Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve: Higginbottom Became Higgins. Plus Old Slippery Deals With Two 'Dippers', And Gout!

Both Professor James Hudson and Dr. Amelia Smith now had Ph.D. students hard at work researching.

There were enough documents out there to help start to build up a more detailed picture of The Right Hon Jake Horatio Higginbottom. The attempt to remove him from history during the Victorian period had not been 100% successful.

One thing both the Professor and Doctor soon noticed was how the name of Higginbottom changed to Higgins in the mid 19th century. They both went onto elaborate on this.

Parish records up until 1834 were also very useful. The middle name of an illegitimate child could possibly be that of the actual father. As the Detective Chief Inspector stated, Old Slippery did 'put it about a lot'. He was extremely handsome and alluring in his youth. He had a 'silver tongue'. He had also produced some love poetry. This had impressed some of the Oxford academics when they saw Slippery's poetry. A real talent he sadly never developed. He also seduced many married women. So their 'legitimate babies' could well have been his too. He had a reputation for 'pleasuring' ladies of all kinds. He was said to 'last' a long time and carried a prodigious 'tool', that he was very adept at using. Many a 'comely' wench succumbed to his charms and 'equipment'. Numerous good ladies enjoyed the 'excellent ride' that the Right Hon Jake Horatio Higginbottom 'provided'! To quote the great James Brown, Old Slippery was a veritable 'sex-machine.'

Professor Hudson then went on to elaborate further.

"Although the Hon Higginbottom was quite a bonvivir he did look after himself. You only have to look at the cartoons of the great satirist James Gillray, from the 18th century. The way he lampooned George IV with his gout. He was the King of the Regency period. Yes, the diet of offal, red meats, and alcohol was very prevalent amongst the aristocracy, giving rise to the extensive prevalence of gout in the Regency. Our Highwayman escaped this. Wives, for example, grew tired of their husbands 'flattening them' during intimate moments, which amounted to very little anyway. Yes, the Highwayman was altogether a much more exciting proposition for these frustrated ladies. Something he fully exploited by all accounts.

George IV, then Prince Of Wales, A Voluptuary Under The Horrors of Digestion

James Gillray, published in 1792, colour engraving, open copyright.

Plus of course his many adventures with many other ladies from all classes of society. Consequently, the name Higgins and Higginbottom did appear quite often on birth certificates."

So Detective Chief Inspector Higgins was a local lad and his sister Dr. Amelia Smith, a local lass. Professor James Hudson was asked if he had researched his family history. He replied yes. He had drawn a blank at around the mid-Victorian period on his father's side. He had also noticed that the name Higginbottom had been changed to Higgins at about that time. There was also another change Higgins was replaced by Hudson. Further back things were more vague. However, it did seem likely that he too was one of the direct descendants of the resident ghost.

If this was the case with Detective Chief Inspector John Higgins it would also be the case with Dr. Amelia Smith, his sister. Her maiden name was also Higgins, obviously. Amelia had also felt Old Slippery inside her head. She too could communicate with him directly telepathically if needed.

With Sid Higgins, the link was a lot easier. He had come from a direct line of landlords at the Bull stretching back for years. He too had looked into his family history. One of the landlord's daughters had an illegitimate son. This was during Slippery's time. The name Higginbottom was added as a middle name to the birth certificate. Eventually, this became Higgins. Old Slippery had always had a real liking for the landlady and barmaids. That could still be clearly seen with the behaviour of his ghost.

Young ladies then did steal odd bits of his remains after he was hung. So there was an outside chance of his 'teeth' being saved and kept in a box somewhere. Even then there was little chance of any DNA surviving. So matching this up with any present-day descendants did not seem at all likely.

However, a more comprehensive set of genealogical records may be another root. The Ph.D. students could help with this.

Pamela Parsons noted that the movie discussions were going along nicely. This could be a source of future funding. More on this in the next meeting.

So were Sid and the Detective Chief Inspector and Dr. Amelia Smith, the direct descendants of Old Slippery? It seemed likely. Possibly this was the case with Professor Hudson? He seemed to show a particular 'paternal' interest in all of them. We all wondered about the customers coming into the restaurant as well. The ghost would do his usual leering with the young ladies. Sometimes, however, that 'paternal look' would come over him with some of the customers. It was too early to approach anybody. We all felt that this pattern could be monitored, to see how many more of his descendants were out there. This could be quite a number.

Plus, the feeling that he was inside the Detective Chief Inspector's 'head'. Sid, the professor, and Amelia had noticed this. Sid also recalls both his father and grandfather noticing this whenever the ghost had appeared in previous years.

The reality was that all Slippery's direct descendants could communicate with him telepathically. This skill took a short while to develop but it would prove very useful, as we shall see.

As for everyone else, the Old Ghost could also enter all their minds. They could not directly communicate with him though unless they were a direct descendant.

Plus, the Detective Chief Inspector wondered if his extreme approach to that reporter was a throwback to his ancestor. He was aware of this in the pub when he started thinking about any extreme measures, say against 'Sellars' the Snake, a sardonic grin would appear across Slippery's face. Was he a 'chip off the old block' after all?

Isabella had arrived and was fascinated with all of this. She often helped to deliver children where it was not clear who the father was. Well, it was clear, but the father had left the mother with the child. Despite everything, this still happened. Again, human nature. for better or worse, seemed fairly constant.

However, events took a new turn:

It was Old Slippery who noticed them first. Their modus operandi was more or less the same. They worked as a pair. One would distract customers in the Lounge Bar Restaurant. Maybe they were sitting on a stool at the bar. One of the dippers/pickpockets, a lady, would knock into them, meanwhile the accomplice would put his hand into a pocket or a handbag and lift out money and/or credit cards. This was a very slick operation.

This 'crew' were new to the Bull. The Detective Chief Inspector knew all about them, but the police had failed to catch them so far. The Old Ghost sent a telepathic message across to the Chief. He saw the couple sitting together at a table near the bar.

He needed to catch them in the 'act'. He was also in a telepathic conversation with Old Slippery. He wanted something not too dramatic. A quick thrust to the hearts for both of them with his trusty rapier sword would not be a good idea.

This is where Old Slippery further extended his 'repertoire'. He could grab someone and induce a heart attack as was the case with one of the 'Russian mafia'.

The man got up. Ostensibly to get another pint from the bar and a drink for the lady. She got up as well. They soon got into their routine. The 'lady' knocked into a young woman with an enticing pink handbag draped over her shoulder. Her accomplice put his hand inside the bag.

It was at this point that Old Slippery stared intently at both of them. It was like a freeze-frame in a movie. He had his hand deep inside the handbag but was 'frozen in the act'. He stood there standing rigidly, in a deep catatonic trance, like a statue. He could not move a muscle. The 'lady' likewise, was totally transfixed and was unable to move.

Liz came over and checked their respective pulses. They were both still alive, just. An ambulance was called. Both were taken out like a pair of shop mannequins on stretchers. The Chief waited for them to be 'revived' in the hospital. They were sent back to the police station and the police raided their home. They had a considerable amount of stolen credit cards, cash, etc. The Chief later along with his team were able to tie this up with all the original owners. In time all this was returned to all of them.

Reports were written up, and evidence submitted to the courts. This resulted in both being given lengthy custodial sentences.

The Chief was well pleased with this as was Old Slippery along with Beryl and Sid.

The press, needless to say, got wind of this pretty quickly. A more sympathetic 'line' was now being taken with the 'Old Ghost' by the press. This produced the following headlines:

Dippers Frozen In Action By Old Slippery!

Caught At It By Old Ghost!

Our Law And Order Ghost!!!

All in all a very good outcome. The committee was fascinated by this. Both Professor Hudson and Dr, Amelia Smith thought this further showed just how 'protective' the Old Ghost was towards the pub. Liz wondered just how the catatonic states could be explained away this time? The Chief along with his team would have another good go at 'fudging' all of this again when they wrote up the reports of this latest 'Slippery Incident'.

As for Isabella, the pregnancy was starting to develop. She expected to give birth in September. She should stop working 11 weeks before the birth, but being Isabella and her dedication, I could see that being a problem, given this was the work she specialized in.

'Haku' magicked us back home. Yes, the hospital was starting to back off a bit. I had some restoration work to do over the weekend, but we did manage to find some time together.