Ben Craig

Ben Craig is an agricultural labourer and the lodger at the centre of the suspicion that precedes the Riggs double shooting. The account identifies him through his connection to Mrs Riggs and the case’s uncertain reconstruction of what happened, rather than through any independent account of his life or actions.

Identity and Place in the Case

Craig is described as an agricultural labourer lodging with Edward and Mrs Riggs. Edward suspected that his wife was unfaithful with Craig, making the lodger a central figure in the jealousy that surrounded the shooting. The evidence does not establish that an affair occurred; it records the suspicion as Edward’s.

The Riggs Double Shooting

Craig and Mrs Riggs were found shot. The shots were proved to have come from Edward Riggs’s gun, but Edward said that his mind had gone blank and that he supposed he must have done it, while claiming not to remember. His account leaves the precise circumstances of Craig’s death uncertain even as the weapon links the shootings to Edward.

Aftermath and Narrative Significance

Edward gave himself up to the police and was sentenced to death; the sentence was later commuted to penal servitude for life. Craig’s role in the case is therefore inseparable from a chain of suspicion, violence, and incomplete memory. He is presented as the suspected rival whose presence supplies the jealousy associated with the crime, while the surviving account neither confirms the alleged infidelity nor gives Craig a voice of his own.