Death of General Macarthur

General John Gordon Macarthur, a retired army officer with a clipped white moustache and faded blue eyes, becomes the third person to die on Indian Island. His body is discovered by Dr. Armstrong just before lunch on the second day of the house party, and the manner of his death—a violent blow to the skull—removes any remaining doubt that the deaths are accidents or suicides. The murder of Macarthur transforms the gathering from a group of uneasy strangers into a circle of frightened suspects, each aware that a killer walks among them.

Background and Guilt

Macarthur came to Indian Island believing he would meet old army cronies, but the gramophone accusation on the first evening exposed a secret he had carried for nearly thirty years. The voice charged him with deliberately sending his wife's lover, Arthur Richmond, to his death on January 4, 1917, during the war in France. Macarthur had discovered the affair through a letter placed in the wrong envelope—Leslie, his wife, had written to Richmond but sealed the letter in the envelope addressed to her husband. The shock of betrayal curdled into cold murderous rage, and Macarthur used his authority as a commanding officer to send Richmond on a reconnaissance from which only a miracle could have brought him back alive. No miracle occurred. Macarthur never told Leslie what he had done; she died of pneumonia a few years later, and he retired to Devon, buying a small house where he lived alone. But the rumor followed him. He sensed that people looked at him differently, that young Armitage, who had watched him with odd perception during the war, might have talked. The accusation on the island, though delivered by a hidden voice, struck at the truth he had tried to bury.

The Murder

On the morning of August 10th, Macarthur sat alone at the extreme end of the island, staring out to sea. He had told Blore, Lombard, and Armstrong during their search that he did not want to be disturbed, that there was so little time. Vera Claythorne found him there and sat beside him. He spoke of the end with a strange acceptance, saying that none of them would leave the island and that it was a relief to know he had done with it all. He talked of Leslie, of how he had loved her, and admitted quietly that he had sent Richmond to his death. "It's not much good denying it now," he said, "not when we're all going to die." Vera left him, disturbed by his calm. Shortly afterward, while the other guests were occupied elsewhere, the killer approached Macarthur from behind and struck him on the back of the head with a life preserver or similar weapon. The blow was instantaneous. Macarthur died without a sound, still facing the sea he had called peaceful.

Discovery and Consequences

When the gong sounded for lunch and Macarthur did not appear, Dr. Armstrong went down to fetch him. He returned running, his breath coming fast, and announced that the General was dead. The storm that had been building broke just as the body was carried into the house, the rain hissing and roaring as Blore and Armstrong bore Macarthur up the stairs. The dining-room table now held only seven china Indian figures instead of eight, confirming that the nursery rhyme was being enacted. Mr. Justice Wargrave immediately took charge, declaring that they now knew exactly where they stood: there was no question of accident or suicide. Macarthur's murder proved that a dangerous and probably insane criminal was among them, and from that moment every guest became both suspect and potential victim.

Thematic Significance

Macarthur's death marks the point at which the island's nightmare becomes inescapable. Unlike Anthony Marston, who died by poison in a moment, or Mrs. Rogers, who could have succumbed to shock, Macarthur was killed by deliberate physical violence. His murder shatters any pretense that the deaths might be natural or self-inflicted. Macarthur himself had welcomed the prospect of death, telling Vera that an island was the best place because "once you get there you can't go any further . . . you've come to the end of things." His acceptance stands in stark contrast to the terror that grips the survivors, and his confession to Vera—that he had murdered Richmond out of jealousy—reveals the depth of guilt that U. N. Owen has exploited. In the killer's own account, Macarthur was chosen to die early because his guilt was considered lighter than that of the more cold-blooded offenders, yet his death serves as the catalyst that forces the remaining guests to confront the reality that one of them is a murderer.