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Joining forces

The mysterious dark man spotted by Watson turns out to be Holmes’s rival, the private investigator Mr. Barker, who has been hired by Dr. Ernest’s family. Unusually, the

Burglary has always been an alternative profession had I cared to adopt it… Sherlock Holmes

two join forces, handing over the murderer to Inspector MacKinnon of Scotland Yard. Holmes instructs the inspector to look for conclusive evidence of the murder around the house, including in a disused well, and the bodies are duly discovered. The inspector shows his genuine respect for Holmes when he states, with admirable understatement, that “it’s as workmanlike a job as I can remember.”

Amberley’s approach to the authorities, and latterly Holmes, was “Pure swank”—the murderer had complete confidence that he would not be outwitted by either the police or the renowned detective.

Broadmoor

As Holmes suggests, Amberley may plead “not guilty by reason of insanity” and be sentenced to a life of incarceration rather than hanging. During the 19th century, there was a growing awareness that mentally ill criminals required different treatment from common felons, and the Criminal Lunatics Act of 1800 allowed them to be detained indefinitely.

The Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, in Crowthorne, Berkshire, opened its doors in 1863 and was the first custom-

Motives and madness

Holmes observes that Amberley’s mind was deranged by jealousy, and it is probably no coincidence that Amberley used green paint (the color associated with jealousy) to mask the smell of gas emanating from the murder chamber. Holmes sees the extreme cruelty of the murder as a sure sign of madness, and suggests that Amberley is more likely to end up in the Broadmoor asylum than on the gallows.

This story is lighter and more playful in tone than the melancholy of the opening would have the reader believe. Assigning Watson an investigative role inevitably leads to some witty banter between the two friends, as they contrast their abilities. Holmes is depicted at his enterprising best as a hyper-observant cat burglar, and the police are, as usual, left flat-footed. Although Holmes has solved the crime, he does not seek public recognition, and seemingly enjoys reading accounts of the case that credit the police with solving the mystery. However, he still suggests, in his wry way, that Watson make a record of the events, saying, “Some day the true story may be told.” ■

built institution for such cases. It was self-sufficient, with its own farmland and workshops operated by inmates. Men and women were segregated and underwent a routine of work, exercise, and rest. The hospital was managed by a medical superintendent and two doctors, and assisted by a staff of 100 non-medical attendants.

Today, Broadmoor still has “special hospital” status, but no longer treats women. Men who are a high risk to themselves, or to others, are treated at this high-security facility.

IN CONTEXT

TYPE

Short story

FIRST PUBLICATION

US: January 1927 UK: February 1927

COLLECTION

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, 1927

CHARACTERS Eugenia Ronder Former circus performer.

Mr. Ronder Eugenia’s late husband, a circus showman.

Leonardo Circus strong man and Eugenia’s late lover.

Mrs. Merrilow Eugenia’s landlady, who approaches Holmes on her behalf.

PATIENT SUFFERING

IS IN ITSELF THE

MOST PRECIOUS OF

ALL LESSONS

THE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGER (1927)

U

nusually for a Holmes story, this tragic tale of love and revenge hinges almost entirely on a confession rather than any detection. Holmes is not the analytical and deductive genius in this case, but a priestlike listener, whose role is simply to provide compassion and absolution to a spiritually tormented woman.

A woman with a past

In late 1896, Holmes is approached by a landlady, Mrs. Merrilow, who is worried about one of her tenants— a peculiarly reclusive woman named

The traveling circus

The first circus in England was started in 1768 by an ex-cavalry officer named Philip Astley, and was entirely focused on displays of horsemanship. Increasingly, bands of roving performers roamed from town to town. Gradually, tightrope walking, acrobatics, and clowning were introduced, and many circuses advertised their arrival with an impressive parade.

By the late 19th century, the circus had become a truly great and magnificent spectacle. The

Eugenia Ronder, who wears a permanent veil to hide her facial deformities. She seems to be “wasting away” and has been crying out “Murder!” in her sleep. The landlady has suggested that if Eugenia has any secrets to divulge, she should see a member of the clergy, the police, or Sherlock Holmes—and Eugenia chooses to meet with the latter.

Holmes tells Watson he remembers reading about the case of Eugenia. She had worked for the circus, and married the lion tamer and proprietor of a

American Barnum and Bailey Circus, which toured Europe from 1897 to 1902, thrilled its audiences with trick riding, juggling, and trapeze acts, as well as human freak shows. Another highlight was the performing elephants, lions, and other exotic creatures (by then there was an international trade in wild animals tamed for circuses). Animals toured with British circuses until fairly recently, but today a legal ban on their use is impending.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGER 287

A fearless lion-tamer performing at L’Hippodrome in Paris in 1891. Theatrical and daring performances involving wild animals were typically among the most popular circus acts.

traveling “wild beast” show. One night, seven years previously, the lion had escaped and attacked Eugenia, mutilating her face and mauling her husband to death, crushing his head with its claws. However, the police investigation left many questions unanswered, and Holmes says that he found the eventual verdict of “death from misadventure” unsatisfactory.

The secret unveiled

Holmes and Watson arrive at Eugenia’s lodgings, where she reveals her long-held secret. Her husband had been a violent drunk who inflicted physical and emotional humiliation on her, and was cruel toward both human and animal members of his troupe.

Leonardo, the show’s strong man, was Ronder’s polar opposite— attractive and confident. Eugenia fell in love with Leonardo, and soon they were plotting to rid themselves of her keeper. The smitten strong man created an ingenious weapon, a cudgel with five nails spaced to resemble a lion’s claw. One night, as Ronder went out to feed the lion, Leonardo felled his rival with a lacerating blow to the head.

In accordance with their plan, Eugenia freed the lion from its cage, hoping it would be blamed for her husband’s death. But the beast leapt at her, sinking its teeth into her face, and Leonardo ran away in terror. After Eugenia was rescued, she kept quiet about Leonardo’s role in Ronder’s death; despite his desertion, she still loved him.

A life saved

Eugenia had lost her beauty, her lover, and her livelihood, and chose to disappear into obscurity. Recently, however, having learned of Leonardo’s death, she had felt an urge to confess. Her testimony elicits great sympathy from Holmes. Astutely sensing that Eugenia is contemplating suicide, which was illegal at the time, he admonishes her: “Your life is not your own… Keep your hands off it.” Two days later, Eugenia sends Holmes a bottle containing a deadly poison; the accompanying note indicates that she has chosen to live.

The story describes both a literal act of unveiling—Eugenia revealing her face to Holmes—and

No words can describe the framework of a face when the face itself is gone.

Dr. Watson

a symbolic one: lies being cast aside to reveal the truth. Ronder trapped his wife in a cage of his own devising, for his own pleasure; and when the lion destroyed her life, Eugenia crawled like a wounded animal into her own cage—the sequestered lodging house. In freeing the lion, Eugenia also liberated her murderous hatred of her husband, but with terrible, lifelong consequences.

At its heart, this story is about Eugenia’s entrapment in an abusive marriage. The plight of women who were utterly powerless to change their fates was a theme common to many Holmes stories, including “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange” (pp.198–201). ■

Triangle of abuse and betrayal

Kills

Mr. Ronder Leonardo

Husband Employs Wife’s lover

Betrays Loves Abuses Betrays

Eugenia Ronder

Wife

IN CONTEXT

TYPE

Short story

FIRST PUBLICATION

US: March 1927 UK: April 1927

COLLECTION

The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes, 1927

CHARACTERS

Sir Robert Norberton

Volatile master of Shoscombe Old Place.

Lady Beatrice Falder

Sir Robert’s invalid sister.

John Mason Sir Robert’s head trainer.

Mrs. Norlett Lady Beatrice’s maid.

Mr. Norlett Mrs. Norlett’s husband, an actor.

Stephens Sir Robert’s butler.

Josiah Barnes Landlord of the Green Dragon inn.

Sandy Bain Jockey.

IT IS ONLY THE

COLOURLESS

UNEVENTFUL CASE

WHICH IS HOPELESS

THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE

OLD PLACE (1927)

T

he very last of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories, “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place” was published three years before Conan Doyle died at the age of 71, and so it is a farewell to Holmes. The story begins by showing the great detective very much looking to the future as he exhibits his masterful grasp of forensic science. As the case unfolds, however, Holmes needs his powers of deduction far more than forensic science— essentially because there is no crime scene to speak of. The thrill of the tale hinges on the potential for a really nasty crime to have been committed.

Master of forensics

As the story opens, Holmes, with the aid of a microscope, identifies minute blobs of glue on a cap found beside a murdered policeman at St. Pancras station, a clue that strongly implicates a picture-frame maker who has denied the cap is his.

Holmes was at the forefront of his profession in using forensic science this way. A pioneer in the use of trace evidence such as shoe prints, minute marks and scratches, and traces of blood, mud, organic matter, and other particles such as glue, Holmes’s technique emphasized the minute study of a crime scene to yield tiny clues. This method is now the centerpiece of modern forensic investigation.

It is no coincidence that the great real-life visionary of forensic science, Dr. Edmond Locard (1877– 1966), came to be known as the “Sherlock Holmes of France.” Locard’s cardinal rule was that “every contact leaves a trace.” Known as “Locard’s exchange principle,” this simple statement—

Dr. Edmond Locard (1877–1966) was a pioneering French scientist who established the first police laboratory in 1910, although its work was not officially recognized until 1912.

THE ADVENTURE OF SHOSCOMBE OLD PLACE 289

The Derby Day (1856–1858) by William Powell Frith depicts a scene Sir Robert would have been familiar with. The work was so popular that the Royal Academy added a rail to control crowds.

which might have been made by Holmes himself—argues that every criminal brings something to a crime scene, and takes something away—however miniscule.

The facts of the case

Shortly after Holmes correctly identifies the blobs of glue, he receives a visit from John Mason, the head trainer at Shoscombe Old Place, a grand country estate in Berkshire. Mason is worried about the behavior of his master, the rakish Sir Robert Norberton. A notorious spendthrift, Sir Robert is in a deep financial hole. To clear his debts, he is relying on his prize racehorse, Shoscombe Prince, to win the prestigious upcoming Epsom Derby at falsely long odds (he has cleverly misled watching touts with the horse’s much slower half-brother on morning gallops).

Mason is concerned about other recent events, however. Why have Sir Robert and his reclusive and invalid sister—to whom he has always been devoted—suddenly stopped meeting? Why has Sir Robert given away her beloved pet spaniel to the landlord of a local inn, the Green Dragon? Why does Sir Robert meet a mysterious person in the haunted family crypt under the old ruined chapel late at night? Where did the mummy’s head and bones that Mason and Sir Robert’s butler, Stephens, found in the crypt come from? And finally, why was there a charred fragment of human leg bone among the ashes from the central-heating furnace in the cellar under Lady Beatrice’s room?

Fishing for clues

With that last grim question, Holmes is hooked. Have Sir Robert and an as yet unidentified accomplice murdered Lady Beatrice and burned her body? Pretending to be vacationing fishermen, Holmes and Watson check in to the Green Dragon inn, where the landlord, Josiah Barnes, warns them about Sir Robert. “He’s the sort who strikes first and speaks afterwards,” he says. Undeterred, they offer to take the landlord’s spaniel, once owned by Lady Beatrice, for a walk, and head straight for Shoscombe Old Place, timing their arrival to coincide with her daily coach excursion. As the coach slows down by the gate of the estate, Holmes releases the dog. It dashes toward the coach enthusiastically, then suddenly starts barking furiously ❯❯

These are deep waters, Mr. Mason; deep and rather dirty. Sherlock Holmes

290 THE FINAL DEDUCTIONS

Sir Robert is a man of an honourable stock. But you do occasionally find a carrion crow among the eagles... He could not fly the country until he had realized his fortune

Sherlock Holmes

at its occupants—supposedly Lady Beatrice and her maid, Mrs. Norlett. But from behind “Lady Beatrice’s” shawls, Watson and Holmes hear a harsh man’s voice shouting, “Drive on! Drive on!” As Holmes observes, “We have added one card to our hand, Watson, but it needs careful playing, all the same.”

Later that evening, the pair visit the crypt. The bones Mason saw are gone; Holmes speculates they have been burned in the furnace, along with the rest of the skeleton. Just

The role of the coroner

The coroner’s role in investigating the cause of sudden deaths was established as long ago as 1194, by the Normans—not out of concern for justice, but instead to ensure the right taxes were paid. A fine called “Murdrum” (from which the word “murder” comes) was imposed on any village where a dead body was found, on the assumption the victim was Norman and the killers Anglo-Saxon. In 1836, the first Births and Deaths Registration Act

as he discovers a recently opened coffin, the pair hear footsteps, and “a terrible figure, huge in stature and fierce in manner” appears from the shadows. It is Sir Robert, and he demands to know who they are and what they are doing there.

In a wonderfully Gothic moment, Holmes flings open the coffin, and Sir Robert reels back and cries out. The body of Lady Beatrice is revealed, “swathed in a sheet from head to foot, with dreadful, witch-like features, all nose and chin, projecting at one end, the dim glazed eyes staring from a discoloured and crumbling face.” Sir Robert resolves to explain his actions, and invites Holmes and Watson to accompany him to the house for an explanation so that they can judge the matter for themselves.