True Crime Book Review Jennifer Lee Cobban Wall Of Silence

Tweet

2005 – Demdike Press The unusual circumstances of the death of Jim Dawson in the Lancashire village of Bashall Eaves, near Clitheroe in 1934 makes for a mystery worthy of Colombo of Hercule Poirot, but no one ever did solve the case. Dawson was returning some on foot after a visit to the local pub when he felt a sudden stinging pain in his shoulder. He completed his journey home, and finding a small hole still bleeding in his shoulder he left it until the next day to visit the doctor, who after an X-Ray, told Dawson that he had been shot, that the bullet was still in his shoulder and that surgery could remove it. Dawson refused to be treated and died of the infection caused four days later. He swore several times before his death that he had no idea who had shot him. The police found the whole community strangely reluctant to speak of what might have led to the shooting of a generally much respected farmer. Decades later, the author, Dawson’s Great-Niece, found the people of Bashall and the nearby town of Clitheroe still nervously reluctant to talk of that night even in 2005. The book speculates but offers no real solutions. Perhaps the truth may never be known. Despite her family connection, the author writes with remarkable honesty and objectivity. Perhaps even Poirot might have struggled to solve this one. Arthur Chappell