The monkeys paw

Sergeant-Major Morris tells the whites that he obtained the paw with magical powers from a fakir in India. He describes what the paw can do and how dangerous it is,

"The first man had his three wishes. Yes," was the reply; "I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw."

We can assume that Morris took the paw after the man died.