July 3, 1895: At 2 AM, Patrick Cairns killed Peter Carey with a harpoon. (BLAC)
Another one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fantastic word pictures. Quoting from the Canon:
And there in the middle of it was the man himself, his face twisted like a lost soul in torment, and his great brindled beard stuck upwards in his agony. Right through his broad breast a steel harpoon had been driven, and it had sunk deep into the wood of the wall behind him. He was pinned like a beetle on a card. Of course, he was quite dead, and had been so from the instant that he uttered that last yell of agony.
What a description!! His word pictures like that made me at 12 years old on the plains of Kansas move to Baker Street for the rest of my life.
Superb! It’s good to be reminded that ACD was a damned good writer.