Legacy

It’s the year 1826.  The place was Murdock’s Inn which was just about sixty kilometers North of London on the road to Waterford, England.

Murdock’s Inn was a fairly large place for that time in history to be that far from a large city.  Yet it boasted a Bed and Breakfast and four rooms for travelers.  Its dinning area however’ could accommodate  thirty people and was a popular place with the locals from Ship Shire, a small Shire of about two hundred citizens just three miles from the Inn.

Murdock’s Inn was attached to Murdock’s Mill which ground the grain from most of the nearby farms. William J. Murdock didn’t miss a beat when it came to finding a way to make money from food or farm products.

Anytime of the day one could go to Murdock’s and find something delicious in the stew pot. Murdock also ground wheat to make his own special flour.  His bread was the talk of the town for being the best. He baked it in an old fashioned wood fired open oven.  The kind where you stick the dough in on a paddle and then take out the finished large round semi flat loaf with the same paddle.

Occasional Murdock would be asked about his recipes.  He’d usually say something about them being mostly secret as handed down from his Mother who had been the cook before him but was now retired to an Old Folks Home in London.  The most he would admit was that the stew was mostly pork with a squirrel or two and maybe a rabbit, and on rare occasion a little venison tossed in.

Along with what ever type of vegetables were available on a seasonal basis.  Past that all other ingredients was a closely guarded family recipe.

The mill part was along a pretty mill stream and was a popular place to gather and drink some of Murdock’s homemade Ale.  One day one of Murdock’s regular customers asked what he did with the animal bones as no one ever noticed a bone pile, which would have been a common sight near an Inn.

Now Murdock had a wee bit of a slip of the tongue and said that’s because I grind the bones into fine bone meal.  The customer said whatever for. Murdock replied to sell of course.  I have small two pound bags of it on the shelf in the Inn available to all that want it.  Its good for adding to the soil of your garden and good for your health to dissolve a teaspoon of it in a pot of tea; just like your mum’s used to do with crushed egg shells.  The calcium is beneficial regardless of source.

Murdock added that he even added a bit to his read flour to make it more nutritious.  That fascinated the customer who then bought a bag of the bone meal.

Murdock was always one who was extremely friendly with passing strangers.  He would inquire as to where they were going and why, and about whether or not they had family.  In a way he seemed just a bit nosy.

Speaking of relatives, one day a messenger arrived and told Murdock his aged mother in the Old Folks Home in London was gravely ill and not expected to live much longer.  That got Murdock’s attention real quick.  He was in a panic, his Inn was full of customers and he didn’t know what to do.

About that time the local Sheriff, one John Kensington from Ship Shire walked in.  He was a friend and a trusted one at that.  So Murdock prevailed upon him to watch and run the Inn while he was gone.  Now since the Sheriff wasn’t a cook, that meant till the stew pot is empty and the bread is gone, then lock it up.

Murdock headed to London with the greatest of haste as he feared his dear old mum might babble the secret family recipe in her final moments.  He got there and dear old mum was near death and very weak.  She asked her son to call a Priest so that she could make her final confession.

Murdock told his mum he couldn’t do that; and she then looked at him with the saddest of eyes and passed away.  Murdock cried for an hour, then composed himself and made arrangement.  He gave his deal old mum a very fine funeral and bought her a extremely nice high end casket.  He was wealthy enough to do it and he thought a lot of his dear old mum, not enough to call a Priest, but a lot.

With all of that business out of the way Murdock headed back to his Inn near Ship Shire.  He was very surprised when he arrived as Sheriff Kensington was sitting out front and besides him sat a young man, they both looked unhappy and Murdock knew why as he instantly recognized the young man.  Murdock turned his horse and sped away at full gallop; the Sheriff in hot pursuit.

Murdock’s horse was a bit faster than the Sheriffs so he kept ahead of the Sheriff and the chase was into it twentieth minute when Murdock came to a bridge on a side road that went over a small gorge known as Perkins Folly.  Half way across Murdock stopped his horse leaped over the rail to his death.

The Sheriff caught up to Murdock’s now standing horse and quickly figured out what had happened; Murdock had taken the easy way out.  Why you ask, what was all that about.  The Sheriff returned to the Inn where the young man still was.  You see the last jug of Ale was gone and Sheriff Kensington noting there was till bread and stew in the pot decided to go down into the cellar to see if he could find more Ale.

What he found was the aforementioned young man all tied up and gagged.  Near by was a really huge stewpot and another really large wood fired oven, not to mention a large meat grinder.

The young man had apparently been being kept to become part of a near future menu.  Murdock in his pride had explained to the scared almost to death young man, just how it worked.  He would be killed swiftly so not to suffer, then he would be dismembered and stewed.  The skin which couldn’t be served as was because of texture and other obvious reason, would be ground together along with intestines into sort of a course mass then along with chunks of human meat be roasted in preparation for adding to the stew pot.

Of course the bones were ground along with the animal bones, as calcium was calcium.

As this tale comes to its finish, we take note that the good citizens of Ship Shire were so sickened by finding out what they had been so joyously consuming that they couldn’t eat a thing for several days, however that too passed.