MEMOIRS OF A LONDON COUNTY CORONER

Hardback. With Foreword by Sir Bernard Spilsbury. The author's legal memoirs range back over a period of about 35yrs. We see Lord Darling as a rising Barrister, and get a glimpse into the historic Parnell case. Farther back still, we see Robert Louis Stevenson acting his own plays with the author at Professor Fleeming Jenkin's house in Edinburgh, and the living original of Sherlock Holmes, to whom the author acted as dresser. Senior Coroner of the County of London for some years, the author's memories run from 1894 almost to the time of publication. Holding jurisdiction first over London's biggest Coroner's area and then over the busiest area, he had to inquire into thousands of cases of sudden death, some of them tragic, some bizarre, some terrible. Ronald True, Henry Jacoby, Freda Kempton, Brilliant Chang, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, Winston Churchill, David Greenwood, Ernest Rhodes - just a few of the famous figures which moved through the author's crowded Courts. Finger-print evidence was first used in a murder case there; the N.S.C. rules were changed as a result of one of these Inquests; another affected the licensing of small arms; once, the Coroner held an Inquest under an armed guard, and with a loaded revolver in his desk. He had to inquire into explosions at Woolwich Arsenal, Zeppelin raid casualties, the Thames Floods tragedies and many other nation-wide catastrophes. Illus. (1 plate has been taped-in) + Index 288pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. With 2 gift insc.: one dated 1937 to fpd, and one dated 1971 to ffep, this book belonging to Gothic romance writer Gabrielson Lamont-Havers who wrote under the pen-name Katherine Hale. Lightly browned and foxed edges and eps, bumped corners and head/tail of sp. Nr. Vg. Scarce. A fairly heavy book which may require additional postage if shipped overseas.