Jun 2009

Sumatra - a coolie disease from Sumatra

A planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of Sumatra, now visiting London.

It is a coolie disease from Sumatra — a thing that the Dutch know more about than we, though they have made little of it up to date.
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Rotherhithe, London

He has been working at a case down at Rotherhithe, in an alley near the river, and he has brought this illness back with him.

Simpson's Restaurant, Strand

One of Holmes and Watson’s favourite restaurants.

“When we have finished at the police-station I think that something nutritious at Simpson’s would not be out of place.”
(Sherlock Holmes)
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13 Lower Burke Street

Home of Mr Culverton Smith. Read More...

Staples, butler to Culverton Smith

All was in keeping with a solemn butler who appeared framed in the pink radiance of a tinted electric light behind him.

Victor Savage

Nephew of Culverton Smith who stood between Smith and a reversion. Read More...

Inspector Morton of Scotland Yard

Below, as I stood whistling for a cab, a man came on me through the fog.
“How is Mr. Holmes, sir?” he asked.
It was an old acquaintance, Inspector Morton, of Scotland Yard, dressed in unofficial tweeds.

Dr Aintree

Dr Watson wanted to fetch Dr Aintree to attend Sherlock Holmes as he was considered the greatest living authority upon tropical disease.

Sir Jasper Meek and Penrose Fisher

Two of the best Doctors in London. Dr Watson wanted to fetch one of them to attend Sherlock Holmes.

Culverton Smith

“It may surprise you to know that the man upon earth who is best versed in this disease is not a medical man, but a planter. Mr. Culverton Smith is a well-known resident of Sumatra, now visiting London. An outbreak of the disease upon his plantation, which was distant from medical aid, caused him to study it himself, with some rather far-reaching consequences.” (Sherlock Holmes) Read More...

Jemmy, dark lantern, chisel, revolver

Jemmy - a short crowbar used by a burglar to force open a window or door.
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Chisel-a long-bladed hand tool with a beveled cutting edge and a plain handle
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Dark lantern
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Revolver
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Dress circle

“There were also two dress-circle tickets for the Woolwich Theatre, dated for that very evening.” (Dr Watson)

A curved section or tier of seats in a hall or theater or opera house; usually the first tier above the orchestra.

Curacao

“Then join me in a coffee and curacao. Try one of the proprietor’s cigars.” (Sherlock Holmes)
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Foolscap

“If time hangs heavy get foolscap and a pen, and begin your narrative of how we saved the State.” (Sherlock Holmes)
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Bimetallic question

“We will suppose that a minister needs information as to a point which involves the Navy, India, Canada and the bimetallic question; he could get his separate advices from various departments upon each, but only Mycroft can focus them all, and say offhand how each factor would affect the other.” (Sherlock Holmes)
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Polyphonic Motets of Lassus

As to Holmes, he returned refreshed to his monograph upon the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus, which has since been printed for private circulation, and is said by experts to be the last word upon the subject.
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All the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men

“I’m afraid,” said Holmes, smiling, “that all the queen’s horses and all the queen’s men cannot avail in this matter.”
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Points on the railway line

“Points,” he muttered, “the points.”
“What of it? What do you mean?”
“I suppose there are no great number of points on a system such as this?”
“No; there are very few.”
“And a curve, too. Points, and a curve."
"Is it a coincidence that it is found at the very point where the train pitches and sways as it comes round on the points? Is not that the place where an object upon the roof might be expected to fall off? The points would affect no object inside the train." (Sherlock Holmes)
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Plate-layer

A workman who lays down the rails of a railway and fixes them to the sleepers or ties.
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Area

“We would do better in the area. There is an excellent archway down yonder in case a too zealous policeman should intrude.”
  • A sunken enclosure giving access to the basement of a building often used as a servants’ entrance in Victorian houses.
  • These pictures of Bath, U.K. show the rails of the 'area' which in this instance was at the front of the house.
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  • This photograph of the Jane Austen centre clearly shows the railings round the 'area', the basement windows and the superior front door which the family and their guests would have used.
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Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Judging by its effect upon my brother, I should think it must be a most extraordinary one.” He snuggled down in his armchair. “Now, Watson, let us have the facts.”
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Sherlock Holmes - Character Illustrations

In the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow fog settled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I doubt whether it was ever possible from our windows in Baker Street to see the loom of the opposite houses. The first day Holmes had spent in cross-indexing his huge book of references. The second and third had been patiently occupied upon a subject which he had recently made his hobby — the music of the Middle Ages. But when, for the fourth time, after pushing back our chairs from breakfast we saw the greasy, heavy brown swirl still drifting past us and condensing in oily drops upon the windowpanes, my comrade’s impatient and active nature could endure this drab existence no longer. He paced restlessly about our sitting-room in a fever of suppressed energy, biting his nails, tapping the furniture, and chafing against inaction.
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Sherlock Holmes - Sayings

“I play the game for the game’s own sake,” said he. Read More...

Letter dictated by Sherlock Holmes

Letter dictated by Sherlock Holmes, written by Colonel Valentine Walter and sent to Hugo Oberstein

“DEAR SIR:
“With regard to our transaction, you will no doubt have observed by now that one essential detail is missing. I have a tracing which will make it complete. This has involved me in extra trouble, however, and I must ask you for a further advance of five hundred pounds. I will not trust it to the post, nor will I take anything but gold or notes. I would come to you abroad, but it would excite remark if I left the country at present. Therefore I shall expect to meet you in the smoking-room of the Charing Cross Hotel at noon on Saturday. Remember that only English notes, or gold, will be taken.

Advertisement in Agony column of Daily Telegraph

Advertisement placed in the agony column of the Daily Telegraph by Sherlock Holmes.
To-night. Same hour. Same place. Two taps. Most vitally important. Your own safety at stake.
PIERROT.

Emerald tie pin

Some weeks afterwards I learned incidentally that my friend spent a day at Windsor, whence he returned with a remarkably fine emerald tie-pin.

Short life preserver

"Oberstein had a short life-preserver. He always carried it with him. As West forced his way after us into the house Oberstein struck him on the head. The blow was a fatal one." (Colonel Valentine Walter)
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Envelope containing slips of paper also found in Oberstein's study

There only remained an envelope with some small newspaper slips inside it. He shook them out on the table, and at once I saw by his eager face that his hopes had been raised.

“What’s this, Watson? Eh? What’s this? Record of a series of messages in the advertisements of a paper. Daily Telegraph agony column by the print and paper. Right-hand top corner of a page. No dates — but messages arrange themselves."
(See Letters, Telegrams and Notices etc.)

Cash-box found in study of Hugo Oberstein

It was a small tin cash-box which stood upon the writing-desk. Holmes pried it open with his chisel. Several rolls of paper were within, covered with figures and calculations, without any note to show to what they referred. The recurring words “water pressure” and “pressure to the square inch” suggested some possible relation to a submarine. Holmes tossed them all impatiently aside.

Items Sherlock Holmes instructed Dr Watson to bring with him to Goldini's restaurant

A jemmy, a dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver.

Snapped twigs outside the office at the Woolwich Arsenal

There was a laurel bush outside the window, and several of the branches bore signs of having been twisted or snapped. He examined them carefully with his lens, and then some dim and vague marks upon the earth beneath.

Keys needed to obtain access to the Plans

Three keys needed to obtain the Bruce Partington Plans.

The key of the outer door, the key of the office, and the key of the safe.
Sir James Walter kept all three on the same ring.

Bruce Partington Plans

“Its importance can hardly be exaggerated. It has been the most jealously guarded of all government secrets. You may take it from me that naval warfare becomes impossible within the radius of a Bruce-Partington’s operation. Two years ago a very large sum was smuggled through the Estimates and was expended in acquiring a monopoly of the invention. Every effort has been made to keep the secret. The plans, which are exceedingly intricate, comprising some thirty separate patents, each essential to the working of the whole, are kept in an elaborate safe in a confidential office adjoining the arsenal, with burglarproof doors and windows. Under no conceivable circumstances were the plans to be taken from the office. If the chief constructor of the Navy desired to consult them, even he was forced to go to the Woolwich office for the purpose." (Mycroft Holmes)

Additional items not mentioned in the press.

Additional items found in Cadogan West's pocket which were not mentioned in the press.

"The papers which this wretched youth had in his pocket were the plans of the Bruce-Partington submarine.” (Mycroft Holmes)

Items found in the pocket of Cadogan West

"There is a list here of his possessions. His purse contained two pounds fifteen. He had also a cheque-book on the Woolwich branch of the Capital and Counties Bank. Through this his identity was established. There were also two dress-circle tickets for the Woolwich Theatre, dated for that very evening. Also a small packet of technical papers.” (Dr John Watson)

No ticket in the pocket of Cadogan West

“No ticket! Dear me, Watson, this is really very singular. According to my experience it is not possible to reach the platform of a Metropolitan train without exhibiting one’s ticket." (Sherlock Holmes)

Letter dictated by Sherlock Holmes

Letter dictated by Sherlock Holmes, written by Colonel Valentine Walter and sent to Hugo Oberstein.

“DEAR SIR:
“With regard to our transaction, you will no doubt have observed by now that one essential detail is missing. I have a tracing which will make it complete. This has involved me in extra trouble, however, and I must ask you for a further advance of five hundred pounds. I will not trust it to the post, nor will I take anything but gold or notes. I would come to you abroad, but it would excite remark if I left the country at present. Therefore I shall expect to meet you in the smoking-room of the Charing Cross Hotel at noon on Saturday. Remember that only English notes, or gold, will be taken.”

Advertisement placed in the agony column of the Daily Telegraph by Sherlock Holmes

“To-night. Same hour. Same place. Two taps. Most vitally important. Your own safety at stake.
PIERROT.

Advertisements placed in the agony column of the Daily Telegraph by Hugo Oberstein (Pierott)

“Hoped to hear sooner. Terms agreed to. Write fully to address given on card.
PIERROT. Read More...

Note from Sherlock Holmes to Dr Watson

Am dining at Goldini’s Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington. Please come at once and join me there. Bring with you a jemmy, a dark lantern, a chisel, and a revolver.
S. H.

Note to Sherlock Holmes sent by Mycroft Holmes

Surely enough, a note awaited us at Baker Street. A government messenger had brought it post-haste. Holmes glanced at it and threw it over to me.

There are numerous small fry, but few who would handle so big an affair. The only men worth considering are Adolph Meyer, of 13 Great George Street, Westminster; Louis La Rothiere, of Campden Mansions, Notting Hill; and Hugo Oberstein, 13 Caulfield Gardens, Kensington. The latter was known to be in town on Monday and is now reported as having left. Glad to hear you have seen some light. The Cabinet awaits your final report with the utmost anxiety. Urgent representations have arrived from the very highest quarter. The whole force of the State is at your back if you should need it.
MYCROFT.

Telegram from Sherlock Holmes to his brother Mycroft

At London Bridge, Holmes wrote a telegram to his brother, which he handed to me before dispatching it. It ran thus:

See some light in the darkness, but it may possibly flicker out. Meanwhile, please send by messenger, to await return at Baker Street, a complete list of all foreign spies or international agents known to be in England, with full address.
SHERLOCK.

Telegram from Mycroft Holmes to Sherlock Holmes

Must see you over Cadogan West. Coming at once.
MYCROFT.

Brooks or Woodhouse

“Suppose that I were Brooks or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who have good reason for taking my life, how long could I survive against my own pursuit?"
  • Not strictly Untold Cases but obviously cases in which Holmes had been involved.

Greek Interpreter

The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter. A previous story in the Canon.

Windsor

Some weeks afterwards I learned incidentally that my friend spent a day at Windsor, whence he returned with a remarkably fine emerald tie-pin. When I asked him if he had bought it, he answered that it was a present from a certain gracious lady in whose interests he had once been fortunate enough to carry out a small commission.
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Charing Cross Hotel

Where Colonel Walter, under the direction Sherlock Holmes, arranged to meet Hugo Oberstein.
‘I shall expect to meet you in the smoking-room of the Charing Cross Hotel at noon on Saturday.’
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Hotel du Louvre, Paris

Forwarding address left with Colonel Walter by Hugo Oberstein.
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Stock Exchange

“A Stock Exchange debt had to be paid. I needed the money badly.” (Colonel Valentine Walter)
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Offices of the Daily Telegraph

“I think we might drive round to the offices of the Daily Telegraph, and so bring a good day’s work to a conclusion.” (Sherlock Holmes)
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Gloucester Road Station

I began my operations at Gloucester Road Station, where a very helpful official walked with me along the track and allowed me to satisfy myself not only that the back-stair windows of Caulfield Gardens open on the line but the even more essential fact that, owing to the intersection of one of the larger railways, the Underground trains are frequently held motionless for some minutes at that very spot.” (Sherlock Holmes)

Lestrade and Mycroft met us by appointment at the outside of Gloucester Road Station.
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West End, London

A famous area of London.
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Goldini's Restaurant, Gloucester Road, Kensington

The garish Italian restaurant where Holmes dined during the investigation and arranged for Watson to join him with various burglary tools.
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13 Caulfield Gardens, Kensington

Home of Hugo Oberstein. This is a fictional address.

It is a considerable house, unfurnished, so far as I could judge, in the upper rooms. Oberstein lived there with a single valet, who was probably a confederate entirely in his confidence.
Caulfield Gardens was one of those lines of flat-faced, pillared, and porticoed houses which are so prominent a product of the middle Victorian epoch in the West End of London.
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Campden Mansions, Notting Hill

Home of Louis La Rothiere mentioned by Mycroft Holmes in his note to Sherlock Holmes. (see Letters, telegrams, notices etc.)
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13 Great George Street, Westminster

Home of Adolph Meyer mentioned by Mycroft Holmes in his note of Sherlock Holmes (see Messages and Rituals)
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  • This house would be have been demolished when this story was written, but still standing in 1895 when it took place.

Woolwich Station

He (Sherlock Holmes) relapsed into a silent reverie, which lasted until the slow train drew up at last in Woolwich Station.
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London Bridge

“Aldgate, where the body was found, is considerably past the station for London Bridge, which would be his route to Woolwich.”
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Barclay Square, London

Where Admiral Sinclair had a house and where Sir James Walter dined on the evening of the incident.
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  • (There is not a Barclay Square in London, but since Berkeley and Barclay are pronounced very much the same in English, perhaps ACD was thinking of this famous square.)

Admiralty

“As to the Admiralty — it is buzzing like an overturned bee-hive.” (Mycroft Holmes)
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Siam

“In the present state of Siam it is most awkward that I should be away from the office.” (Mycroft Holmes)
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Woolwich Theatre

There were also (in the pocket of Cadogan West) two dress-circle tickets for the Woolwich Theatre, dated for that very evening.
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Woolwich Branch of the Capital and Counties Bank

He had also a cheque-book on the Woolwich branch of the Capital and Counties Bank.
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Metropolitan line/Willesden and outlying junctions

“The trains which traverse the lines of rail beside which the body was found are those which run from west to east, some being purely Metropolitan, and some from Willesden and outlying junctions."
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Aldgate Station Underground system

Where Cadogan West’s body was found.
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Woolwich Arsenal

Where Arthur Cadogan West worked and where the plans of the Bruce-Partington submarine were kept.
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Hugo Oberstein

Foreign spy and murderer of Arthur Cadogan West.

Known to be in town on Monday and is now reported as having left.

Clerk in the Ticket Office at Woolwich station

Who was able to say with confidence that he saw Cadogan West — whom he knew well by sight — upon the Monday night, and that he went to London by the 8:15 to London Bridge. He was alone and took a single third-class ticket. The clerk was struck at the time by his excited and nervous manner. So shaky was he that he could hardly pick up his change, and the clerk had helped him with it.

Night watchman at the Woolwich Arsenal

He is an old soldier and a most trustworthy man.

Mother of Arthur Cadogan West

The old lady was too dazed with grief to be of any use to us.

Unknown passenger

“A passenger who passed Aldgate in an ordinary Metropolitan train about 11:40 on Monday night declares that he heard a heavy thud, as of a body striking the line, just before the train reached the station.” ((nspector Lestrade)

Old gentleman who represented the railway company

A courteous red-faced old gentleman represented the railway company.
Read More...

Mr Sidney Johnson

Senior clerk and draughtsman at the Woolwich Arsenal. Read More...

Admiral Sinclair of Barclay Square

Sir James Walter dined at his house on the evening the incident occurred.

Sir James Walter

"The actual official guardian of the papers is the famous government expert, Sir James Walter. whose decorations and sub-titles fill two lines of a book of reference. He has grown gray in the service, is a gentleman, a favoured guest in the most exalted houses, and, above all, a man whose patriotism is beyond suspicion." (Mycroft Holmes)
Read More...

Mason, a plate-layer

“His dead body was discovered by a plate-layer named Mason, just outside Aldgate Station on the Underground system in London.”
  • A workman who lays down the rails of a railway and fixes them to the sleepers or ties.
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Miss Violet Westbury

Fiancee of Arthur Cadogan West. He left her in the fog about 7.30 on the evening of his death. Read More...

Colonel Valentine Walter

Younger brother of Sir James Walter.

A very tall, handsome, lightbearded man of fifty.

Inspector Lestrade

Thin and austere.

Arthur Cadogan West

"The young man who was found dead on the Underground on Tuesday morning.” Read More...

Mycroft Holmes

“Well, well! What next?” said he. “Brother Mycroft is coming round.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Why not? It is as if you met a tram-car coming down a country lane. Mycroft has his rails and he runs on them. His Pall Mall lodgings, the Diogenes Club, Whitehall — that is his cycle. Once, and only once, he has been here. What upheaval can possibly have derailed him?” Read More...

Wagner and Covent Garden

“Well, Watson, you have one more specimen of the tragic and grotesque to add to your collection. By the way, it is not eight o’clock, and a Wagner night at Covent Garden! If we hurry, we might be in time for the second act.”
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Journeys end with lovers' meetings

Feste:
"Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know."
Twelfth Night (II, iii, 44-45)(William Shakespeare)
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Kid gloves

Gloves made from kid (young goat) leather were very commonly worn from the nineteenth to the early twentieth century.

Daily Gazette

There was no Daily Gazette in London at the time but there was the Pall Mall Gazette. The ‘Pall Mall’ was mentioned by Sherlock Holmes in ‘The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.’
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Sherlock Holmes - Character Illustrations

Holmes was accessible upon the side of flattery, and also, to do him justice, upon the side of kindliness. Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“It opens a pleasing field for intelligent speculation. The words are written with a broad-pointed, violet-tinted pencil of a not unusual pattern. You will observe that the paper is torn away at the side here after the printing was done, so that the s of ‘SOAP’ is partly gone. Suggestive, Watson, is it not?”
“Of caution?”
“Exactly. There was evidently some mark, some thumbprint, something which might give a clue to the person’s identity.”
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Sayings

“Why should you go further in it? What have you to gain from it?” (Watson)
“What, indeed? It is art for art’s sake, Watson. I suppose when you doctored you found yourself studying cases without thought of a fee?”
“For my education, Holmes.”
“Education never ends, Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last. This is an instructive case. There is neither money nor credit in it, and yet one would wish to tidy it up.”

Deception practised on Mrs Warren

Gennaro Lucca rented rooms from Mrs Warren, but then left and it was his wife who returned to occupy the rooms.

"The first thing that strikes one is the obvious possibility that the person now in the rooms may be entirely different from the one who engaged them.”
"Was it not suggestive that the only time the lodger went out was immediately after his taking the rooms? He came back — or someone came back — when all witnesses were out of the way." (Sherlock Holmes)

Disc with red circle

Disc with the red circle on it which was drawn by Gennaro Lucca at the meeting of the Red Circle, and meant that he was chosen to dynamite the house of his friend, benefactor and employer, Snr Castalotte.

Black kid glove

Black kid glove which lay on the floor by the body of Black Gorgiano. (It is not clear whether this belonged to Gorgiano or Gennaro Lucca)


Two edged dagger

Two edged dagger which lay on the floor by the right hand of Black Gorgiano. (It is not clear whether Gorgiano was killed with this dagger or whether it was one with which he had tried to defend himself)

Matches and cigarette end

The landlady drew an envelope from her bag; from it she shook out two burnt matches and a cigarette-end upon the table.

“They were on his tray this morning. I brought them because I had heard that you can read great things out of small ones.”

Messages flashed by candlelight by Sherlock Holmes

Holmes had stepped across, had lit the candle, and was passing it backward and forward across the window-panes.

“Your cipher was not difficult, madam. Your presence here was desirable. I knew that I had only to flash ‘Vieni’ and you would surely come.”

Messages flashed by candlelight by Gennaro Lucca

Messages flashed by candlelight from Gennaro Lucca to his wife, Emilia.

“A single flash — that is A, surely. Now, then. How many did you make it? Twenty. So did I. That should mean T. AT — that’s intelligible enough! Another T. Surely this is the beginning of a second word. Now, then — TENTA. Dead stop. That can’t be all, Watson? ATTENTA gives no sense. Nor is it any better as three words AT, TEN, TA, unless T. A. are a person’s initials. There it goes again! What’s that? ATTE why, it is the same message over again. Curious, Watson, very curious! Now he is off once more! AT — why, he is repeating it for the third time. ATTENTA three times!”
“PERICOLO pericolo — eh, what’s that, Watson? ‘Danger,’ isn’t it? Yes, by Jove, it’s a danger signal. There he goes again!” (Sherlock Holmes)

Advertisements in the Daily Gazette

‘Be patient. Will find some sure means of communication. Meanwhile, this column. G.’ Read More...

Notes left by Emilia Lucca for Mrs Warren

Notes left for Mrs Warren by Emilia Lucca.

“Yes, sir; prints it in pencil. Just the word, nothing more. Here’s one I brought to show you — SOAP. Here’s another — MATCH. This is one he left the first morning — DAILY GAZETTE. I leave that paper with his breakfast every morning.” (Mrs Warren)

Long Island Cave Mystery

Long Island Cave Mystery. A case of Mr Leverton of Pinkerton's American Agency rather than that of Sherlock Holmes, Nevertheless Holmes was aware of the case and had heard of Mr Leverton because of it.

The Case of Mr Fairdale Hobbs

“You arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year,” she said — “Mr. Fairdale Hobbs.”
"He would never cease talking of it — your kindness, sir, and the way in which you brought light into the darkness." (Mrs Warren)

Covent Garden

A Wagner night at Covent Garden.
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Brooklyn, New York

“We had taken and furnished a little house in Brooklyn, and our whole future seemed assured when that black cloud appeared which was soon to overspread our sky.” (Emilia Lucca)
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Bowery, New York

“Gennaro was able to do a service to an Italian gentleman— he saved him from some ruffians in the place called the Bowery.”
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Bari

“We fled together, were married at Bari, and sold my jewels to gain the money which would take us to America. This was four years ago, and we have been in New York ever since.” (Emilia Lucca)
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Posilippo, Near Naples

Birthplace of Emilia Lucca.

“I was born in Posilippo, near Naples,” said she, “and was the daughter of Augusto Barelli, who was the chief lawyer and once the deputy of that part.”
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Bloomsbury

An area of London around the British Museum and where Mrs Warren had her lodging house.
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Howe Street

Howe Street, with its more pretentious houses. Holmes pointed with a chuckle to one of these, a row of residential flats, which projected so that they could not fail to catch the eye.
“See, Watson!” said he. “‘High red house with stone facings.’ There is the signal station all right.”

It was in one of these houses that Giuseppe Gorgiano was murdered.

Great Orme Street

Great Orme Street, where Mrs Warren had her lodging house.

‘A narrow throughfare at the northeast side of the British Museum’ -there is no Gt. Orme Street, but Gt. Ormond Street is not far from the British Museum.

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath where Mr Warren was left after being kipnapped by two (or three) men.

“Two men came up behind him, threw a coat over his head, and bundled him into a cab that was beside the curb. They drove him an hour, and then opened the door and shot him out. He lay in the roadway so shaken in his wits that he never saw what became of the cab. When he picked himself up he found he was on Hampstead Heath.” (Mrs Warren)
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Tottenham Court Road

Premises of Morton and Waylight where Mr Warren worked as a timkeeper.
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Tito Castalotte

“The senior partner of the great firm of Castalotte and Zamba, who are the chief fruit importers of New York. Signor Zamba is an invalid, and our new friend Castalotte has all power within the firm, which employs more than three hundred men.”
"Signor Castalotte was a bachelor, and I believe that he felt as if Gennaro was his son, and both my husband and I loved him as if he were our father." (Emilia Lucca)

Mr Leverton of Pinkerton's American Agency

“The hero of the Long Island cave mystery?” said Holmes. “Sir, I am pleased to meet you.”
The American, a quiet, businesslike young man, with a clean-shaven, hatchet face, flushed up at the words of commendation.
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Morton and Waylight

Morton and Waylight, in Tottenham Court Road where Mr Warren was employed as a timekeeper.

Mr Warren

Husband of Mrs Warren, the Landlady, and a timekeeper at Morton and Waylight’s, in Tottenham Court Road.

Gennaro Lucca

“He had neither money nor position — nothing but his beauty and strength and energy.”(Emilia Lucca)

Husband of Emilia Lucca and murderer of Black Gorgiano.

Emilia Lucca

There, framed in the doorway, was a tall and beautiful woman — the mysterious lodger of Bloomsbury.

Wife of Gennaro Lucca.

Giuseppe Gorgiano

Black Gorgiano of the Red Circle.
“Oh, he has a European fame, has he? Well, we’ve learned all about him in America. We know he is at the bottom of fifty murders, and yet we have nothing positive we can take him on. I tracked him over from New York, and I’ve been close to him for a week in London, waiting some excuse to get my hand on his collar.” (Mr Leverton) Read More...

Mrs Warren-Landlady

Landlady who consulted Sherlock Holmes about her strange new tenant.

Strand Publication

When first published in the Strand Magazine this story was entitled 'A Reminiscence of Mr Sherlock Holmes. 1.- The Singular Experience of Mr John Scott Eccles' and '2.- The Tiger of San Pedro.' The title 'The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge' came into being when the story was printed in book form.

Spud

  • A spud: a small, narrow spade for cutting the roots of plants.

Quotation from Eckermann

Quotation from Eckermann’s Voodooism and the Negroid Religions: (This book is fictional)
  • ‘The true voodoo-worshipper attempts nothing of importance without certain sacrifices which are intended to propitiate his unclean gods. In extreme cases these rites take the form of human sacrifices followed by cannibalism. The more usual victims are a white cock, which is plucked in pieces alive, or a black goat, whose throat is cut and body burned.’

Clothing found at Wisteria Lodge

A good deal of clothing with the stamp of Marx and Co., High Holborn, had been left behind. Telegraphic inquiries had been already made which showed that Marx knew nothing of his customer save that he was a good payer.

Names and addresses of neighbours supplied by Allan Brothers

Lord Harringby, The Dingle;
Sir George Ffolliott, Oxshott Towers;
Mr. Hynes Hynes, J.P., Purdey Place;
Mr. James Baker Williams, Forton Old Hall;
Mr. Henderson, High Gable;
Rev. Joshua Stone, Nether Walsling.

Sherlock Holmes - Deductions

“Pray sit down, Mr. Scott Eccles,” said Holmes in a soothing voice. “May I ask, in the first place, why you came to me at all?”
“Well, sir, it did not appear to be a matter which concerned the police, and yet, when you have heard the facts, you must admit that I could not leave it where it was. Private detectives are a class with whom I have absolutely no sympathy, but none the less, having heard your name —”
“Quite so. But, in the second place, why did you not come at once?”
“What do you mean?”
Holmes glanced at his watch.
“It is a quarter-past two,” he said. “Your telegram was dispatched about one. But no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking.”
Our client smoothed down his unbrushed hair and felt his unshaven chin.
Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Character Illustrations

“My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built. Life is commonplace; the papers are sterile; audacity and romance seem to have passed forever from the criminal world. Can you ask me, then, whether I am ready to look into any new problem, however trivial it may prove?” Read More...

Sherlock Holmes - Sayings

“Man or woman?” I (Watson) asked.
“Oh, man, of course. No woman would ever send a reply-paid telegram. She would have come.” Read More...

Mr Henderson, Mr Lucas and Miss Burnet

“Henderson,” the inspector answered, “is Don Murillo, once called the Tiger of San Pedro.” (Juan Murillo)
Read More...

Strange items found in the kitchen at Wisteria Lodge

‘He held up his candle before an extraordinary object which stood at the back of the dresser. It was so wrinkled and shrunken and withered that it was difficult to say what it might have been. One could but say that it was black and leathery and that it bore some resemblance to a dwarfish, human figure. At first, as I examined it, I thought that it was a mummified negro baby, and then it seemed a very twisted and ancient monkey. Finally I was left in doubt as to whether it was animal or human. A double band of white shells was strung round the centre of it.
In silence Baynes led the way to the sink and held forward his candle. The limbs and body of some large, white bird, torn savagely to pieces with the feathers still on, were littered all over it. Holmes pointed to the wattles on the severed head.
“A white cock,” said he. “Most interesting! It is really a very curious case.”
But Mr. Baynes had kept his most sinister exhibit to the last. From under the sink he drew a zinc pail which contained a quantity of blood. Then from the table he took a platter heaped with small pieces of charred bone.’

Telegram from John Scott Eccles

Telegram sent by John Scott Eccles to Sherlock Holmes.

“Have just had most incredible and grotesque experience. May I consult you?
“Scott Eccles,
“Post-Office, Charing Cross.”

Note from Miss Burnet

Contents of note sent by Miss Burnet to Garcia.

“Our own colours, green and white. Green open, white
shut. Main stair, first corridor, seventh right, green baize.
Godspeed. D.”


Colonel Carruthers

“My dear Watson, you know how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers.” (Sherlock Holmes)

Five Orange Pips

Another story in the Canon.

Redheaded League

Previous story in the Canon.

Hotel Escurial, Madrid

It was here that the Marquess of Montalva and Signor Rulli, his secretary, were both murdered in their rooms.
aka Mr Henderson
aka Juan Murillo

aka Mr Lucas
aka Lopez

Curzon Square and Edmonton Street

The route by which Mr Henderson and Mr Lucas threw their pursuer of track by entering a lodging-house in Edmonton Street and leaving by the back-gate into Curzon Square.

Guildford Asizes

The Assize Court where Inspector Baynes hoped Mr Henderson and Mr Lucas would be tried for their crime.
This would have been the nearest County Criminal Court at the time.
See also:

San Pedro, Central America

Where Don Murillo, Tiger of San Pedro held a reign of terror for ten or twelve years.

High Gable

The famous old Jacobean grange of High Gable, one mile on the farther side of Oxshott, and less than half a mile from the scene of the tragedy.
Home of Mr Henderson and his family.

Bull Inn, Esher

Holmes and Watson stayed at the Bull Inn, Esher while investigating this case.
  • There is a Bear Inn, High Street, Esher. Perhaps Watson got the name wrong!
See also:

British Museum

Holmes spent a morning in the British Museum looking up Voodoo and Negroid Religions.
See also:

Oxshott Common

Where Aloysius Garcia was found murdered.
See also:

Albemarle Mansion, Kensington

Home of Melville where Scott Eccles first met Garcia.

Popham House, Lee, Kent

Home of John Scott Eccles. Lee is in north west Kent, U.K.

Wisteria Lodge, Near Esher

The house was a fair-sized one, standing back from the road, with a curving drive which was banked with high evergreen shrubs. It was an old, tumble-down building in a crazy state of disrepair. When the trap pulled up on the grass-grown drive in front of the blotched and weather-stained door, I had doubts as to my wisdom in visiting a man whom I knew so slightly.
See also:

Charing Cross Post Office

Mr John Scott Eccles sent a telegram to Holmes from here and Inspector Gregson and Inspector Baynes followed Scott Eccles from there to 221b Baker Street.

Allan Brothers

Chief land agents in the village to whom Holmes applied for details of local wealthy residents.

Melville

A retired brewer living at Albemarle Mansion, Kensington where Scott Eccles first met Garcia.

Jose

Private servant to the Henderson family.

John Warner

Former gardner at High Gable sacked in a moment of temper by his imperious employer, and ultimate rescuer of Miss Burnet.

Daughters of Mr Henderson

Girls of eleven and thirteen.

Constable Downing

Badly bitten by the mulatto during the arrest of the same.

“He chewed Downing’s thumb nearly off before they could master him.” (Inspector Baynes)

Manservant to Garcia

A melancholy, swarthy individual.

Mulatto cook

“A perfect savage, as strong as a cart-horse and as fierce as the devil. He hardly speaks a word of English, and we can get nothing out of him but grunts.” (Inspector Baynes)
See also:

Constable Walters

The Police Constable left on duty at Wisteria Lodge by Inspector Baynes.

Inspector Gregson

An energetic, gallant, and, within his limitations, a capable officer.

Miss Burnet

An Englishwoman of forty or thereabouts.. Governess to Mr Henderson’s two children-girls of eleven and thirteen. Read More...

Mr Lopez

A foreigner, chocolate brown, wily, suave, and cat-like, with a poisonous gentleness of speech.
Read More...

Mr Henderson of High Gable

He is a man of fifty, strong, active, with iron-gray hair, great bunched black eyebrows, the step of a deer, and the air of an emperor — a fierce, masterful man, with a red-hot spirit behind his parchment face. He is either a foreigner or has lived long in the tropics, for he is yellow and sapless, but tough as whipcord. Read More...

Aloysius Garcia

He was, I understood, of Spanish descent and connected in some way with the embassy. He spoke perfect English, was pleasing in his manners, and as good-looking a man as ever I saw in my life. (John Scott Eccles)

Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary

The country detective was a stout, puffy, red man, whose face was only redeemed from grossness by two extraordinarily bright eyes, almost hidden behind the heavy creases of cheek and brow.

Mr John Scott Eccles

Mr John Scott Eccles of Popham House, Lee was a stout, tall, gray-whiskered and solemnly respectable person. His life history was written in his heavy features and pompous manner. From his spats to his gold-rimmed spectacles he was a Conservative, a churchman, a good citizen, orthodox and conventional to the last degree.