Page:The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.djvu/72

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Brian Fitzgerald was arrested a few minutes past three o'clock, and by five all Melbourne was ringing with the news that the perpetrator of the now famous hansom cab murder had been caught. The evening papers were full of the affair, and the Herald went through several editions, the demand being far in the excess of the supply. Such a crime had not been committed in Melbourne since the Greer shooting case in the Opera House, and the mystery which surrounded it made it even more sensational. The committal of the crime in such an extraordinary place as a hansom cab had been startling enough, but the discovery that the assassin was one of the most fashionable young men in Melbourne was still more so. Brian Fitzgerald being well known in society as a wealthy squatter, and the future husband of one of the richest and prettiest girls in Victoria, it was no wonder that his arrest caused quite a sensation. The Herald, which was fortunate enough to obtain the earliest information about the arrest, made the best use of it, and published a flaming article in most sensational type, somewhat after this fashion:

It is needless to say that some of the reporters had pretty freely, but the public believed everything that came out in the papers to be gospel truth.

Mr. Frettlby, the day after Brian's arrest, had a long conversation with his daughter, and wanted her to go up to Yabba Yallock Station until the public excitement had somewhat subsided. But this Madge flatly refused to do.

"I'm not going to desert him when he most needs me," she said, resolutely, "everybody has turned against him, even before they have heard the facts of the case. He says he is not guilty, and I believe him." 