a quarter to two in the morning
`` He ca n't go on at that pace for long . '' But the police authorities had not laid Mr. Bessel by the heels . They confirmed Mr. Vincey 's overnight experiences and added fresh circumstances , some of an even graver character than those he knew -- a list of smashed glass along the upper half of Tottenham Court Road , an attack upon a policeman in Hampstead Road , and an atrocious assault upon a woman . All these outrages were committed between half-past twelve and a quarter to two in the morning , and between those hours -- and , indeed , from the very moment of Mr. Bessel 's first rush from his rooms at half-past nine in the evening -- they could trace the deepening violence of his fantastic career . For the last hour , at least from before one , that is , until a quarter to two , he had run amuck through London , eluding with amazing agility every effort to stop or capture him . But after a quarter to two he had vanished . Up to that hour witnesses were multitudinous .