Little Queenie, the Palmers’ four-year-old adopted daughter, was taken to Gloucester Cottages, a smart street in a good part of the town of Devonport, near Plymouth, known as Morice Town, where the landlady, Mrs Barber, let them into one of the dwellings. The neighbourhood was dominated by the sea: the naval base at Devonport had been there for centuries and many households were headed by naval seamen, both active and retired.
But this was to be no home for Queenie, more a prison, for she was literally held captive. Day after day, she spent lonely hours locked in a small downstairs room, with little water and no food, while her new “parents” went out and left her alone. On 17 may, Queenie was told she was moving again. The man said that they were taking a trip, and that she was to come with him. Leaving the cottage, he had walked her through the streets of Devonport, finally reaching an area with which she was not familiar. He told her she was to stay put until he returned. And then he was gone.
It is not known how long the child wandered the streets. Eventually, a kind stranger took her to the police station. Queenie was frightened, tired and hungry, and after being given something to eat she told the police officer her name and age and everything she knew about the lady and gentleman named “Patson”: about their grand clothes; the furnished house at Gloucester Cottages; and about the lady who had waved them off in Bristol and told her she was her grandma.
Mrs Barber, the landlady of Gloucester Cottages, also told the police everything she knew about the haughty young couple who had rented the cottage for a week. She said they had made a grand looking pair: he so natty, his sharp features framed by a sandy moustache, fancy looking in his long grey frock-coated suit, his black leather boots polished to a shine, and a dark corduroy cap perched on his head. She, in a pale and delicate dress and a flattering round-rimmed hat, trimmed with brown fur: tall, trim, well-educated and perfectly poised; quite the lady. She had sensed they were moneyed from the clothes they wore; so much so that at first she hadn’t been at all surprised when Mr Patson explained that he was, in fact, a Scotland Yard Detective, en route to Manchester where he was to deliver the child for some furtive purpose known only to the yard. He had looked and acted the part, and she had found no reason to doubt his story.
But as the days went by, Mrs Barber’s concerns about the Patsons grew; specifically her concerns for the welfare of the child in their care. She told the police of the couple’s strange habits, how they would leave Queenie alone in the house for hours on end. She told them also that since the couple had left, mail-order companies had been sending demands for the payment or return of a vast amount of goods which had been delivered to the Patsons several times a day, from all over the country.
DEVONPORT (Borough)
For abandoning a girl, age about 4, on 17th inst. – A PARSONS alias PATSON, age 30 to 35 height 5ft 8in, complexion fair, sharp features, hair and moustache sandy; dress grey suit, cord cap, black shoes. Stated he was a detective from London and was going to Manchester. Accompanied by a woman aged 30 to 35, height 5ft 6 or 7; dress light colour dress, round rim hat, trimmed brown fur; of good address. They received parcels on approval from all parts of the country, but failed to return either goods or money.
Warrant issued
Information to Head Constable matters, Devonport.
Police Gazette, 31 may 1895
Arthur and Polly passed a quiet ten days in Bristol after leaving Devonport and, by the time the warrant was issued on 27 may for the arrest of the man suspected of abandoning Queenie Baker, they were already boarding a train to Cardiff.