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The honourable slipper boy - Part 2


Mikkel

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This is the second part of a story based on a real incident on the Great Western at the turn of the century. It draws on the transcripts of a court case at Old Bailey. The story is narrated by Dennis Watts, a slipper boy in the employment of the GWR. Part one is here.

 

 

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As I stood there, surrounded by thieves in a dark corner of the goods yard, I thought my last hour had come. Luckily the moon came out, which seemed to unsettle them, and so they let me go.

 

 

 

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The next morning I went to find Walmsley. He is with the GWR police. His job is to prevent theft in the goods depot.

 

 

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I told him what had happened. Walmsley has more muscle than brains, so he sent for help.

 

 

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So then Detective Benton arrived. He is with the GWR Detective Department at Paddington. That’s him on the left. Walmsley showed him the scene of the crime, and they found the remains of the stolen box. The silks it had contained were gone.

 

 

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The Detective was very meticulous. He kept searching, until he found what he was looking for: It was a torn piece of paper wrapping from the box.

 

 

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Then the detective demanded to see the suspects. I watched as they confronted Woods and Lawson, two of the thieves I had seen the night before.

 

 

 

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As the law enforcers came upon the villains, they found them carrying a sack. The detective demanded to see what was in it.

 

 

 

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The sack contained thirty-five yards of silk, sixty-six yards of grenadine and a piece of paper wrapping.

 

 

 

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The thieves were stubborn. They claimed innocence. They had not stolen the goods, they said. They found it lying on the ground. Someone must have dropped it, they said.

 

 

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But Detective Benton was shrewd. He produced the fragment of paper he had found by the stolen box, and placed it next to the wrapping from the sack. We all gathered around to see...

 

 

 

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The two pieces of wrapping were a perfect fit. It was damning evidence.

 

 

Well dear reader, you may think that was that. But there is more to the world than meets the eye! Watch this space for the third and final episode, where all will be revealed.

 

Part 3 is here: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/blogs/entry/17254-the-honourable-slipper-boy-part-3/

 

 

Edited by Mikkel

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18 Comments


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  • RMweb Gold

I think Woods and Lawson are going to struggle to get out of this one, Inspector Benton appears to be building a watertight case! I just hope there's not more to this than meets the eye for young Denis's sake!

 

I do like the gloomy corner in Farthing yard, the perfect place for dastardly deeds to be done!:-)

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Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful and totally absorbing in all aspects :)

 

I await the final episode with excited anticpiation.

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  • RMweb Gold

Wallander has nothing on Benton by the looks of things..

 

Great stuff as usual Mikkel.

 

Roll on Part 3...

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks gents!  :) This is a simplification of the actual case, but if you read the original transcripts carefully it becomes apparent that some good solid police work was being carried out - including the matching of the bits of wrapping paper.

 

The Smith and Jones reference is no coincidence. The Smith dray was made first, and when a name was needed for another one the answer was obvious. It was a favourite show of mine back then. They was the days!

 

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I can not wait for the third part. The quote of dr. Watson tells how I'm standing in the story.

 

Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not only what had happened, but what was about to happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and grotesque.

Dr. John Watson

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  • RMweb Gold

Hi Job, yes Holmes & Watson do come to mind :-) 

 

However, as you will see, even the greatest minds may fail on occasion!

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As always with your scenes, the details are wonderful and almost eclipse the story!  The moonlight scene has captured the stillness of a yard at night, while the modelling shown in the daylight scenes is exquisite.  I could spend hours just studying all the details - superb track, the MSW wagon, the grouping of the figures, the horse with its bucket and so on ....  Mind you, it does look extraordinarily tidy, which must have been a great help to Detective Benson, since that piece of wrapping seems to be the only item out of place :)  I had spotted the Smith & Jones connection, so glad to have it confirmed.

 

The 'cliff-hanger' kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole of November and now, it seems, I'll have another tense wait for Part 3 but, even more exciting, I expect there'll be more wonderful scenes to admire.

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  • RMweb Gold

Murdoch Mysteries, Inspector Whitcher, and the Railway Detective have nothing on this, when can we see it at the cinema.

 Thank you for taking the time to put it all together it's a true delight. All the best Adrian.

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  • RMweb Gold

As always with your scenes, the details are wonderful and almost eclipse the story!  The moonlight scene has captured the stillness of a yard at night, while the modelling shown in the daylight scenes is exquisite.  I could spend hours just studying all the details - superb track, the MSW wagon, the grouping of the figures, the horse with its bucket and so on ....  Mind you, it does look extraordinarily tidy, which must have been a great help to Detective Benson, since that piece of wrapping seems to be the only item out of place :)  I had spotted the Smith & Jones connection, so glad to have it confirmed.

 

The 'cliff-hanger' kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole of November and now, it seems, I'll have another tense wait for Part 3 but, even more exciting, I expect there'll be more wonderful scenes to admire.

 

Thanks Mike, I'm glad that the details are actually noticed - I sometimes wonder whether the figures have started taking over a bit too much. Especially as they are usually the greatest "tell tales" - remove them from a photo and the realism tends to increase! Yes it is all a bit too neat and tidy for a real goods yard, but from a normal distance the "less is more approach" tends to work well I think. It's just these close-ups that are so revealing!

 

Sorry about the long wait, I was travelling for a while.  

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  • RMweb Gold

Murdoch Mysteries, Inspector Whitcher, and the Railway Detective have nothing on this, when can we see it at the cinema.

 Thank you for taking the time to put it all together it's a true delight. All the best Adrian.

 

Thanks Adrian. The real case involved what sounds like a fairly dramatic scene: One of the suspects resisted arrest. Hard to do action scenes in 4mm though :-)

 

I should perhaps say that a couple of these shots are image stacked - my first experiences with this. It's not always the best option though. Sometimes a small field of depth is good for highlighting a particular feature or model, I think.

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Great stuff, storyboard and photos alike.  One day I will get to this stage and your work inspires me to get on with the job!

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks, although the problem of finishing one stage is that another one then beckons :-)

 

In principle there is still some detailing work to do on this layout here and there, but when I sit down to do it I find myself shunting wagons on it instead, which is actually rather nice. Not sure if I will get much more detailing on it done for now.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks Pete, hoping to take some more photos today if I can sneak away from the duties of the season. Might even feature a bit of stock - say what you will, but it's not exactly a loco centric layout!

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  • RMweb Gold

Not sure how I missed this as I look every week.  Worth the wait though, brilliant scenes.  I think Benson was a Detective Constable when he was escorting prisoners across Wales.

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  • RMweb Gold

Aha!  Facts emerge about the personal history of Detective Benson. Very interesting. I hope to see him in action at Traeth Mawr...

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