The Newcastle Arms had been opened in 1838, and was named after the Royalist general of the Civil War. It was let in 1859. Records show there was a room called the sot’s hole: it was a resort of hard drinkers, with twelve rooms in all.

The night of Morley’s death began with an apparently amicable arrival at the public house with Morgan and with a woman called Booth. All witnesses say they engaged in friendly banter and there was no suggestion in their demeanour that an argument or confrontation might follow. Even more paradoxical, after Mrs Booth had left, all were sober and the poisoning happened suddenly. Morley became increasingly ill, and the people around tried to walk off his stomach cramps. Morgan said he would go and fetch a doctor, but he never came back, and the victim shouted out that he had been poisoned by his associate. Two local men, Robert Broadberry and a friend, did all they could; when two doctors arrived they gave an antidote but it was too late.

Morley died, with marked rigidity and other symptoms that made Mr Methven sure the poison given was strychnine. The poor man had suffered a tetanic fit and as he was put on a couch, he was in convulsions. In this state, he had managed to say, ‘It’s the white powder Morgan gave me!’

Morgan was charged a few days later, and it was a case of wilful murder. William Brown, the landlord of the Newcastle Arms, confirmed that Morgan had said he was going for help but never returned. But the doctor found white powder on the bar, and this was strychnine. He confirmed that the first clue to the nature of the poison was the free-flowing blood, having no coagulating tendency.

From the point that Morgan was imprisoned in Lincoln awaiting trial, to the first hearing, there were sensational developments. First, the whole tale of how the strychnine was acquired was told: an amount much larger than normal had been bought with the ostensible reason of killing two dogs. This had been done, and a very cautious druggist named Collett did the right thing and stopped a passer-by who knew Morgan to sign the official statement before administering the ten grains. The reason for the large amount was that ‘There is often some waste in giving it.’

But contradicting this was a statement that a man had been sent to Collett with four shillings to buy poison (again for killing dogs). So was Morgan present or not? The more we read of Morgan, the less his behaviour makes sense, and one contemporary reporter made a dramatic story from the view that the killer had delirium tremens. If he had not been in full control of his actions, then it was hard to dismiss the evidence of an old man who had heard the two men’s talk that last night of Morley’s life as they walked from the Peacock Hotel to the Newcastle Arms. The old man had heard Morley say, ‘I’ve letton on you and I mean to have it out of you before we leave …’ This tantalising fragment of talk suggests a debt, and the man was a character who lived by gambling and lending cash. Was the motive therefore the simplest way to avoid having to pay a gambling debt?