July 1, 1894: Jonas Oldacre brought his will to John Hector MacFarlane. (NORW)
July 1, 1985: Patrick Cairns first visited Peter Carrey. (BLAC)
A Watsonian Toast
I found this toast while looking through some old records of my best friend and devoted Sherlockian, the late Charles Ford Hansen. The toast was given at a dinner of our local Sherlockian group, Dr. Watson’s Neglected Patients, in September of 1982. These words are as true now as they were then.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Sherlockians – and I use the term carefully for I believe that almost all Sherlockians are Ladies and Gentleman. I ask you to raise your glasses in a heartfelt toast to a great man. An English Victorian Gentleman, and a fine physician. This man, in all phases of his life has exemplified that which is fine and good in mankind. He was a skilled and sympathetic healer, a boom companion to his friend Holmes, a splendid biographer and a man of courage and conviction. Who did not flinch at danger nor hesitate to assist his friend Holmes on his cases. Even to the extent of breaking the law on occasion when necessary to put an end to some evil villains career of crime. He shrank neither from wounds or danger. His service in India and the second Afghan war is eloquent testimony to that. He was not only a rare friend and companion but a good and loving husband to his wife, Mary – his one and only wife – despite theories advanced by certain speculative individuals. On this happy day in celebration of Holmes’s 130th birthday I give you Dr John H Watson M.D. late of Her Majesty’s Indian Army. To Dr Watson – God bless him.
On June 28th…
June 28, 1890: John Turner confessed to the murder of Charles McCarthy. (BOSC)
On June 27th…
June 27, 1890: Holmes and Watson traveled by train to Boscombe Valley. (BOSC)
Editor’s Note: This story contains that great Drawing by Sidney Paget. The one with Holmes laid out on the grass using his magnifying Glass to the minute clue to solve the case with. That drawing along with others drew a world of word pictures in which a skinny boy with glasses found a world that was all his own.
June 27, 1902: “Killer” Evans wounded Watson in the leg. (3GAR)
Holmes turns James Winter, alias Morecroft, alias “Killer” Evans over to Scotland Yard. Holmes had threatened “Killer” Evans with those immortal words that showed Dr Watson just how much he meant to Holmes.
“In an instant he had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes’s pistol came down on the man’s head. I had a vision of him sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend’s wiry arms were round me and he was leading me to a chair.
“You’re not hurt, Watson? For God’s sake, say that you are not hurt!”
It was worth a wound – it was worth many wounds – to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.
“It’s nothing, Holmes. It’s a mere scratch.”
He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.
“You are right,” he cried, with an immense sigh of relief. “It is quite superficial.” His face set like flint as he glared at our prisoner, who was sitting up with a dazed face. “By the Lord, it is as well for you. If you had killed Watson, you would not have got out of this room alive. Now, sir, what have you to say for yourself?”
From The Adventure of The Three Garridebs, one of the stories in The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.
Words that were exquisite in their effect on me when I first read them back on the plains of Kansas at the ripe old age of 12.
On June 26th…
June 26, 1889: Holmes interviewed Henry Wood about Colonel Barclay’s death. (CROO)
Editor’s Note: Here we meet Toby the mongoose. One of the most unusual animal characters that we see in the Canon.
June 26, 1902: “John Garrideb” visits Holmes. (3GAR)
June 26, 1902: Holmes and Watson visit Nathan Garrideb’s museum. (3GAR)
On June 25th…
June 25, 1889: Holmes investigated Colonel Barclay’s death. (CROO)
June 25, 1890: James McCarthy was brought before the Magistrates. (BOSC)
On June 24th…
June 24, 1890: The coroner’s inquest into Charles McCarthy’s death was held. (BOSC)
June 24, 1902: “John Garrideb” visits Nathan Garrideb. (3GAR)
June 24, 1889: Colonel Barclay died of Apoplexy. (CROO)
On June 23rd…
June 23, 1890: John Turner murdered Charles McCarthy. (BOSC)
On June 22nd…
June 22, 1889: Holmes unmasked Hugh Boone. (TWIS)
June 22, 1890: James McCarthy spends a 3rd day in Bristol. (BOSC)
Interesting News
There are those who will call this find a horses skeleton or some such excuse. I feel sorry for those folk. Their lives must be so dull with so little imagination in their worlds.
On June 21st…
June 21, 1890: James McCarthy spends a 2nd day in Bristol. (BOSC)
June 21, 1889: Watson found Holmes in the Bar of Gold. (TWIS)
On June 20th…
June 20, 1858: Sepoy Mutiny ended at Gwalior.
June 20, 1890: James McCarthy goes to visit his wife in Bristol. (BOSC)
On June 19th…
June 19, 1889: Isa Whitney went to the Bar of Gold. (TWIS)
On June 17th…
June 17, 1889: Mrs. Neville St. Clair saw her husband in the Bar of Gold. (TWIS)
On June 15th…
June 15, 1889: Holmes and Watson accompanied Hall Pycroft to Birmingham to meet Arthur Harry Pinner. (STOC)
June 15, 1889: Arthur Pinner attempts suicide. (STOC)
On June 14th…
June 14, 1889: Hall Pycroft finished marking the hardware sellers in Paris. (STOC)
On June 13th…
June 13, 1900: Holmes recovered the Black Pearl of the Borgias from the sixth bust of Napoleon. (SIXN)
On June 12th…
June 12, 1900: Beppo murdered Pietro Venucci. (SIXN)
June 12, 1900: Beppo destroyed the 5th bust of Napoleon. (SIXN)
On June 11th…
June 11, 1900: Lestrade consulted Holmes about the theft of busts of Napoleon. (SIXN)
On June 10th…
June 10, 1889: Hall Pycroft was supposed to start work at Mawson and Williams. (STOC)
June 10, 1900: Beppo destroyed two more busts of Napoleon. (SIXN)