April 24, 1891: Holmes was attacked by Moriarty’s henchmen (FINA)
On May 6th…
May 6th 1891: Account of Holmes’s death appeared in the Journal de Geneve. (FINA)
May 6th 1902: Holmes and Watson took the train to Shoscombe Old Place (SHOS)
On May 3rd…
May 3rd 1891: Holmes and Watson arrived in Meiringen. (FINA)
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”
April: A Busy Month
Our good and loyal Charter Member, Kumar Bhatia “Bobbie” sends along this compendium of April from the Canon:
Dear Friends:
April is here. A rather busy month it was as Watson tells us!
“It was early April in the year ’83, that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed . . . .”
–Dr Watson, “The Speckled Band”
“On referring to my notes, I see that it was on the 14th of April, that I received a telegram from Lyons, which informed me that Holmes was lying ill, in the Hotel Dulong . . . . .”
–Dr Watson, “The Reigate Squires”
“It was with some surprise that I saw him walk into my consulting room, upon the evening of the 24th of April. It stuck me that he was looking even paler and thinner than usual . . . .”
–Dr Watson, “The Final Problem”
“. . . . and now at the close of April, I find myself in such a position through your continual persecution that I am in positive danger of losing my liberty. . . .”
–Prof Moriarty, “The Final Problem”
“ . . . . such was the remarkable narrative to which I listened on that April evening, a narrative which would have been utterly incredible to me, had it not been confirmed by the actual sight of the tall spare figure and the keen eager face which I had never
thought to see again.”
–Dr Watson, “The Empty House”
Watson makes mention of a few other occurrences in the month of April, which I leave to our fellow members to post; however, I cannot but resist sharing with my fellow Sherlockians, the most ominous of them all. I quote from: The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes – The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle by John Dickson Carr.
“But he [Doyle] had another task before that. At Norwood on April 6th, 1893, sitting by the fire with a cold in his head, idly reading Pride and Prejudice, while legions of painters bumped the outside of the house, he put aside the book and wrote a letter to the Ma’am. “All is well down here; I am in the middle of the last Holmes story, after which the gentleman vanishes, never to return! I am weary of his name.”
Kumar Bhatia, JHWS “Bobbi”