Augustus Landor

Augustus Landor (born 1782) was an English-American police detective from New York City. In 1830, he murdered the West Point cadet Leroy Fry for raping his daughter Mattie, who had committed suicide in the aftermath of the assault, and he was incidentally hired by Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer to investigate the murder. During the course of his investigation, he murdered another one of her daughter's rapists, Randolph Ballinger, and caused a third, Joseph Stoddard, to flee for fear for his life. Landor partnered with Cadet Edgar Allan Poe to investigate Fry's murder, and the desecration of his body, which was found to have been perpetrated by Cadet Artemus Marquis and his sister Lea Marquis in a satanic ritual meant to cure Lea's falling sickness. Landor discovered their culpability and prevented them from sacrificing Poe, and Artemus and Lea died in an accidental fire during Landor and Poe's escape. Landor was thus able to pin both their desecration of Fry's body and his murder of Fry on Doctor Daniel Marquis' deceased children, and, while Poe discovered Landor's culpability in the murders of Fry and Ballinger from the similar handwriting on a note found on Fry's body and a note to him from Landor, Poe burned the evidence after discovering Landor's motives, ensuring that Landor was never hanged for the murders of the rapists.

Biography[]

Early career[]

Augustus Landor was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England in 1782, the son of an Anglican minister. He emigrated to New York City while still in his teens, and he became a detective, acquiring talents in codebreaking, riot control, and gloveless interrogation. During his service, he apprehended the leaders of the Daybreak Boys, rounded up the leaders of the Shirt Tails gang, and solved the murder of a young prostitute in Elysian Fields. Landor's wife died in 1827, and his daughter Mathilde committed suicide in 1830 after being raped on her way home from a ball at West Point. Landor fell into alcoholism and atheism after the loss of his family, and he claimed that his daughter had merely run off with another man he had known in passing.

The West Point murders[]

In 1830, West Point Superintendent Sylvanus Thayer had deputy superintendent Ethan A. Hitchcock contact Landor, whom he persuaded to investigate the hanging of Cadet Leroy Fry at the United States Military Academy, as West Point sought a private citizen of well-documented industry and tact to conduct inquiries on the academy's behalf. Landor was informed that Fry had been found hanged, with suicide as the likely cause of death, but his body was found desecrated in the morgue, with his heart being cut out. Landor met with Dr. Daniel Marquis, who explained that getting to the heart with a knife would have been tricky, and said that the perpetrator of the crime would likely have been a strong man. Landor later learned from Cadet Cook Huntoon that Fry's body had been found hanged improperly, as his feet were touching the ground, and it appeared that he had tried to fight being hanged. Upon observing a contusion on the back of Fry's head, Landor came to the conclusion that Fry had been murdered. Landor was later approached by Cadet Edgar Allan Poe at the scene of Fry's death, and Poe - who had taken up a personal interest in the case - said that the man who had hanged Fry had been a poet, as Landor had found a writing fragment near the scene of the crime. Landor's interview with Cadet Haratio Cochrane, who had helped bring Fry's body back to the hospital, revealed that an unidentified officer had relieved Cochrane of his retrieval duty. When Landor asked if Cochrane had seen the officer, Cochrane said that it had been dark, but he noticed that the bars on the officer's left shoulder had been missing.

That night, Landor disobeyed orders from Hitchcock not to drink and visited a local tavern, where he heard the waitress Patsy say that someone had told her that it had taken hours for the cadet to die, and, when Landor inquired as to who had told her, she pointed to Poe. Landor sat with Poe, who introduced himself, and revealed that Cadet Huntoon - who had been spouting the news like the town crier - had told him of Fry's death. Poe then expanded on his idea of the murderer being a poet, as he argued that the heart was an artistic symbol, or otherwise it would be a useless muscle such as a foot or bladder. Poe revealed that he was himself a poet and was inclined to think as one, and, before Landor left, Poe suggested that Landor investigate Fry's former roommate Charles Loughborough, with whom Fry had fallen out with. On interviewing Loughborough, Landor heard that Loughborough and Fry had pursued diverging paths, as Fry had fallen in with "a bad bunch". Landor also interviewed Cadet Joseph Stoddard, the last man who had seen Fry alive, who said that Fry had asked him if he had seen any officers about, and that Fry said that he was off to "necessary business" at that late hour. After the interview, Landor and Hitchcock learned that a cow and a sheep had been eviscerated at Cold Spring, and Hitchcock mandated that the cadets only attend class, meals, and prayer services, and nothing more.

Landor continued to meet with Poe, offering him an unpaid and secretive opportunity to join him in his investigation of Fry's murder, and having him decipher the mysterious note. Poe later returned with the decoded message, realizing that the note was of a personal nature, and that it was likely that the note drew Fry from his barracks, and that, as the note was torn, it must have meant that the sender had sent an invitation to a trap and torn off the part of the note including his identity. Poe guessed that the note fragment included the phrase "Don't be late", and that Fry had been lured to a predetermined location under the phrase, "Don't be late, come soon." Landor and Poe guessed that the note might also include instructions to meet at a cove landing, and Poe also guessed that it might be a woman calling for the meeting due to the particular location. Poe revealed that he had seen a crying woman outside the mess hall.

That night, Landor slept with the waitress at the tavern, Patsy, and asked her about Poe, talking about how Poe had mentioned that his dead mother had dictated a poem to him one night. Patsy suggested that man would do most anything to cheat death, giving Landor pause for thought. The next day, Landor had Poe meet with him at the ice house, where he discovered a pentagram carved into the floor. Landor realized that Fry had been killed in an occult ritual, with his blood and candles being placed in a ritual manner. Landor and Poe consulted the occultist Jean Pepe about the meaning of the pentagram, and Pepe gave them a book from a famed witch hunter in which the sabbath dinners of witches were said to consist of unclean animals such as were never eaten by Christians, the hearts of unbaptized children, and the hearts of hanged men. Landor promptly had Poe infiltrate the cadets to investigate which of them may be interested in the occult. Poe overheard from Cadet Jack Hamilton the name of Cadet Marquis when telling his fellow cadet Llewellyn Lee about someone who had asked him to question his faith, and he pretended to have vertigo in order to be inspected by Doctor Marquis. Marquis gave Landor a note allowing him to stay at home for a day to recover, and he presented the note to Lieutenant Mathias Locke and to his cadet commandeer Artemus Marquis, the doctor's son. Locke gave Poe demerits for his brazenness in requesting the day off, and Cadet Marquis was impressed, telling Landor to meet him that night at 18 North Barracks. Poe met with Landor at his home, where he learned of Landor's daughter's flight with a man he had known in passing after finding his daughter's locket in one of Lord Byron's poetry books; Poe concluded that both of them were alone in the world. However, Landor said that Poe still had his mother, and Poe concluded that his mother did speak to him from time to time.

That night, Poe met with Marquis, Randolph Ballinger, and other drinking mates and played cards with them, and he became close to them through reciting lewd poetry. When asked about Landor interrogating him, Poe said that Landor had mistakenly assumed that he had been an intimate of Fry's, when he was not. Poe then overheard chatter that Fry must have hanged himself after being jilted by a woman, and Ballinger asked Marquis if his sister Lea Marquis hadn't dazzled Fry. The next day, Landor attended Fry's funeral, where Fry's mother Orla Fry gave Landor her son's journal, which had been sent to her by Ballinger. When Landor opened the diary, he found a series of numbers and letters which his mother could not make sense of. Later that day, he came across Dr. Marquis, who introduced him to his wife Julia, and he swore that he would not rest until Fry's death was solved.

Meanwhile, Poe made the acquaintance of Marquis' sister Lea Marquis, who spoke disparagingly of her brother's activities. Poe impressed Lea with his knowledge of poetry and French, and he proposed that they meet at the cemetery that Saturday. They had discussions about the poetry of death, and Lea said that morbidity suited Poe more than his uniform, and that he was similar to her brother. Poe helped Lea recover from a seizure, and the two became emotionally close. As Poe returned from his date, he was ambushed and beaten by Bellinger, but Landor arrived just in time to rescue Poe and chase Bellinger off; Poe surmised that Bellinger was jealous of Lea's affection for Poe. The next day, Hitchcock informed Landor that Ballinger had gone missing, and, after searching for the body, the cadets and Landor found Ballinger's mutilated body hanging from a tree along the Hudson River. Superintendent Thayer grew impatient with Landor, who had apparently come no closer to finding the murderer than he had a month before, and he said that, even with his men being confined to their barracks and classes and sleeping with their muskets, a murderer was still disemboweling them. Hitchcock told Landor that Poe had boasted to his mess-mates that, should he ever fight Ballinger again, he would kill him, but Landor pointed out that there was still no link between Ballinger and Fry. Thayer said that Poe and Ballinger had a tussle of their own a summer earlier, and that Poe must not have volunteered that information. Landor angrily said that Poe should be arrested if Thayer had evidence, but a cross Thayer said that he looked to Landor to find the evidence, and he asked Landor if he bore hostility towards the academy. Landor said that he was risking his life on behalf of the institution, and he said that the academy took away a young man's will, forced him to follow regulations and rules, and deprived him of reason and made him less human. He said that, as someone connected to the academy was responsible, the academy was responsible.

Landor proceeded to confront Poe about his previous acquaintance with Fry, and he angrily asked if he had killed Fry and Ballinger. Poe said that he had not, and, when Landor said that men who had crossed Poe seemed to end up on the wrong end of a noose, Poe said that, if he was to kill every cadet who had abused him during his short tenure at West Point, he would have reduced the whole academy to a dozen men. Poe said that he had been made fun of in every single way, and that, while he was guilty of a great many things, he was never guilty of murder. Landor said that Poe should take better care of what he said, and he warned Poe that if he ever lied to him again, he would not lift a finger if the army put Poe in irons.

That night, Landor and Poe joined the Marquis family for dinner in mourning Ballinger's passing, as Marquis considered the boy to be family. At dinner, Artemus created a scene by accusing a "rustic old cottager" with no life of his own of ruffling through his belongings and pointing out that Landor lived in a cottage. Julia stormed out of the room after breaking a plate, upset at her son's outburst. Doctor Marquis apologized for the incident and invited Landor to join him in his study, where Landor correctly noticed that Lea was afflicted with an illness. After Doctor Marquis headed downstairs to listen to his daughter play piano, Landor searched Marquis' coat rack and found an old officer's uniform with a missing epaulette, causing him to grow suspicious. Julia noticed Landor searching the coat rack, and Landor said that he and Doctor Marquis had been searching for the coat. Marquis walked downstairs with it and confronted the doctor, who said that it was his brother's coat, and the only thing he could remember his brother by. Just then, Hitchcock arrived and announced that Cadet Stoddard was missing, and, the next day, Landor helped in the search efforts. Landor supposed that, as Stoddard was good friends with both Fry and Ballinger, he might have run off, fearing he might be next. Hitchcock asked about the significance of Marquis' coat, and Landor said that he was exploring one last avenue of inquiry. Thayer was adamant that he had to report to the President that the academy had captured the killer. That night, Landor returned to Pepe and asked about the witch hunter's book he had mentioned; Pepe revealed that the witch hunter had been a priest who was burned at the stake. Landor then confronted Marquis, saying that his family was confusing, as he could not find out who was in command. He then said that he knew that the one in charge must be dead, and identified the painting of a priest of Marquis' study as Father Henri Le Clerc, the finest of witch hunters until he became the hunted. Landor confronted Marquis about his daughter's falling sickness, and he theorized that his daughter coped through contacting Le Clerc. He also confronted Marquis with Marquis' copy of Le Clerc's incredibly rare Discours du Diable, and Marquis claimed that he had never read a page of the book. Landor angrily asked Marquis if his daughter spoke with the dead, and Marquis said that he had tried every medical regimen he could think of when his daughter was given three months to live. However, she said that she had met her great-great-grandfather, Le Clerc, in a dream, and Marquis said that Le Clerc was not evil, but misunderstood.

Landor berated Marquis for putting his faith in such madness despite being a man of science, and Marquis said that his own art had failed him, and that he sacrificed everything for his daughter and could not object to her looking for a cure elsewhere. Marquis said that he only indulged his daughter because she miraculously improved, and Landor then asked the doctor where his children were. He revealed that Poe had been at the house, and that he had left with Artemus. However, Landor asked why Artemus' coat was still in the hall, and he realized that his children must be preparing to sacrifice Poe. Landor interrupted the sacrifice, saying that Ballinger likely murdered Fry to cure Lea, and that Artemus had killed Ballinger; he also said that Lea had lured Fry out with a note, but Artemus said that it had been his idea. Julia knocked over a table with a lamp, causing the cellar to catch fire, and, during the ensuing confrontation, Landor managed to disarm Artemus and rescue Poe, while dragging Julia away. Lea was struck in the head by a falling piece of wood, and Artemus cradled his sister before the ceiling caved in and killed them.

The next day, with Poe in the infirmary and recovering from his minor bleeding, Hitchcock thanked Landor for his help, and he said that Mrs. Marquis was grieving, and that the magistrate felt that she had suffered enough. The doctor, meanwhile, had submitted his resignation. Hitchcock admitted that he and Landor could not be more dissimilar in manner and philosophy, but he proceeded to apologize to Landor if he had ever impuned his competence. Thayer then thanked Landor for his services while walking with him, guessing that Artemus had murdered Ballinger to prevent him from alerting the authorities, and that Stoddard ran rather than become the next victim. Thayer released Landor from his contract, and Landor said that the jackals of Washington would be in retreat, sparing West Point from closure.

Culpability in the murders[]

On returning to his cottage, however, Landor was confronted by Poe, who said that he knew about Landor's daughter. Poe said that Landor knew full well about how his daughter fit into the murders, as he realized that the note in Fry's hand had been written in Landor's handwriting. Poe revealed that Patsy had told him the whole story about how Mattie had been raped on her way home from the academy ball, and she had been raped by three nameless ruffians. Landor had discovered his daughter's rape, as well as identifying the perpetrator from a locket bearing the initials "L.F.", and, after she threw herself from a cliff, he decided to avenge her death. Poe asked why Landor had never told him, and Landor said that it was not a story he enjoyed telling. Poe said that he would have comforted Landor and helped him as Landor had helped Poe. Poe said that he had examined all assumptions, including that Artemus and Lea had come across Fry's body and cut out its heart after his death, as there would be no reason for Artemus and Lea to murder Fry, but reason for Landor to do so.

Landor had been summoned to West Point the next day to learn that, in the intervening hours, the dead man's body had been horribly mutilated, providing his crimes with an extraordinary cover, and enabling him to solve the crimes that he had committed. As a result, Artemus and Lea would forever go down as murderers. Landor said that they would be forgotten like the rest of them, but Poe said that he would not forget them, especially "his" Lea, who was to be a wife and a mother. Poe also said that he would not forget how Landor had played everyone else as fools, with Poe as his "prize fool". Landor said that Poe was the one to whom he would deliver himself all along, knowing that from the moment he met Poe. Landor offered his apologies, but Poe rejected, and Poe instead demanded answers. Landor had identified Fry from the locket, cut out the cow and sheep's hearts, cut out Ballinger's heart to frame the Satanists, learned of Ballinger's involvement in the rape from Fry's diary, and learned of Stoddard's involvement while interrogating Ballinger. Landor said that he lacked the strength or will to chase Stoddard down, and he hoped that Stoddard spent the rest of his miserable life looking over his shoulder. Poe said that Landor could have gone to Thayer with the men's confessions, but Landor said that he wanted the men to die.

Landor then told Poe that the next steps were up to him, and Poe said that he had a pair of notes that would send Landor to the gallows. However, Poe decided to burn them in Landor's fireplace, causing Landor to cry. Landor said that he often wished that his daughter had run into Poe that night, as they might have become a family indeed. Poe said that he treasured their brief partnership, and he tearfully departed. Landor then walked to the cliff where his daughter had died, and he released her hair ribbon into the wind, telling her to rest in peace.