesday night. Mr. Barnabas Cole is certain it has been going on for a month.
- Working theory: insurance fraud.
- Finding: A lodger describes a quiet man in the cellar who pays no rent.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Bea arrives 25 minutes late.
- Ferris arrives 21 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Search of the front hall for physical evidence.
- Object examined: a lump of black wax pressed with a seal. Nobody at the site admits to having seen it before.
- Object examined: a photograph with one face scratched out. There are marks on it that match the marks found earlier.
- Someone was watching from across the way. When looked for again, nobody there.
- Finding: Neighbours describe the same man in the same grey coat, for as long as they have lived here.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Complication: The newspaper prints the story, and the curious turn up in numbers.
Monday, 18 October 1926
- Osgood arrives 30 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Night watch begins at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Sound of singing in a language nobody knew noted.
- Sound of a voice counting, very quietly, behind the plaster noted.
- Investigators report a voice counting, very quietly, behind the plaster.
- Nothing further.
- Watch ends. Nothing further to report.
- Patrolman Szymanski's notebook is produced: Mr. Morris Whitlock was seen outside the property at 11:06 PM.
- Records conflict: Mr. Morris Whitlock's statement and the constable's notebook cannot both be right.
- Bea arrives 23 minutes late.
- Ferris arrives 14 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Arkham Gazette.
- The Gazette morgue consulted.
- Investigators report a smell of lamp oil.
- Finding: The Gazette morgue — The 1867 census lists an unnamed lodger at the address.
- Working theory: rats, old pipes and imagination.
- Investigators leave Arkham Gazette.
- Bea arrives 41 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris meet at The Blind Heron.
- Evidence compared: “The 1867 census lists an unnamed lodger at the address” set against “A photograph with one face scratched out. There are marks on it that match the marks found earlier”.
- Osgood and Bea disagree about the cause: Osgood suspects rats, old pipes and imagination; Bea, something the Blakemore set are doing.
- Ferris proposes something in the ground; Bea objects that it explains too much.
- A connection is noted with an older file, The Great Fog of 1846: Dead Letters (22 September): the same place — Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- No agreement is reached.
- The meeting breaks up.
Tuesday, 19 October 1926
- Bea arrives 34 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- A door left shut is found open.
- Investigators report a smell of something sweet under the damp.
- Investigators note footprints in the dust that stopped in the middle of the floor.
- Finding: A drawing of 1692 and a photograph of 1867 show a man in a grey coat at the cellar window. The same man.
- Investigators leave Town Hall & Registry of Deeds.
- Complication: A key witness has left town without a word.
- Bea arrives 35 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Whateley Residence.
- Acting on Osgood's theory — rats, old pipes and imagination — investigators visit Whateley Residence.
- Investigators report a smell of boiled cabbage from somewhere below.
- Nothing here connects to the case.
- Investigators leave Whateley Residence.
Wednesday, 20 October 1926
- Osgood arrives 17 minutes late.
- Bea arrives 41 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Fisk's Loan Office.
- Inquiry extends to Fisk's Loan Office.
- Kitchen examined.
- Investigators report a smell of old blood, though we found none.
- Investigators note marks under the wallpaper like writing.
- Clue recorded: “Pledged Silver”.
- Finding: The pictures were made by different families, generations apart.
- Investigators leave Fisk's Loan Office.
- A further record puts Mr. Morris Whitlock abroad at 11:10 PM on the night in question.
- Osgood arrives 23 minutes late.
- Bea arrives 39 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Arkham Historical Society.
- Acting on Osgood's theory — rats, old pipes and imagination — investigators visit Arkham Historical Society.
- Investigators report a smell of leather bindings.
- Nothing here connects to the case.
- Investigators leave Arkham Historical Society.
- Osgood arrives 18 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris arrive at Fisk's Loan Office.
- Sound of names being spoken, in the speakers' own voices noted.
- Strong smell of a smell like the inside of the earth — old beyond old noted.
- Stars in the water under a clouded sky — reported by Osgood, Bea & Ferris.
- Investigators withdraw from Fisk's Loan Office. Osgood & Bea hurt.
- No further findings.
Thursday, 21 October 1926
- A statement is added to the file: Patrolman Reilly says Mr. Whitlock watching Town Hall & Registry of Deeds about midnight.
- Records conflict: Mr. Morris Whitlock's account and Patrolman Reilly's cannot both be right.
- Osgood arrives 20 minutes late.
- Osgood & Ferris arrive at Arkham General Hospital.
- Injuries attended to: Osgood (laceration); Bea (bite).
- The discussion ends.
- Osgood & Ferris arrive at Arkham Police Department.
- Investigators note a stair going further down than the house is tall.
- Investigators report a smell of old blood, though we found none.
- Clue recorded: “Police File 1911/44”.
- No further findings.
- Investigators leave Arkham Police Department.
- Ferris complains of trouble concentrating.
Friday, 22 October 1926
- Bea arrives 37 minutes late.
- Bea & Ferris arrive at Whateley Residence.
- Strong smell of a smell like the inside of the earth — old beyond old noted.
- A stair going further down than the house is tall noted in the front hall.
- The bricked cellar door is warm, and from below comes the scrape of someone moving slowly, in a circle.
- Ferris turns back.
- Outcome: Escaped.
Saturday, 23 October 1926
- Osgood arrives 31 minutes late.
- Bea arrives 31 minutes late.
- Osgood, Bea & Ferris meet at Kellerman's Lunch Room.
- The team agree the file: escaped.
- Bea and Osgood still do not agree on what it was.
- The file is put away.
- Afterwards: Whateley Residence is still not safe; Osgood has become more careful; Bea has become more careful.
Moments from this file
Connected files
The morning after it was reported, the Arkham Gazette led with “QUIET RETURNS TO THE CARROLL BOARDING HOUSE”.