Detective |The Mystery of a Hansom Cab | Fergus Hume | Read by Sibella Denton

ABOUT THE VIDEO:
“The following report appeared in the Argus newspaper of Saturday, the 28th July, 18--

“Truth is said to be stranger than fiction, and certainly the extraordinary murder which took place in Melbourne on Thursday night, or rather Friday morning, goes a long way towards verifying this saying. A crime has been committed by an unknown assassin, within a short distance of the principal streets of this great city, and is surrounded by an impenetrable mystery. …

“On the twenty-seventh day of July, at the hour of twenty minutes to two o'clock in the morning, a hansom cab drove up to the police station in Grey Street, St. Kilda, and the driver made the startling statement that his cab contained the body of a man who he had reason to believe had been murdered….” (Excerpt from the first chapter.)


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CHAPTERS:

00:00:00 PREFACE
00:06:20 I. WHAT THE ARGUS SAID.
00:15:43 II. THE EVIDENCE AT THE INQUEST.
00:25:38 III. ONE HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
00:26:35 IV. MR. GORBY MAKES A START.
00:34:17 V. MRS. HAMILTON UNBOSOMS HERSELF.
00:47:54 VI. MR. GORBY MAKES FURTHER DISCOVERIES.
01:02:29 VII. THE WOOL KING.
01:18:23 VIII. BRIAN TAKES A WALK AND A DRIVE.
01:35:44 IX. MR. GORBY IS SATISFIED AT LAST.
01:56:13 X. IN THE QUEEN'S NAME.
02:10:28 XI. COUNSEL FOR THE PRISONER.
02:25:52 XII. SHE WAS A TRUE WOMAN.
02:41:46 XIII. MADGE MAKES A DISCOVERY.
02:58:37 XIV. ANOTHER RICHMOND IN THE FIELD.
03:11:21 XV. A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE.
03:27:28 XVI. MISSING.
03:37:55 XVII. THE TRIAL.
03:55:20 XVIII. SAL RAWLINS TELLS ALL SHE KNOWS.
04:07:07 XIX. THE VERDICT OF THE JURY.
04:24:05 XX. THE "ARGUS" GIVES ITS OPINION.
04:31:21 XXI. THREE MONTHS AFTERWARDS.
04:45:49 XXII. A DAUGHTER OF EVE.
04:55:33 XXIII. ACROSS THE WALNUTS AND THE WINE.
05:08:48 XXIV. BRIAN RECEIVES A LETTER.
05:23:36 XXV. WHAT DR. CHINSTON SAID.
05:37:07 XXVI. KILSIP HAS A THEORY OF HIS OWN.
05:45:33 XXVII. MOTHER GUTTERSNIPE JOINS THE MAJORITY.
05:59:12 XXVIII. MARK FRETTLBY HAS A VISITOR.
06:14:40 XXIX. MR. CALTON'S CURIOSITY IS SATISFIED.
06:26:16 XXX. NEMESIS.
06:41:09 XXXI. HUSH-MONEY.
06:51:58 XXXII. DE MORTUIS NIL NISI BONUM.
07:00:33 XXXIII. THE CONFESSION.
07:15:54 XXXIV. THE HANDS OF JUSTICE.
07:27:37 XXXV. "THE LOVE THAT LIVES."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Fergus Hume (1859 - 1932)
Fergusson Wright Hume, known as Fergus Hume (8 July 1859 – 12 July 1932) was a prolific English novelist. Hume was born in England, the second son of Dr. James Hume. At the age of three, his father emigrated with his family to Dunedin, New Zealand where he was educated at Otago Boys' High School and studied law at the University of Otago. He was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1885. Shortly after graduation he relocated to Melbourne, Australia where he obtained a job as a barristers' clerk. He began writing plays, but found it impossible to persuade the managers of Melbourne theatres to accept or even read them. Rise to fame Finding that the novels of Émile Gaboriau were then very popular in Melbourne, he obtained and read a set of them and determined to write a novel of a similar kind. The result was the self-published novel The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (1886), which became a great success. Hume based his descriptions of poor urban life on his knowledge of Little Bourke Street. He sold the English and United States rights to the novel for 50 pounds, and thus derived little benefit from its success. It eventually became the best selling mystery novel of the Victorian era, author John Sutherland terming it the "most sensationally popular crime and detective novel of the century". This novel inspired Arthur Conan Doyle to write A Study In Scarlet, which introduced the character Sherlock Holmes. Doyle remarked, "Hansom Cab was a slight tale, mostly sold by 'puffing'." After the success of his first novel and the publication of another, Professor Brankel's Secret (c.1886), Hume returned to England in 1888. He resided in London for few years and then he moved to the Essex countryside where he lived in Thundersley for 30 years, eventually producing more than 100 novels and short stories. He continued to be anxious for success as a dramatist, and at one time Henry Irving was favourably considering one of his plays, but he died before it could be produced.