# Mr. Jessen — The Council of Justice character guide

> Mr. Jessen in The Council of Justice by Edgar Wallace.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Jessen, the admirable Mr. Jessen, the quiet Jessen

**First appearance:** 0000-i-the-red-hundred

## Snapshot

The quiet Jessen serves the Government in ways Falmouth won't spell out, then strolls back into the Guild to lecture on whether burglars make good caretakers.

## Who they are

Jessen is the Government's man in the shadows, so useful that Falmouth warns a journalist not to worry him and the official line calls his circumstances unusual but philosophically accepted. He vanishes and reappears under the name Long, delivering lectures as if nothing happened, while the hole in the Carlby Mansions floor hints at work no inquest recorded. His ambiguous role shows how the state quietly tolerates the vigilantes it publicly condemns.

## In the story

### [III: Jessen, Alias Long](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/chapters/iii-jessen-alias-long)

Alias Mr. Long; runs a criminal reform guild from Presley Street; a key informant for Charles; later disappears, reportedly taken by the Four Just Men.

### [IV: The Red Bean](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/chapters/iv-the-red-bean)

Not directly present in this chapter, but the bomb and the beans are associated with the Four Just Men's methods, which Jessen is later involved in.

### [VII: The Government and Mr. Jessen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/chapters/vii-the-government-and-mr-jessen)

Reappears after his disappearance, visits the Home Office with documents that explain his position, and is reinstated by the Home Secretary.

### [X: The Trial](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/chapters/x-the-trial)

Captured and put on trial by the Red Hundred; reveals himself as the public executioner of England and is released.

### [The Execution](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/chapters/xvi-the-execution)

Visits Manfred in his cell, discusses the Guild's work converting luggage thieves, and later acts as executioner during the escape.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/characters/jessen
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_council_of_justice_se/characters