the instant when Marr's hands and eyes were embarrassed, and the back of
his head fully exposed, suddenly from below his large surtout, had unslung
a heavy ship-carpenter's mallet, and, with one solitary blow, had so
thoroughly stunned his victim, as to leave him incapable of resistance.
The whole position of Marr told its own tale. He had collapsed naturally
behind the counter, with his hands so occupied as to confirm the whole
outline of the affair as I have here suggested it. Probable enough it is
that the very first blow, the first indication of treachery that reached
Marr, would also be the last blow as regarded the abolition of
consciousness. The murderer's plan and _rationale_ of murder started
systematically from this infliction of apoplexy, or at least of a stunning
sufficient to insure a long loss of consciousness. This opening step
placed the murderer at his ease. But still, as returning sense might
constantly have led to the fullest exposures, it was his settled practice,
by way of consummation, to cut the throat. To one invariable type all the
murders on this occasion conformed: the skull was first shattered; this
step secured the murderer from instant retaliation; and then, by way of
locking up all into eternal silence, uniformly the throat was cut. The
rest of the circumstances, as self-revealed, were these. The fall of Marr
might, probably enough, cause a dull, confused sound of a scuffle, and the
more so, as it could not now be confounded with any street uproar--the
shop-door being shut. It is more probable, however, that the signal for
the alarm passing down to the kitchen, would arise when the murderer
proceeded to cut Marr's throat. The very confined situation behind the
counter would render it impossible, under the critical hurry of the case,
to expose the throat broadly; the horrid scene would proceed by partial
and interrupted cuts; deep groans would arise; and then would come the
rush up-stairs. Against this, as the only dangerous stage in the
transaction, the murderer would have specially prepared. Mrs. Marr and the
apprentice-boy, both young and active, would make, of course, for the