noon
Yet there are exceptions to this general rule , especially in criminal cases , where , for the safety of the public , it is absolutely necessary to get to the bottom of the matter . Therefore , the rumour which pervaded Beorminster on Monday morning was soon traced by the police to a carter from Southberry . This man mentioned to a friend that , when crossing the Heath during the early morning , he had come across the body of a man . The rumour -- weak in its genesis -- stated first that a man had been hurt , later on that he had been wounded ; by noon it was announced that he was dead , and finally the actual truth came out that the man had been murdered . The police authorities saw the carter and were conducted by him to the corpse , which , after examination , they brought to the dead-house in Beorminster . Then all doubt came to an end , and it was officially declared during the afternoon that Jentham , the military vagabond lately resident at The Derby Winner , had been shot through the heart . But even rumour , prolific as it is in invention , could not suggest who had murdered the man .