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During the trial there was no direct evidence against Ratanji-Ruxton because nobody had seen him kill or dismember so much as a fly. The Crown produced the patched blouse in which a faceless head had been found wrapped in The Devil's Beef Tub and asked the stepmother of Mary Jane Rogerson to comment upon it as a witness before the jury. "Yes, that is the blouse," said Mrs. Rogerson. "I can tell because I put on the patch. It was an old blouse, but I bought it at a jumble sale for Mary — she had wanted one, just to put under her costume."
Council for the Defense: You have bought many blouses, have you not, Mrs. Rogerson?
Stepmother Rogerson: Yes, but I have not bought so many at jumble sales. I just bought that one thinking it might come in. I paid a penny for it. Things are nearly always a penny at jumble sales.
This was considered last week the most damaging link in the chain of circumstantial evidence drawn by the Crown about the accused man's neck. On the last day of the trial, Ratanji jittered, wept, frequently wiped with a handkerchief his profusely perspiring hands. Yet there was still no direct evidence. After the jury verdict of guilty, Justice Singleton put on the black cap which in Britain means that sentence of Death is to be pronounced. "The law knows but one sentence," he cried, "for the terrible crime you have committed!"
As he was sentenced to hang by the neck until dead, the Mohammedan seemed stunned. Then suddenly Hakim Bakhtyar Rustomji Ratanji came to himself and without jittering or trembling gave his British judge with upraised arm the salute of Oriental warriors. As two wardens came to lead him from the prisoner's dock, Ratanji gave the same salute to the uncomfortable, astonished British jury.