They Hanged My Saintly Billy (40 page)

Arrived
at
Rugeley,
Cook
retired
to
his
room
at
The
Talbot Arms
Hotel,
where
he
lay
in
bed
all
night,
and
all
the
next
morning.
At
one
o'clock,
he
got
up
for
a
walk
through
the
town;
ate bread
and
cheese
with
Jeremiah
Smith
at
The
Shoulder
of
Mutton, and
watched
some
lads
playing
an
unseasonable
game
of
cricket. Without
revisiting
The
Talbot
Arms,
he
then
accompanied
Smith to
dinner
at
Dr
Palmer's
house.
At
about
10
p.m.,
he
went
across the
street
and
back
to
bed.
That
was
Friday,
November
16th;
and early
on
Saturday
morning,
Dr
Palmer
came
knocking
at
his bedroom
door
to
announce
breakfast.
It
had
been
agreed
that Cook
should
lodge
at
the
hotel,
but
take
his
meals
at
the
Doctor's.

Since
the
subsequent
events
are
obscured
by
a
conflict
of
evidence,
we
shall
content
ourselves
with
a
summary
of
unchallenged facts.
That
Saturday
morning,
Cook
preferred
to
drink
a
cup
of coffee
in
bed
rather
than
step
over
to
Dr
Palmer's
and
breakfast
on
bacon
and
eggs.
Coffee
was
accordingly
brought
up
by Elizabeth
Mills,
the
flirtatious
young
chambermaid,
who
placed it
in
his
hands;
and
the
Doctor
departed
to
his
own
breakfast.
An
hour
later,
Cook
was
seized
by
the
same
nausea
as
had
plagued him
at
Shrewsbury,
and
vomited
the
coffee
into
a
chamber
pot. By
this
time,
Dr
Palmer
had
gone
off
to
Hednesford
for
a
review of
his
horses.
Soon
after
he
had
returned,
Mrs
Ann
Rowley,
of The
Albion
Inn,
arrived
with
a
saucepan
of
broth
and
put
it
by
a fire
in
the
back
kitchen
to
warm.
'Mr
Jerry
Smith's
compliments, and
this
is
a
gift
for
Mr
Cook,'
she
told
him.
Dr
Palmer
presently

E
lizabeth
M
uls,
C
hambermaid at
T
he
T
albot
A
rms

poured
the
broth
into
a
'sick-cup',
a
covered
two-handled
vessel used
by
invalids,
and
sent
it
to
The
Talbot
Arms
with
Smith's message.
The
cup,
on
arrival
at
the
hotel,
was
taken
up
to
Cook by
a
hare-lipped
waitress
named
Lavinia
Barnes.
Cook
at
first refused
the
broth,
complaining
that
he
felt
sure
it
would
not
stay on
his
queasy
stomach;
but
the
Doctor,
who
then
appeared,
persuaded
him
to
try
it.
Cook
proved
to
be
in
the
right:
for
the
broth followed
the
coffee
into
the
chamber
pot
without
a
moment's delay.

At
three
o'clock,
old
Dr
Bamford
of
Rugeley
visited
Cook,
as requested
by
Dr
Palmer;
but,
not
taking
a
serious
view
of
the case,
merely
prescribed
rest
and
a
diet
or
slops.
Later,
Cook
was brought
barley-water
and
arrowroot
from
the
hotel
kitchen, which
his
stomach
seems
to
have
retained.
Dr
Palmer
was
in
and
out
of
Cook's
bedroom
all
day,
and
that
night
Jeremiah
Smith occupied
the
spare
bed
to
keep
him
company.

At
about
noon
on
that
Sunday,
November
18th
,
Dr
Palmer's gardener
brought
over
a
second
gift
of
broth,
likewise
made
at The
Albion
Inn
by
Mrs
Rowley.
In
The
Talbot
Arms
kitchen, Elizabeth
Mills
sipped
at
the
broth
and
said
that
it
tasted
very good—of
turnips
and
celery.
How
much
of
the
beverage
Cook kept
down
is
not
recorded;
at
all
events,
he
had
only
occasional short
bouts
of
vomiting
that
afternoon,
and
appeared
to
be
in high
spirits.
Nevertheless,
Dr
Palmer,
remembering
Cook's
recent suspicions
of
him,
wrote
as
follows
to
Dr
William
Henry
Jones of
Lutterworth,
Cook's
most
intimate
friend,
who
had
taken
part in
the
Polestar
celebrations
at
The
Raven
Hotel,
and
was
a
surgeon of
repute:

My
Dear
Sir,

Mr
Cook
was
taken
ill
at
Shrewsbury
and
obliged
to
call
in
a medical
man.
Since
then
he
has
been
confined
to
his
bed
with
a
very severe
bilious
attack,
combined
with
diarrhoea;
and
I
think
it
advisable
for
you
to
come
to
see
him
as
soon
as
possible.

Yours
very
truly,

Wm
Palmer

Nobody
slept
in
Cook's
room
that
night.
The
next
morning
he told
Elizabeth
Mills,
when
she
inquired
after
his
hcaldi:
'I'm tolerably
well
now,
thank
you
kindly,
but
what
I
suffered!
I
was just
mad
for
two
minutes
a
little
before
midnight.'