Chips’s Tid Bits returns with new canonical events to mark on your calendar…
April 13, 1890: Violet Hunter sat in the window seat a second time. (COPP)
The Saga of Holmes and Watson Endures
(“Chips’s Tid Bits” returns with a very special message from our dear friend, Chips. – Carla Buttons)
Hello to my fellow Society members,
The passage of our beloved Don hit me hard as it did all of us. As I am want to do in times of turmoil I submerge my self in rereading the Canon and the Scholarship about those tales. I found a passage that reminded me of Don. In the words of Christopher Morley:
“What other body of modern literature is esteemed as much for its errors as its felicities? The saga of Holmes and Watson endures as a unique portrait of a friendship and of a civilization. It is not strange that in our recent years of turmoil and dismay there has been so keen a nostalgia for the shape of things gone by. The Victorian age had many cruel faults yet in some phases it reached the highest accomplishment and assurance human beings have known. When Watson is talking we know where we are. Right is right and wrong is wrong; an aristocrat always looks like an aristocrat; he has a high beaky nose, wide-open haughty gaze, and sags a little at the knees. Mrs. Hudson’s joint of cold beef is on the sideboard (no one dreamed of an icebox in those days), and Holmes is smoking the cherrywood pipe which he reserves for disputatious mood. Let us enter the argument. So, in Vincent Starrett’s phrase, we revisit a world ‘where it is always 1895.'”
I can see Don with Holmes and Watson sitting and discussing the Case.
I miss him so much.
“Chips” aka Ron in Denver
Three Days of Canonical Events
Buttons will be out of touch for two days and so “Chips'” observations for March 9-11 are posted:
March 9: nothing found of Sherlockian note on this date but before the Master reaches for the syringe, do any other Watsonians know of any item of note not in this calendar listing?
March 10, 1883: Elias Openshaw received five orange pips (FIVE)
March 11: nothing of Sherlockian note found but the Good Doctor may have invited Holmes to his home for one of Mary’s home-cooked meals on this date in one of those years; or, maybe one of Watson’s other wives might have also prepared a meal for Holmes.
And on the 8th of March . . .
March 8, 1888: Holmes learned that Jack Douglas had been lost at Sea (VALL). “Chips” notes that, thanks to whoever did not check the dating of the story, it helps add to the myth that Moriarty is immortal.
Sad Happening on March 7
March 7, 1881: Jefferson Hope’s body was found in his cell. He had gone to the final judgment and reunion with Lucy. One can hope that mercy ruled in the determination of their case. Their suffering and pain on earth was enough. “Chips”
March 6th Events . . .
March 6, 1881: Holmes tested some pills on the landlady’s dying dog. Or, was it Watson’s bull pup mentioned in the conversation that they had about each other and their habits before they moved in at 221B, as some Sherlockian scholars have noted?
March 6, 1881: Jefferson Hope was captured. It seems strange to me that Hope would not recognize the 221B address as one that was in the ad for the ring.
“Chips”
On March 5, This Happened
March 5, 1881: Stangerson found stabbed to death at Halladay’s Private Hotel.
March 5, 1881: an old “crone” retrieved the woman’s wedding ring advertised as ‘found’ in the ad placed by Holmes. By Hope’s own admission, this person was not Jefferson Hope, so who was she or he? Hope took the secret with him to the hereafter. Any idea’s out there?
Today, March 4 . . .
March 4, 1881: Drebber was poisoned and died. Or was it a justifiable retribution? A woman’s wedding ring was found.
March 4, 1881: “What on earth is this?” I cried, for at this moment there came the pattering of many steps in the hall and on the stairs, accompanied by audible expressions of disgust upon the part of our landlady.
“It’s the Baker Street division of the detective police force,” said my companion gravely; and as he spoke there rushed into the room half a dozen of the dirtiest and most ragged street Arabs that ever I clapped eyes on.” From A Study in Scarlett.
March . . . Daily Happenings by Holmes and Watson
Ron Lies “Chips” has provided the Members with a calendar of Canonical events for March. Check back at “Chips’ Tid Bits” periodically and see if you remember these daily happenings and can name the book or story.
March 3, 1881: Businessmen Drebber and Strangerson bid adieu to Madame Charpentier.
And Finally on This Day
1886 February 22: The beryl coronet was reclaimed by its owner. The remainder of February days have no references in the Canon.
Dear Watsonians;
While watching a rerun of the Show “In The Heat of The Night” I heard Police Chief Gillespie say to his chief of Detectives, “All right, Do you want to be Sherlock Holmes?’ Just once I would like to hear Dr. Watson referred to with the respect he is due.
Best
Ron Lies “Chips”
Today . . . This Occurred
1886 February 20: Holmes returned the missing part of the beryl coronet to Alexander Holder.
Today . . . This Occurred . . .
1886 February 19: 1) Alexander Holder asked Holmes to find the missing part of the Beryl Coronet; 2) Holmes followed the footprints that Arthur Holder and Sir George Burnwell made in the snow; 3) Mary Holder elopes with Sir George Burnwell.
On Today . . . Long Ago . . .
1886 February 18: 1) Arthur Holder asked his father for money the third time; 2) Part of the beryl coronet was stolen.
String of Inactive Days . . . Ennui . . .
February 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th: nothing of Sherlockian note occurred on those dates. One can almost see the hand . . . reaching . . . and the good Doctor saying . . . “Is it . . . ?”
This . . . Today
February 11, 1886: Arthur Holder asked his father for money the second time
Nothing Today
February 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 8th, 9th, and 10th : Nothing of Sherlockian note occurred on those dates.
Today . . . On This Date
1875 February 4: McMurdo arrived in Vermissa Valley.
1886 February 4: Arthur Holder asked his father for money for the first time.
On These Days . . . Nothing Happened . . . or . . . ?
February 1 to 3: Nothing of Sherlockian note happened on these days. But, maybe you know of something . . . ?
Today This Happened . . .
1891 Saturday January 23rd: Holmes incommoded Moriarty. I always enjoy anticipating what is coming with this situation!
There are no events in the Canon for January 24 through the 31st. Return in February!
Best from “Chips”
And On This Day . . .
1897 Friday January 22nd: Holmes allows Captain Crocker to go free by the British Gentleman’s Code of Ethics.