Student Question
Do the epilogue clues in And Then There Were None explain how the murders were accomplished?
Quick answer:
The second part of the epilogue of And Then There Were None is a manuscript written by Justice Lawrence Wargrave which explains how all ten murders were accomplished on Indian Island.
The epilogue to Agatha Christie's classic murder-mystery novel And Then There Were None is actually in two parts. The first part of the epilogue involves an assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, Sir Thomas Legge, and an Inspector Maine, the inspector who is in charge of the investigation into the murders on Indian Island.
Commissioner Legge and Inspector Maine are able to deduce from the evidence available on the Island that Mr. Justice Lawrence Wargrave and Captain Philip Lombard died from gunshot wounds, that Miss Emily Brent and Anthony Marston died from cyanide poisoning, that Mrs. Ethel Rogers died from an overdose a sleeping medication, that Thomas Rogers, William Blore, and General Gordon Macarthur all died from blows to the head, and that Miss Vera Claythorne hanged herself—although they aren't able to explain how the chair that she used to hang herself was moved against a wall after her death,...
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even though she was the last remaining person to die on the island.
There is also the matter of Isaac Morris, a somewhat unsavory character who was responsible for the sale of the mansion on the island but who doesn't appear on the island with the rest of the visitors there. Commissioner Legge and Inspector Maine intended to question Morris about the deaths on the island, but they found Morris dead from an overdose of sleeping pills.
Commissioner Legge and Inspector Maine are able to determine, at least to their satisfaction, the orders of the murders and the manner of each murder, and they deduced that the murderer wasn't Mr. Blore, Captain Lombard, or Miss Claythorne. Aside from that, they weren't able to discover or deduce anything more, which infuriates Commissioner Legge.
The second part of the epilogue focuses on "A Manuscript Document Sent To Scotland Yard By The Master Of The Emma Jane, Fishing Trawler." The "Manuscript" is a lengthy message written by Mr. Justice Lawrence Wargrave, which he sealed into a bottle and tossed into the sea.
The "Manuscript" contains Justice Wargrave's confession to all of the murders on Indian Indian Island and the murder of Mr. Morris off the island, as well as a detailed description of the manner in which each murder was carried out.
The "Manuscript" also reveals the solution to the mystery of how Justice Wargrave was able to murder all of the other visitors to the island although he himself appeared to have been the sixth person murdered during the course of the ten murders.