Category: News

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On March 17th… Denis is Born


Denis Stewart Percy Conan Doyle was born on March 17, 1909, the third child of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the first child of his marriage to Jean Leckie. Arthur Conan Doyle originally suggested the name James Denis Pack Conan Doyle, honoring the baby’s maternal grandfather (James Blythe Leckie) and paternal grandmother’s family (the Packs). Arthur’s mother, however, insisted on the name Percy.

Arthur later wrote to his mother, “I have never seen so bright and intelligent a child. His head too is wonderfully formed. He will do deeds if he lives.”

Denis did live, marrying Georgian princess Nina Mdivani in 1936, working with his brother Adrian in managing the Conan Doyle estate, and enjoying motor racing and big game hunting. He died on March 9, 1955.

Source:
Information provided by A Curious Collection of Dates by by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”).
Posted by The Dynamic Duo of Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena”)

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On March 16… We Travel. Or Do We?

Illustration by Philip Cornell (JHWS “Parkes”)

It was, then, in the spring of the year 1897 that Holmes’s iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent would lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown. The state of his health was not a matter in which he himself took the faintest interest, for his mental detachment was absolute, but he was induced at last, on the threat of being permanently disqualified from work, to give himself a complete change of scene and air. Thus it was that in the early spring of that year we found ourselves together in a small cottage near Poldhu Bay, at the farther extremity of the Cornish peninsula. [DEVI]

According to Guinn and Mahoney in A Curious Collection of Dates, the Adventure of the Devil’s Foot begins on March 16, 1897.

But! In Dorn’s A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes, the Adventure of the Devil’s Foot begins on April 8, 1897.

These two listings are contrary to each other as to when this case started. It is an example of one of my favorite controversies in Sherlockian scholarly world: Figuring out when each case occurred, based on clues picked up from the case and our outlandish Sherlockian minds. So, on we go, and we shall see if the chronology of Leah Guinn and Jaime Maloney and their volume disagree in other cases with the chronology of William Dorn and his volume.

Sources:
A Curious Collection of Dates by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”) and A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

Posted by Ron aka “Chips” and Beth aka “Selena Buttons”, proud columnists for the John H Watson Society.

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State of the John H Watson Society 2017

We are approaching the Society’s fourth birthday in April, and it has been a full year since I stepped into the role of “Boy in Buttons”. It has been a year of changes and challenges – some expected, and some not. I wanted to take a moment to look back, and then a moment to look forward.

Looking Back

Society Symbol designed by Ariana Maher (JHWS “Carla”)

During the last year, we made some significant changes to our membership structure. We moved from two-year memberships beginning at any time to annual memberships based on the calendar year. We introduced a Paperless Membership option, for those who prefer to receive publications in digital form. Membership beginning and renewal dates are now easily found on our Member Page. You can easily renew your membership, too.

Our members were active in the larger Sherlockian world in the last year, attending 221B Con in Atlanta, the Birthday Weekend Festivities in New York City, and “Watson Washington” in Seattle. The Society was a sponsor of “Watson Washington”, as well, and two of our members were Guests of Honor, while several members spoke on panels, including a very special panel called “A Society for our Dear Doctor”.

We published new titles in our Fiction Series and our Monograph Series, and we continued to publish our outstanding journal, The Watsonian, the next issue of which is currently in production.

Our website has been busy, with daily Tid Bits from Ron Lies (JHWS “Chips”) and regular book reviews by Elise Elliot (JHWS “Lucy”). Thanks to Margie Deck (JHWS “Mopsy”), several members were interviewed as part of our Friend & Biographer series, giving us a chance to get to know each other better. More of those interviews will be published in the coming months.

I am very proud of all that we have accomplished, and I look forward to the future of the John H Watson Society!

Looking Forward

As many of you know, the Watson Society has always been a labor of love from dedicated volunteers. The Society has no paid employees, and it has taken a team to keep everything running smoothly. That team has been fairly flexible, with folks stepping in as needed.

As we look toward the future, we are moving toward a more formal structure. We will be defining more of the leadership and board responsibilities and bringing some new people into those positions. Our long-time Treasurer, Andrea Stewart (JHWS “Asta”) has stepped down from the role and passed it on to our “Mopsy”.

Being an online society, with our membership spread far and wide, we hope to provide more opportunities for members to connect and communicate. Some possibilities are a full discussion forum here on the site, virtual hang-outs and video chats, and in-person meet-ups at larger events. We want to hear from you about what you want to see!

When I first found the John H Watson Society, I knew that it was the place I wanted to be. Don Libey, the original JHWS “Buttons”, made it a warm and welcoming site that valued both “the wisdom and background of great Sherlockians and the enthusiasm of those newly drawn to The Game”. We remain the open and inclusive worldwide online Sherlockian society, and we remain mostly about having fun. Thank you for joining, commenting, reading, and participating in whatever way you enjoy.

Best,

-Beth Gallego, “Selena Buttons”

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On March 15th…

Joaquim de Almeida as Sherlock Holmes

Joaquim de Almeida was born March 15, 1957, in Lisbon, Portugal.

In 2001, he played Sherlock Holmes in the Brazilian film O Xangô de Baker Street, based on the 1995 novel by Jô Soares (published in English as A Samba for Sherlock). He won a Portuguese Golden Globe for Best Actor for the role.

Source:
Information provided by the volume A Curious Collection of Dates by by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”).

Posted by The Dynamic Duo: Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena Buttons”)

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Friend and Biographer Series: JHWS ‘Lucy’

Speaking of my old friend and biographer, I would take this opportunity to remark….Watson has some remarkable characteristics of his own, to which in his modesty he has given small attention…

Hello Watsonians,

Today we add to our series of brief biographic interviews with some of the members of JHWS. Our members, like the good Dr. Watson, have some remarkable characteristics of their own, and we would like to give some small attention to them.

We were lucky to have Elise Elliot join our ranks this past year.  Her excellent book reviews are a welcome addition to our site.  I am delighted to share Elise’s interview; I think you will enjoy reading it.

Margie/ JHWS ‘Mopsy’

————-

1. Name/with bull pup moniker—

Elise Elliot, ‘Lucy’

2. Current (city,state, country) location—

Columbus, OH

3. How long have you been a devotee of Dr. Watson?

I found the stories when I was twelve, during a bout of insomnia that lasted for almost a week.  I picked the biggest book I could find from the library to keep me company during the night, and that happened to be the complete collection of canon.  I’ve been a fan ever since.

As for Watson, I will admit that it took me a little longer to come around to the Good Doctor’s virtues.  That happened in the past seven years or so, when I was twenty-one.  We thank Bert Coules’ radio adaptations for that revelation.

4. Do you have a favorite canonical story?

Is it cheating to have a few?  Probably… REGI, ILLU, and DEVI.  There are great friendship moments in all of them, and in the latter two, wonderful depictions of compassion from Holmes and Watson, as well as a focus on what justice means to them.

5. What is your favorite quote from the canon?

“Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.”

6. If you could speak directly to anyone in the canon, who would you choose and why?

Kitty Winter.  I confess an immense sympathy for her, a woman who found no justice in the justice system and so took her own revenge.  I’m endlessly fascinated by what made her finally break, and how Holmes and Watson treated and viewed her.  I think she would be an extremely interesting person to meet, and I’d like to hear her life story, from her.  The story also indicates that she received a relatively light sentence, and I want to know what she does afterwards.

7. Are you fond of any particular canon adaptations—pastiche, radio, film?

So many!  I love adaptations, and what they choose to keep, what they choose to discard, what they highlight, etc.  I love Elementary and would be thrilled if more Holmesians and Watsonians would watch it- they highlight different aspects of the characters that sometimes aren’t as obvious in other adaptations.  The radio dramas by Bert Coules, both the complete canon and the original stories; Merrison and Williams, and then Sachs, are as close to canon as it comes for me.  I also have thoroughly enjoyed both of Sheldon Reynolds’ takes on the characters, the 1954 series starring Ronald Howard as Holmes and H. Marion Crawford as Watson, and then the 1979 series starring Geoffrey Whitehead as Holmes and Donald Pickering as Watson.  Those series are a comfort watch for me; I like to watch them on stormy, gloomy days.

8. Do you have a local Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian group you meet with on a regular basis?

Unfortunately, no.  I work in theatre, and much of my spare time is eaten up by that.  I want to join one someday, but that won’t happen until I slow down a little!

9. Do you have any recent Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian projects/events you would like to tell us about?

I have been having a blast writing book reviews for the John H Watson Society website!  I love reading pastiches, and it’s been so great to take that passion and transform it into something potentially useful for others.

I am a freelance copy editor as well, and recently began working with some Holmesian authors, looking over their work before it goes to print.  It has been an honor to be trusted with their work, as well as a fun challenge.

10. If you had a magic wand, and could add, subtract, or change anything in your Watsonian/Sherlockian/Holmesian world, what would it be?

You know all those adaptations that have been lost to time?  And all those adaptations that only available in certain countries because of Region differences in DVDs and the like?  I want ALL of those adaptations in my eyeballs.  I want them on my shelves.  I want to be able to see them all the time, and none to have ever been lost or made unavailable.

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On March 14th…

Jean Leckie (1906)

Jean Elizabeth Leckie was born March 14, 1874 to James Blythe Leckie and Selina Leckie in London, England.

At age twenty-three, while studying voice, she met Arthur Conan Doyle. At the time, he was thirty-eight and married with two children. His wife, Louisa, was suffering from tuberculosis.

Reportedly, Arthur immediately fell in love with Jean, but he remained faithful to Louisa until her death in 1906.

Arthur and Jean married September 18th, 1907, and had three children: Denis, Adrian, and Lena Jean. She survived her husband by ten years, passing away on June 27, 1940.

Source:
Information provided by A Curious Collection of Dates by by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”).
Posted by The Dynamic Duo of Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena”)

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On March 13th… Tidbits is Born (Sort of)

Portrait of George Newnes

Sir George Newnes was born March 13, 1851, in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire. In 1881, he founded a new magazine that would include small articles (“tit-bits”) reprinted from other publications. He called it, of course, Tit-Bits. (Or, to give it its proper full title: Tit-Bits from all the Most Interesting Books, Periodicals and Newspapers in the World.)

Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”) write in A Curious Collection of Dates:

Tit-Bits from all the Most Interesting Books, Periodicals and Newspapers in the World, Issue 1

The new magazine entered the marketplace at the perfect time: literacy rates had grown in England thanks to the Compulsory Education Act of 1870, and an increasingly urban, commuting public welcomed interesting train reading that did not require the commitment of a lengthy serial. It didn’t hurt that Newness was an expert promoter: Tit-Bits offered train insurance, contests for everything from cash to a house – even, in 1903, buried treasure.

He went on to found The Strand Magazine in 1891, which stated in its first issue, “It will contain stories and articles by the best British writers, and special translations from the first foreign authors. These will be illustrated by eminent artists.” The July 1891 issue contained the first appearance of “A Scandal in Bohemia”.

“Chips” notes: I think this is where the name of our column came from back when I
first joined this world of 1895 at about the age of 11.

Sources:

Information provided by the volume A Curious Collection of Dates by by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”). Digitized copy of the first volume of The Strand: An Illustrated Monthly held by the University of California available via Google Books.

Posted by The Dynamic Duo: Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena Buttons”)

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On March 12th… A Model for Moriarty

Quotation from “The Outlook for the Flying Machine” by Professor Simon Newcomb [The Independent, 22 October 1903]
Simon Newcomb was born on March 12, 1835, in Wallace, Nova Scotia, Canada.

One hardly knows where, in the history of science, to look for an important movement that had its effective start in so pure and simple an accident as that which led to the building of the great Washington telescope, and went on to the discovery of the satellites of Mars. [Simon Newcomb, The Reminiscences of an Astronomer, 1903

Who was Simon Newcomb?

[Illustration by Sidney Paget for “The Final Problem”, The Strand Magazine, December 1893]

Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid – a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it? [VALL]

In A Curious Collection of Dates, Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”) note:

Several men have the dubious honor of being considered models for James Moriarty, and eminent American astronomer Simon Newcomb is one of them.

Newcomb was a gifted mathematician who, like Moriarty, applied his genius to the field of astronomy. In 1861, his paper “On the Secular Variations and Mutual Relations of the Orbits of the Asteroids” was published in the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. It is possible that Arthur Conan Doyle came across Newcomb’s work in his own wide-ranging studies.

Another side of Newcomb

Also like Moriarty, Newcomb appears to have had a darker side. He studied mathematics under Benjamin Peirce at Harvard, later becoming friends with him. Newcomb did not become friends with Peirce’s son, Charles, a fellow mathematician four years Newcomb’s junior. In Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life, biographer Joseph Brent credits Newcomb with no less than the “successful destruction of” Peirce’s career. Among other moves to sabotage Peirce, and perhaps motivated by his profound disapproval of Peirce’s recent divorce and marriage to his mistress, Newcomb played a major part in the denial of Peirce’s 1902 application for a Carnegie grant.

It is highly unlikely that Conan Doyle was aware of these facts: however, the story of a mathematical genius with a dark side doing battle with an unconventional genius dedicated to logic sounds familiar all the same. [from A Curious Collection of Dates]

Sources:

Information from the volume A Curious Collection of Dates by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”). Additional information from the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life by Joseph Brent.

Posted by The Dynamic Duo, Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena Buttons”)

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On March 11th…

Royal Victoria Military Hospital, Netley, Hampshire: from the harbour. Line engraving by T.A. Prior, 1857, after E. Duncan.

The Royal Victoria Military Hospital Netley began accepting patients on March 11, 1863.

Construction began on the hospital in 1856, with the first stone ceremonially laid by Queen Victoria. The inscription on the stone read:

This stone was laid on the 19th day of May in the year of our Lord, 1856, by Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the foundation stone of the Victoria Military Hospital intended for the reception of the sick and wounded soldiers of her Army.

 

In their book A Curious Collection of Dates, Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”) write:

Some thirty million bricks later, the hospital with its 1,000 beds was the longest building in the world. Unfortunately its design sacrificed practicality to grandeur, and by the time medical professionals such as Florence Nightingale were able to offer their suggestions, it was too late to make substantial changes. As a result the lovely grounds and the independent infrastructure (including a reservoir and generator) were counterbalanced by dark patient wards, more ventilation and unpleasant odors. Despite its problems the Royal Victoria served Britain through its wars and conflicts until a fire in 1963 destroyed a large section of the main building. With the exception of the chapel the hospital was demolished in 1966. Today, it serves as the Royal Victoria Visitors Center and Country Park.

 

We may be most immediately familiar with Netley from Dr Watson’s very first words to us, in A Study in Scarlet:

In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army. Having completed my studies there, I was duly attached to the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers as Assistant Surgeon. The regiment was stationed in India at the time, and before I could join it, the second Afghan war had broken out. On landing at Bombay, I learned that my corps had advanced through the passes, and was already deep in the enemy’s country. I followed, however, with many other officers who were in the same situation as myself, and succeeded in reaching Candahar in safety, where I found my regiment, and at once entered upon my new duties.

Sources:
Information from A Curious Collection of Dates by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”), with additional information of the stone inscription courtesy of QARANC’s Netley Hospital Information Page.

Posted by The Dynamic Duo Ron (JHWS “Chips”) aka Ron and Beth (JHWS “Selena”)

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On March 10th…

March 10, 1883: Elias Openshaw received five orange pips. [FIVE]

What harmless seeds!
Why were they sent to this man?
And what do these men have to do with it?

Could these be a mystery soon to be connected to Holmes?

Source A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

Posted by
Ron (JHWS “Chips”) and Beth (JHWS “Selena Buttons”), co-conspirators for Tid Bits

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On March 9th… A Loss


On March 9, 1955, Denis Percy Stewart Conan Doyle (born 1909), son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, died in India. He was the first child of Arthur Conan Doyle’s marriage to Jean Leckie, and the eldest surviving son after the death of his half-brother, Kingsley, in 1918.

From information provided by the volume A Curious Collection of Dates by by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”), we find this note in E W Smith’s “From the Editor’s Commonplace Book” in the July 1955 issue of the Baker Street Journal:

[Denis was n]ever too sympathetic with the doings of the Baker Street Irregulars — he found the profound pseudo-scholarship angle a little baffling — [but] Denis was nevertheless an interested and sometimes charming observer.

Denis Conan Doyle attended the 1949 BSI Dinner and was perhaps somewhat miffed that Holmes and Watson, rather than his father, were getting all the attention. Smith goes to recall:

And then, a few minutes later, he got to his feet, at Chris Morley’s invitation, and gave a simple and very moving little talk on ‘My Father’s Friend, Mr Sherlock Holmes’.

 

Posted by The Dynamic Duo (JHWS Chips) aka Ron and (JHWS Selena) aka Beth

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Sherlock’s Delight and Watson’s Dream

Yes, those are definitely oranges.

Given the happenings involving the “Five Orange Pips”, I’m not sure “delighted” is the adjective Holmes would use upon encountering some oranges, but this fruit crate label certainly caught my attention.

From the information I could find, Ted W Holmes purchased the Blanton Packing Co warehouse in Pasco County, Florida, in 1956. He used it for two weeks every December to package gift fruit as a hobby until his death in 1989. In 2000, his son donated the entire packinghouse to the Pioneer Florida Museum Association for use as a citrus museum. The building and its contents were dismantled, moved, and reassembled for exhibit at the Pioneer Florida Museum and Village. The Association plans to re-construct it as a working educational structure on their property. (It doesn’t look like the project has gotten very far. That’s a shame.)


While looking for information on the Holmes Fruit Co, I also found a nearly identical label for “Watson’s Dream” oranges. We’re always glad to see Watson get equal billing! Even if it’s still Holmes in the picture. I’d like to know more about the Holmes Fruit Co – I couldn’t find much out there. It looks like it only operated at Christmastime, and it’s not clear if the fruit was sold as a seasonal gift or perhaps given away. What do you think?

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On March 8th… The End of Jack Douglas

March 8, 1888: Holmes learned that Jack Douglas had been lost at sea. [VALL]

“No, I don’t say that,” said Holmes, and his eyes seemed to be looking far into the future. “I don’t say that he can’t be beat. But you must give me time – you must give me time!” We all sat in silence for some minutes, while those fateful eyes still strained to pierce the veil.

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

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A Quiz – and a New Book! – from Italy

This week’s quiz question comes from Enrico Solito (JHWS “Devon”), who asks:

Who is the Tuscan connected with luxury in the Canon?

For full marks, name the Tuscan and explain the Canonical connection. Send your answers by email to the JHWS Quizmaster by March 26.

We’re also pleased to announce that our “Devon” is among the contributors to His Everlasting Bow: Italian Studies in Sherlock Holmes, edited by Alessandra Calanchi (JHWS “Bianca”) and Stephen Knight, published by Aras Edizioni.

The description from the publisher sounds most intriguing:

Are Sherlock Holmes studies outdone? Has everything already been said and written about Baker Street, the Baskervilles, and the like? This volume answers these questions and dispels any doubts on the matter by presenting some of the most recent and original Italian scholarship focussing on the Sacred Canon and its long-lasting legacy in the international arena. From coding strategies to collecting Sherlockiana, from war(s) in Afghanistan to literary tourism, from the TV series of the 1960s to today’s tweets, His Everlasting Bow marks the state-of-art studies in the field and opens new fascinating trajectories of interpretation and research. The contribution of eminent scholars is matched by some outstanding pastiches and the experimental work of a group of young researchers.
Professor Stephen Knight’s foreword is simply the icing on the cake. And a treat is in store for the Sherlock Holmes Society of Italy Uno Studio in Holmes, as this volume is intended as a gift on the occasion of its 30th birthday (Florence 1987). His Everlasting Bow is also dedicated to the memory of Nando Gazzolo (1928-2015), the only Italian actor who has ever interpreted the Great Detective.

Contributors (in order of appearance): Valerio Viviani, Gabriele Mazzoni, Caterina Marrone, Enrico Solito, Stella Mattioli, Enrico and Fabio Petrella, Alessandra Calanchi and Nando Gazzolo, Marco Grassi, Luca Sartori, Gian Italo Bischi, Raniero Bastianelli, Matteo Bischi, Ruben Costa, Luisa Fanucci, Elena Garbugli, Adele Guerra, Francesca Secci, Stefano Serafini.

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On March 7th…

March 7, 1881: Jefferson Hope’s body was found in his cell. [STUD]

He had gone to the final judgment and reunion with Lucy. One can hope that mercy ruled determination of their case. Their suffering and pain on earth was enough. -Chips

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

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On March 6th… Terrier or Bull Pup?

March 6, 1881: Holmes tested some pills on the landlady’s dying dog. [STUD]

…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?

As he spoke he turned the contents of the wine-glass into a saucer and placed it in front of the terrier, who speedily licked it dry. Sherlock Holmes’s earnest demeanour had so far convinced us that we all sat in silence, watching the animal intently, and expecting some startling effect. None such appeared, however. The dog continued to lie stretched upon the cushion, breathing in a laboured way, but apparently neither the better nor the worse for its draught.

March 6, 1881: Jefferson Hope was captured. [STUD]

Illustration by George Hutchinson for A Study in Scarlet (1891)

The whole thing occurred in a moment – so quickly that I had no time to realize it. I have a vivid recollection of that instant, of Holmes’s triumphant expression and the ring of his voice, of the cabman’s dazed, savage face, as he glared at the glittering handcuffs, which had appeared as if by magic upon his wrists. For a second or two we might have been a group of statues. Then with an inarticulate roar of fury, the prisoner wrenched himself free from Holmes’s grasp, and hurled himself through the window. Woodwork and glass gave way before him; but before he got quite through, Gregson, Lestrade, and Holmes sprang upon him like so many staghounds. He was dragged back into the room, and then commenced a terrific conflict. So powerful and so fierce was he that the four of us were shaken off again and again. He appeared to have the convulsive strength of a man in an epileptic fit. His face and hands were terribly mangled by his passage through the glass, but the loss of blood had no effect in diminishing his resistance. It was not until Lestrade succeeded in getting his hand inside his neckcloth and half-strangling him that we made him realize that his struggles were of no avail; and even then we felt no security until we had pinioned his feet as well as his hands. That done, we rose to our feet breathless and panting.

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On March 5th…

Illustration by Richard Gutschmidt (1902)

March 5, 1881: Stangerson found stabbed to death at Halliday’s Private Hotel. [STUD]

He stood in the centre of the room, fumbling nervously with his hat and uncertain what to do.

“This is a most extraordinary case,” he said at last – “a most incomprehensible affair.”

“Ah, you find it so, Mr. Lestrade!” cried Gregson, triumphantly. “I thought you would come to that conclusion. Have you managed to find the secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson?”

“The secretary, Mr. Joseph Stangerson,” said Lestrade gravely, “was murdered at Halliday’s Private Hotel about six o’clock this morning.”

Illustration by Richard Gutschmidt (1906)

March 5, 1881: An old “crone” retrieved the woman’s wedding ring advertised as “found” in the ad placed by Holmes. [STUD]

At my summons, instead of the man of violence whom we expected, a very old and wrinkled woman hobbled into the apartment. She appeared to be dazzled by the sudden blaze of light, and after dropping a curtsy, she stood blinking at us with her bleared eyes and fumbling in her pocket with nervous shaky fingers. I glanced at my companion, and his face had assumed such a disconsolate expression that it was all I could do to keep my countenance.

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 ideas out there?

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

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On March 4th… Meet the Irregulars

Sherlock Holmes approached the body, and, kneeling down, examined it intently.

As he spoke, his nimble fingers were flying here, there, and everywhere, feeling, pressing, unbuttoning, examining, while his eyes wore the same far-away expression which I have already remarked upon. So swiftly was the examination made, that one would hardly have guessed the minuteness with which it was conducted. Finally, he sniffed the dead man’s lips, and then glanced at the soles of his patent leather boots. [STUD]

[Illustration by George Wylie Hutchinson for the Ward, Lock, Bowden, & Co 1891 edition of A Study in Scarlet]

March 4, 1881: Drebber was poisoned and died. The body was found in an abandoned flat. A woman’s wedding ring was found there. A German word written in BLOOD was found on a wall. What happened?

Illustration by Richard Gutschmidt (1902)

March 4, 1881: Watson met the Baker Street Irregulars

“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.

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

 

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On March 3rd… The Americans Take Their Leave

“Poor Alice was so frightened that she shrunk away from him, but he caught her by the wrist and endeavoured to draw her towards the door.”

March 3, 1881: Businessmen Drebber and Stangerson bid adieu to Madame Charpentier. [STUD]
This according to one version.

The illustration at right is by George Wylie Hutchinson from the Ward, Lock, Bowden, & Co 1891 edition of A Study in Scarlet.

Intriguing way to say good-bye. If the reader does not remember the details, It could be a good time to reread the story.

Source
A Day by Day Chronology of Mr. Sherlock Holmes by William S Dorn DWNP, BSI

Posted by Chips aka Ron for whom the Game is always Afoot and Selena Buttons, Co-Columnists

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On March 2nd… Beeton’s Birthday

by Julian Portch, photograph of crayon drawing, (circa 1853)

On March 2, 1831, Samuel Orchart Beeton was born in London.

To the rest of the world, if the name Beeton means anything, it brings to mind Isabella Beeton’s classic Book of Household Management, a staple reference for British households for well over a century and, as of this writing, still in print.

In the world of Sherlock Holmes, however, the name means only one thing: Beeton’s Christmas Annual. More specifically, it means the 1887 edition with its image of a boy lighting a lamp and the title, A Study in Scarlet, featured so prominently that it dwarfs all the others, and may as well be the only one in the magazine. Which is, of course, how it should be.

The eponymous publisher of the Christmas Annual did not live to see this particular issue, having died of tuberculous ten years before. He had a rapid rise to the top and just as fast a fall. Before he died, Beeton found himself forced to sell off to Ward, Lock, and Taylor.

Original copies of the magazine are valuable collector’s items, considered “”the most expensive magazine in the world” by the Antique Trader Vintage Magazines Price Guide. A copy sold at Sotheby’s in 2007 for $156,000.

Source
From the great volume A Curious Collection of Dates by Leah Guinn (JHWS “Amber”) and Jaime N Mahoney (JHWS “Tressa”). Additional information from Randall Stock’s “Best of Sherlock Holmes“.

Posted by Chips and Selena Buttons, co-columnists.