Clouds of Witness · Chapter
Endnotes explained
The endnotes provide corrections, amplifications, and annotations to the trial report, drawing from Mr.
What happens
The endnotes provide corrections, amplifications, and annotations to the trial report, drawing from Mr. Parker's shorthand notes and referencing historical cases and procedural details.
Themes in this chapter
Justice and the Legal System
The endnotes detail the procedural and evidentiary corrections to the trial report, highlighting the meticulous nature of legal documentation.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Parker
His shorthand report is used to correct and amplify the newspaper account.
- Lord Peter Wimsey
His reading of The Times report is referenced as the basis for the corrected version.
- Duke of Denver
The Duchess is mentioned in connection with Dr. Pritchard's case.
Key passages
“This report, though substantially the same as that read by Lord Peter in The Times, has been corrected, amplified and annotated from the shorthand report made at the time by Mr. Parker.”
The report is largely identical to the one Lord Peter read in The Times, but it has been corrected and expanded using Mr. Parker's contemporaneous shorthand notes.
Clarifies the source and revisions of the trial report.
“Antimony? The Duchess appears to have had Dr. Pritchard’s case in mind.”
The Duchess's mention of antimony suggests she was thinking of the Dr. Pritchard poisoning case.
Connects a detail in the text to a historical poisoning case.