Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-236) and index.
Contents:
Introduction -- Prologue: Reopening the case -- Beach town -- Easter and after -- A craze for this sort of thing -- Will you let me have that letter -- A case of handwriting -- Circumstances grave and unusual -- Keeping observation -- The perfect witness -- Bad language -- It is not my verdict -- Epilogue: Brought to book -- Conclusion.
Summary:
The Littlehampton Libels tells the story of a poison-pen mystery that led to a miscarriage of justice in the years following the First World War. There would be four criminal trials before the real culprit was finally punished, with the case challenging the police and the prosecuting lawyers as much any capital crime. When a leading Metropolitan Police detective was tasked with solving the case, he questioned the residents of the seaside town of Littlehampton about their neighbours' vocabularies, how often they wrote letters, what their handwriting was like, whether they swore-and how they swore, for the letters at the heart of the case were often bizarre in their abuse. The archive that the investigation produced shows in extraordinary detail how ordinary people could use the English language in inventive and surprising ways at a time when universal literacy was still a novelty. Their personal lives, too, had surprises. The detective's inquiries and the courtroom dramas laid bare their secrets and the intimate details of neighbourhood and family life.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.