And Then There Were None Epilogue - A Manuscript Document Sent To Scotland Yard By the Master Of The Emma Jane, Fishing Trawler Summary
Fred Narracott took his boat out to the island on August 12th and found the bodies of the ten people who were murdered. He had originally been told to ignore all signals for help from the inhabitants of the island. The explanation given was the people on the island were involved in an experiment or bet, about living on a desert island. He thought the people he took to island were not the type who would be involved in such a bet, so after he heard some boy scouts had seen SOS signals coming from the island, he decided to investigate.
He and some men he took with him found the bodies and alerted the authorities. Investigator Maine reported what was found to Sir Thomas Legge, Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. The two men cannot understand how all the people were killed and yet no one on the mainland saw anyone returning from the island. Even the death of Vera Claythorne has the police baffled, they know she was hung, but if she hung herself, they cannot understand how the chair she kicked over was returned to its place against the wall.
It is clear that whoever killed the people on Indian Island was executing them for crimes for which they could not be legally prosecuted. Sir Thomas Legge thought he might find a clue to the mystery by questioning Isaac Morris, but he was found dead of an overdose of barbiturates. It is unclear if he committed suicide or was murdered, either way the police know he died on August 8, the same day the eight people were taken to the island by Fred Narracott.
Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine know the method in which the people were murdered, but they do not know who killed them.
A note in a bottle is found and turned into the police. The note explains not only how the murders were committed, but who the murderer is and why he killed them. The note writer states he had always been drawn to writing notes and putting them into bottles to be thrown into the sea. It had a thrilling effect on him, as did the happiness he derived from seeing or causing the death of any living thing. He also, as hard as this may be to believe, had a strong desire to see justice prevail. Due to these two contradicting traits he felt the only true career for him would be in law. Eventually, he became a judge, a judge who took delight in seeing guilty people come before him and agonize while waiting for him to pronounce their sentence.
He was happy to help the jury reach a guilty verdict in the Edward Seton case, which later was proven a correct verdict. He always has had a secret desire to commit murder himself and not just any murder, but one on a grand scale, which was seen as unsolvable.
The idea of killing the ten people he gathered on the island began during a conversation with a doctor who spoke of murders who went unpunished because the law could not touch them. With this idea and the use of a favorite nursery rhyme, the judge began his quest for victims. He found them by starting conversations with people he would come in contact with in his daily life. He would ask them a question and they would tell him of someone they know who had gotten away with murder.
This was how he found all nine of his victims, and the tenth was Isaac Morris, who he used to buy the island and make the arrangements to bring the other nine to the island. He murdered Mr. Morris by giving him a pill to help him with his indigestion, it was actually a pill filled with barbiturates.
After finding out from his doctor he was dying, the note's author decided to put his plan into action. He killed the people he felt were less guilty first so they would not have to suffer the anxiety of those he felt were more culpable for their crime. This was why he killed Mr. Marston and Mrs. Rogers first, because he felt Mr. Marston was amoral and Mrs. Rogers was under the influence of her husband.
He faked his own death with the help of Dr. Armstrong. He convinced the doctor to help him fake his death so he could then spy on the others in the house. The doctor was the only one to see his wound and so it was easy to keep up the charade of being dead, after he lured the doctor to his own death.
After he managed to kill or cause the others to kill themselves, as Vera Claythorne did, Justice Lawrence Wargrave then went into his bedroom and rigged the handgun to shoot him, making his faked death a reality.
One man decided to take justice into his own hands, for the fun, for the challenge, for the notoriety of it. He at first did not want anyone to know he had committed the murders, but then he wanted someone to know how clever he could be, so he wrote the note found in the bottle. He decided to dispense justice while at the same time choosing his own time of death, he did not want to wait for his illness to take him.
He and some men he took with him found the bodies and alerted the authorities. Investigator Maine reported what was found to Sir Thomas Legge, Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. The two men cannot understand how all the people were killed and yet no one on the mainland saw anyone returning from the island. Even the death of Vera Claythorne has the police baffled, they know she was hung, but if she hung herself, they cannot understand how the chair she kicked over was returned to its place against the wall.
It is clear that whoever killed the people on Indian Island was executing them for crimes for which they could not be legally prosecuted. Sir Thomas Legge thought he might find a clue to the mystery by questioning Isaac Morris, but he was found dead of an overdose of barbiturates. It is unclear if he committed suicide or was murdered, either way the police know he died on August 8, the same day the eight people were taken to the island by Fred Narracott.
Sir Thomas Legge and Inspector Maine know the method in which the people were murdered, but they do not know who killed them.
A note in a bottle is found and turned into the police. The note explains not only how the murders were committed, but who the murderer is and why he killed them. The note writer states he had always been drawn to writing notes and putting them into bottles to be thrown into the sea. It had a thrilling effect on him, as did the happiness he derived from seeing or causing the death of any living thing. He also, as hard as this may be to believe, had a strong desire to see justice prevail. Due to these two contradicting traits he felt the only true career for him would be in law. Eventually, he became a judge, a judge who took delight in seeing guilty people come before him and agonize while waiting for him to pronounce their sentence.
He was happy to help the jury reach a guilty verdict in the Edward Seton case, which later was proven a correct verdict. He always has had a secret desire to commit murder himself and not just any murder, but one on a grand scale, which was seen as unsolvable.
The idea of killing the ten people he gathered on the island began during a conversation with a doctor who spoke of murders who went unpunished because the law could not touch them. With this idea and the use of a favorite nursery rhyme, the judge began his quest for victims. He found them by starting conversations with people he would come in contact with in his daily life. He would ask them a question and they would tell him of someone they know who had gotten away with murder.
This was how he found all nine of his victims, and the tenth was Isaac Morris, who he used to buy the island and make the arrangements to bring the other nine to the island. He murdered Mr. Morris by giving him a pill to help him with his indigestion, it was actually a pill filled with barbiturates.
After finding out from his doctor he was dying, the note's author decided to put his plan into action. He killed the people he felt were less guilty first so they would not have to suffer the anxiety of those he felt were more culpable for their crime. This was why he killed Mr. Marston and Mrs. Rogers first, because he felt Mr. Marston was amoral and Mrs. Rogers was under the influence of her husband.
He faked his own death with the help of Dr. Armstrong. He convinced the doctor to help him fake his death so he could then spy on the others in the house. The doctor was the only one to see his wound and so it was easy to keep up the charade of being dead, after he lured the doctor to his own death.
After he managed to kill or cause the others to kill themselves, as Vera Claythorne did, Justice Lawrence Wargrave then went into his bedroom and rigged the handgun to shoot him, making his faked death a reality.
One man decided to take justice into his own hands, for the fun, for the challenge, for the notoriety of it. He at first did not want anyone to know he had committed the murders, but then he wanted someone to know how clever he could be, so he wrote the note found in the bottle. He decided to dispense justice while at the same time choosing his own time of death, he did not want to wait for his illness to take him.
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