I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Sherlock Holmes and the American Civil War

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"at the time of the Civil War" [CARD]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixt1spqhMKuup7l9e7AK8rvHVdBRPUauM08TVSsQlD4A44QHhEdwjfltSvRv0aNlm_En7jE1MkZQq-JQuK2zQBzMiIIPWinU5NYOoPz3k6eaojbddDCi1_pJhCA_pkQnz2PCek3MQrZnCh/s1600/I+had+fell+into+a+brown+study+-+CARD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="A scene from The Cardboard Box - illustrated by Sidney Paget" border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixt1spqhMKuup7l9e7AK8rvHVdBRPUauM08TVSsQlD4A44QHhEdwjfltSvRv0aNlm_En7jE1MkZQq-JQuK2zQBzMiIIPWinU5NYOoPz3k6eaojbddDCi1_pJhCA_pkQnz2PCek3MQrZnCh/s640/I+had+fell+into+a+brown+study+-+CARD.jpg" title=""I fell into a brown study" [CARD]" width="640" /></a></div>
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[<b><i>Editor's note: </i></b>The following is a guest post from Civil War author, lecturer and book reviewer Tom Elmore, who is also a Sherlockian and a member of <a href="http://www.hansomwheels.com/" target="_blank">The Hansom Wheels</a> of Columbia, South Carolina.]<br />
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The gas lit streets of 221B Baker Street in Victorian London and the battlefields of the American Civil War would appear to have little in common with each other. Yet on two occasions the effects of America's bloodiest conflict landed right in the study of the world's greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes.<br />
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Before we examine how Holmes and Dr. John Watson became entangled in the aftermath of the war, let us travel back two decades before these two men met and see how the war affected British life in general.<br />
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Most Sherlockians believe that Holmes and Watson were born sometime in the mid 1850s, with Watson preceding Holmes by two or three years. Consequently they were possibly too young to be aware of the events going on across the ocean; but given Holmes sharp mind it is possible that he may have picked up some details. Likewise, Watson's literary agent, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who was born in 1859 would have had little, if any interest or recollections about the war.<br />
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However, their fathers would have certainly kept up with news of the war in the British newspapers as it was very much on the mind of the English people for various reasons. Some were worried about the impact the war would have on the British economy, others, still smarting from the American Revolution and the War of 1812, wanted to see American-style democracy fail.<br />
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A number of British government and military officials were particularly interested in the style of fighting, which is now called modern warfare, that was being waged. Several British officers went to America to observe the actions of both armies; the most famous being Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle of the Coldstream Guards. He traveled throughout the north and the south in 1863, witnessing the Battle of Gettysburg and later the New York City Draft Riots. Returning to England, Fremantle published his diary of his trip entitled <i>Three Months in the Southern States</i>. The book was a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic though it incorrectly predicted a Southern victory.<br />
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Thanks to early Southern victories, the British took interest in many of the Confederate leaders, most notably Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee, both of whom would decline offers to command European armies after war. Allegedly, the famous photo of Lee in his full dress uniform was made at the request of Queen Victoria.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gen. Robert E. Lee in his dress uniform</td></tr>
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Early in the war, there was strong public support in Great Briton for the south. Many Southern sympathizers showed their support by wearing a red and blue striped tie with white stars in the blue, a fashion statement that has been readopted by Southern partisans in recent years.<br />
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England gave the Confederacy "belligerent" status, which was just short of giving it full diplomatic recognition. Fear that England would take that next step dictated much of the foreign policies of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's administration. Lincoln and his Secretary of State, William Seward, one of the best Secretaries of State ever, were constantly walking a tight rope, doing what they could to keep England out of the war without antagonizing the United Kingdom.<br />
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Seward’s job was not easy. In November 1861, the U.S. Navy warship <i>San Jacinto</i> intercepted the British mail ship <i>Trent </i>which was carrying two Confederate diplomats. Without authorization the <i>San Jacinto</i> fired two shots across the bow of the <i>Trent </i>and demanded that the diplomats be surrendered, which they were.<br />
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England was outraged and demanded the U.S. release the prisoners or risk going to war. However, public support for the actions of the <i>San Jacinto</i> in the North was so strong that giving in to British demands would have been a political disaster for the Lincoln administration. Consequently Seward, with Lincoln's blessing, cleverly crafted a letter to the British government stating though the U.S. had not acted illegally, he would release the prisoners anyway. He further stated that he was glad that the British government had protested as it seemed that the British were now going to recognize the rights of neutral ships, a long simmering issue of controversy between the two nations.  The plan worked, and another war was avoided.<br />
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A major asset to Lincoln and Seward was U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, Charles Adams - grandson of founding father John Adams and son of the sixth president, John Quincy Adams. Adams assumed his post shortly after the Confederacy was granted belligerent status and immediately started working to see that Southern recognition went no further. He informed British politicians that the U.S. would view continued contacts with Confederate representatives and arm sales to the South as violations of England's neutrality. These measures worked and helped cool British sentiment towards Dixie.<br />
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Ultimately, the diplomatic efforts of Lincoln, Seward and Adams, coupled with the Emancipation Proclamation and the growing number of Northern victories on the battlefield, ended all hope for South's longed for and much needed British diplomatic recognition.<br />
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Though no one named Sherlock Holmes fought for either the North or the South, there were three soldiers named S. Holmes, one for the Union, two Confederate. In addition there were 1122 Confederate soldiers whose last name was Holmes, while 2603 Union soldiers shared that last name. Among the latter was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. who served as a lieutenant during the war and was wounded three times. His father, Oliver Wendell Holmes was a noted writer of his day who used his pen to support the North, and is credited as the man for whom Doyle named his detective.<br />
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Conversely, there were 54 John H. Watsons who served in the war, 33 for the North and 21 for the South, with one of the latter serving as an assistant surgeon of the 36th Texas cavalry.<br />
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In the literary world of Holmes and Watsons, there were two occasions where the American Civil War entered their Baker Street lodgings. The first was in "The Adventure of The Five Orange Pips," which originally appeared in <i>The Strand</i> magazine in November 1892. It was later included in <i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i> short story collection published the next year, and was one of Doyle's favorite short stories.<br />
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The plot involves John Openshaw whose uncle, Elias Openshaw suddenly came back to England in 1869 and settled on an estate in West Sussex after living for years as a Florida planter. During the Civil War he had served as a Colonel in the Confederate Army under Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson and Gen. John Bell Hood. (For the record there were eighteen soldiers whose last name was Openshaw, but all of them fought for the North.)<br />
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Being a bachelor, Elias allowed his nephew to stay at his estate, but strange things started happening. Although John could go almost anywhere in the house he could never enter a mysterious locked room containing his uncle's trunks. Then in March 1883 a letter postmarked from Pondicherry, India arrived for the Colonel inscribed only "<a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/03/krispy-kreme-could-have-avoided.html#.VWksqs_BzGc" target="_blank">K.K.K.</a>" with five orange pips (or seeds) enclosed.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"What on earth does this mean?" [FIVE]</td></tr>
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Then papers from the locked room were burned and a will was drawn up leaving the estate to young Openshaw. Afterwards, the Colonel would lock himself in his room to drink or he would go forth in a drunken sally with a pistol in his hand. On May 2, 1883 he was found dead in a garden pool.<br />
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Then on January 4, 1885 Elias's brother Joseph receives a letter postmarked Dundee with the initials "K.K.K" and instructions to leave "the papers" on the sundial.  Despite his son's urging, Joseph Openshaw refuses to call the police. Three days later, Joseph is found dead in a chalk-pit. The only clue John Openshaw can furnish Holmes is a page from his uncle's diary marked March 1869 in which orange pips have been sent to three men, of whom two flee and the third has been "visited".<br />
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Holmes advises Openshaw to leave the diary page with a note telling of the destruction of the Colonel's papers on the garden sundial. After Openshaw leaves, Holmes deduces from the time that has passed between the letter mailings and the deaths of Elias and his brother that the writer is on a sailing ship.<br />
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Holmes also recognizes the "K.K.K" as the Klu Klux Klan, the Southern Reconstruction group. According to Holmes, the group had a sudden collapse in March 1869 and Holmes theorizes that the collapse was caused by the Colonel's maliciously taking their papers away to England. Holmes reaches for volume K of the American Encyclopedia and reads that the Klan got its name "from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced by cocking a rifle." <br />
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(Holmes could not have been more incorrect, the Klan’s name came from Greek word <i>kuklos</i>, which means circle. While National Grand Wizard and former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest did disband the Klan in 1869, but it was due to the increasing lawlessness of local chapters. Federal legislation passed in 1870 and 1871 all but outlawed the Klan and helped to further the group's demise until it was reorganized in 1915.)<br />
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The next day there is a newspaper account that the body of Openshaw has been found in the Thames River and the death is believed to be an accident. Holmes checks sailing records of ships that were at both Pondicherry in January and February 1883 and at Dundee in January 1885 and finds a Savannah, Georgia based a boat named <i>The Lone Star</i>.<br />
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Holmes confirms that <i>The Lone Star</i> had docked in London a week before. He then sends five orange pips to the captain of <i>The Lone Star</i> and a telegram to the police in Savannah that the Captain and two mates are wanted for murder. But The Lone Star never arrives in Savannah; there are severe gales and the only trace of the boat is a signpost marked "L.S." sighted in the middle of the North Atlantic.<br />
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This story would later be the basis for the 1945 film <i>Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear</i> starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. However the film differed dramatically from the Doyle short story and contained no references to the American Civil War.<br />
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The second time the war was mentioned was "The Cardboard Box," which appeared in <i>The Strand</i> in January 1893. In England it was originally included in the short story collection <i>The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes</i> published in 1894, though American editions removed the tale due to its reference to adultery. In America it was included in the 1917 collection <i>His Last Bow</i>. While the story today is still included in all British editions of the <i>Memoirs</i>, some U.S. editions have it in <i>His Last Bow</i> as well as the <i>Memoirs</i>. Supposedly the events in this case took place between the years 1885-1891.<br />
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The mystery, involving murder and adultery in a dysfunctional family, has nothing to do with the American Civil War, but the conflict does come up when Holmes deduces that Watson is thinking about that conflict. When Watson demands an explanation, Holmes tells him:<br />
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"After throwing down your paper, which was the action which drew my attention to you, you sat for half a minute with a vacant expression. Then your eyes fixed themselves upon your newly framed picture of General Gordon, and I saw by the alteration in your face that a train of thought had been started. But it did not lead very far. Your eyes flashed across to the unframed portrait of Henry Ward Beecher which stands upon the top of your books. Then you glanced up at the wall, and of course your meaning was obvious. You were thinking that if the portrait were framed it would just cover that bare space and correspond with Gordon's picture over there."<br />
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"You have followed me wonderfully!" I exclaimed.<br />
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"So far I could hardly have gone astray. But now your thoughts went back to Beecher, and you looked hard across as if you were studying the character in his features. Then your eyes ceased to pucker, but you continued to look across, and your face was thoughtful. You were recalling the incidents of Beecher's career. I was well aware that you could not do this without thinking of the mission which he undertook on behalf of the North at the time of the Civil War, for I remember your expressing your passionate indignation at the way in which he was received by the more turbulent of our people. You felt so strongly about it that I knew you could not think of Beecher without thinking of that also. When a moment later I saw your eyes wander away from the picture, I suspected that your mind had now turned to the Civil War, and when I observed that your lips set, your eyes sparkled, and your hands clenched I was positive that you were indeed thinking of the gallantry which was shown by both sides in that desperate struggle. But then, again, your face grew sadder; you shook your head. You were dwelling upon the sadness and horror and useless waste of life. Your hand stole towards your own old wound and a smile quivered on your lips, which showed me that the ridiculous side of this method of settling international questions had forced itself upon your mind. At this point I agreed with you that it was preposterous and was glad to find that all my deductions had been correct."<br />
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"Absolutely!" said I. "And now that you have explained it, I confess that I am as amazed as before."</blockquote>
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Because of the way the story was published in America, this scene is added to "The Resident Patient" in some editions.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Henry Ward Beecher</td></tr>
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Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was a celebrated and influential American Protestant clergyman. The charismatic minister averaged 2500 people to his Sunday sermons in his Brooklyn N.Y. church. Beecher was an outspoken abolitionist and expressed his views in the two national publications he edited. He also was an avid Northern supporter of the war, raising and arming a regiment.<br />
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Beecher visited Great Britain in 1863 and gave a successful series of lectures about the American Civil War across England and Scotland. These appearances help eroded British support for the South. When the war ended, Beecher was the main speaker when the American flag was re-hoisted above Fort Sumter.<br />
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Beecher's sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, was the author of <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i> though some have speculated that her brother may have had a hand in the famous novel.<br />
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We are never told why Watson has an interest in Beecher, but it has led to speculation that Watson's father and/or an elder brother may have been an admirer of Beecher. However, some Sherlockians have theorized that Watson may have actually been born in the 1840s and fought in the American Civil War for the North, hence his chain of thoughts in the story.<br />
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In reality, the Beecher reference was an inside joke by Doyle. In 1874 Beecher was sued by a former employee, Theodore Tilton, who claimed that Beecher had an affair with Tilton's wife. (Mrs. Tilton claimed that Beecher believed in "free love.") The subsequent 1875 trial, while sensational, resulted in a hung jury.  All of which would have easily come to the mind of readers of The Cardboard Box at the time of publication.<br />
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While the references to the American Civil War in the Sherlock Holmes cannon are unique and interesting, they pale in comparison to a series of real-life coincidences that connect the character to the war.<br />
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<i>Our American Cousin</i> is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The comedy is about an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, who meets his aristocratic British relatives when he goes to England to claim his family estate. It premiered in New York City on October 15, 1858 and was an immediate success. On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated while watching the play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.<br />
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Nine years later, 15-year-old Conan Doyle saw the play in London while on a three week Christmas holiday with an uncle.<br />
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Sixty-five years later, in 1939, Basil Rathbone portrayed Doyle's most famous creation for the first time. The 20th Century's-Fox's production of <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> is still regarded by many as the finest film adaptation of any of Doyle's works. Rathbone's outstanding performance as Sherlock Holmes made him the living personification of the great detective for generations since.<br />
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Most of his fans would be surprised to known that according to Rathbone family lore the British actor was a distant cousin of Maj. Henry Rathbone, who with his fiancée Miss Clara Harris, accompanied the Lincolns to Ford's theatre that fatal night, proving once again that truth is stranger than fiction.<br />
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However, as Holmes said in "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier," "But is it coincidence? Are there not subtle forces at work of which we know little?"<br />
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Sherlock Holmes and the American Civil War

"at the time of the Civil War" [CARD] [ Editor's note: The following is a guest post from Civil War author, lecturer and...

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by Scott Monty

The Secret of Sherlock’s Statue

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"For a long time he gazed upwards at it" [ABBE]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6tHwNCl9Ui9uKScy080R8HW2O3fJ-aF8Ws_7bQ_jY0fWnUa9O-o7OFjQcU8WvKc_kAfcdMW7kS4_B12txkFSDJcT-Zwe3wlPiGJ1yX_EmAkwgHE4gz40qVlZOZ-u2W04jF9pVPDxsUew/s1600/statue.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="Yes, we know this is the Sherlock Holmes statue in London, not Edinburgh" border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit6tHwNCl9Ui9uKScy080R8HW2O3fJ-aF8Ws_7bQ_jY0fWnUa9O-o7OFjQcU8WvKc_kAfcdMW7kS4_B12txkFSDJcT-Zwe3wlPiGJ1yX_EmAkwgHE4gz40qVlZOZ-u2W04jF9pVPDxsUew/s640/statue.jpg" title="Sherlock Holmes statue" width="640" /></a></div>
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Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland is one of the city’s main thoroughfares. Dominating the Princes Street Garden is an imposing 200 foot tall Victorian monument to Sir Walter Scott, described by writer Bill Bryson as looking like a “Gothic rocket ship.”<br />
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But a few minutes stroll up Leith Street will take you to Picardy Place and you will see a much smaller monument – a monument commemorating the birthplace of that other well-known Scottish writer so near and dear to our hearts, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Doyle was born May 22nd, 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, near the top of Leith Walk. The building where he was born is no longer there but in its place is an oversized statue of Sherlock Holmes – a statue which has a secret unknown to most Sherlockians, even those who have stood before it and admired their literary hero.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lOHVU6ldHN0fvJmGDKIiGhosvE164wqQQwULTJBWRte4UqQny6IMcPLVXpNTIJ7H-Ibk_yiQxKup-BjYbEaHoEh8CyV_jM9Z54eIbXS6mP5djOPUfgec62pbPcawyI9y0QKH4uGD55bg/s1600/Holmes+with+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bob Stek and Sherlock Holmes in Edinburgh" border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_lOHVU6ldHN0fvJmGDKIiGhosvE164wqQQwULTJBWRte4UqQny6IMcPLVXpNTIJ7H-Ibk_yiQxKup-BjYbEaHoEh8CyV_jM9Z54eIbXS6mP5djOPUfgec62pbPcawyI9y0QKH4uGD55bg/s640/Holmes+with+me.jpg" title="Bob Stek with the Sherlock Holmes statue" width="426" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our contributor Bob Stek, BSI and the Sherlock Holmes statue.</td></tr>
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Within sight and a few hundred feet from the statue stands <a href="http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/theconandoyleedinburgh/" target="_blank">The Conan Doyle Pub</a> on York Place.  A plaque on the exterior of the pub shares some history of Picardy Place as well as a snippet of misdirection about what Holmes is contemplating as he gazes downward. The plaque reads:<br />
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Located close to The Conan Doyle is Picardy Place, where the pub’s namesake, the great author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was born on May 22nd 1859. There have been houses on this site since 1685, when French refugees (who had fled the province of Picardy, due to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes when Louis XIV declared Protestantism illegal) built Picardy village. Today, an over life-sized bronze statue of Conan Doyle’s greatest creation, Sherlock Holmes, stands opposite his birthplace. The most famous fictional detective is portrayed in meditation on the death of his author.</blockquote>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23hc0iTOthSCqqL_tYEWPXZ9ir1fMJDPWHhCffbNt1thqwXdcg5IWWVzaGD4mKPmvSPu-zu9SNQKPXzQrxC9DEXpbbc-JhNXLwHTBcx9Qv4BC_dvhpJNQEA8lR_MAs55LuC9p-EixCjA9/s1600/Conan+Doyle+pub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The Conan Doyle Pub in Edinburgh" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh23hc0iTOthSCqqL_tYEWPXZ9ir1fMJDPWHhCffbNt1thqwXdcg5IWWVzaGD4mKPmvSPu-zu9SNQKPXzQrxC9DEXpbbc-JhNXLwHTBcx9Qv4BC_dvhpJNQEA8lR_MAs55LuC9p-EixCjA9/s640/Conan+Doyle+pub.jpg" title="The Conan Doyle, Edinburgh" width="640" /></a></div>
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Standing directly in front of the statue and looking up, it might appear that Holmes is deep in thought, looking towards the pavement, perhaps reflecting upon being at the site of the birthplace of Doyle, perhaps musing about his own seeming immortality as well as ‘the death of his author.’ </div>
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During his long career Holmes could be contemplative – we know that he carefully studied a rose and concluded that the “highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.” [NAVA] Nonetheless Sherlockians admire Holmes for his ability not just to see, but to observe, to notice a trifle, and to deduce from it a clue and thereby solve a mystery. Holmes actively looked and observed. He once told Inspector Gregory that “I only saw it because I was looking for it.” [SILV]</div>
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It was not beyond Holmes to get on his hands and knees to carefully examine something on the ground, be it a footprint or tobacco ash.  Can we apply Holmes’ methods here, at his own statue? Perhaps Holmes is not in metaphysical contemplation, staring without seeing, without observing. But at what could he be looking?<br />
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An examination of the area in front of the statue reveals only stone pavers – no engraved dancing men or coded message to be seen.  But notice that the statue is on a pedestal and raised more than six feet off the ground.  From a slightly higher elevation on Picardy Place Roundabout, one can see his feet and that the bronze casting includes a portion of the ground upon which Holmes is standing.  At this distance, however, nothing can be seen or observed.<br />
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A modern day high tech solution might be to rig a selfie stick - or even better, a remote controlled quadcopter with a digital camera - and flit around and survey what is near to Holmes’ feet. Instead we will be true to the Master and his methods and physically position ourselves to use our own eyes.  With no handy step-ladder to be found, we note that there is a ledge about 18 inches high around the base of the pedestal. Even Watson’s war wound (gimpy leg or shoulder – take your pick) would not prevent him from stepping up on the corner of this ledge to get a closer view.  Due to recent rain, my photo shows a puddle of water partially obscuring something of interest. But when you are in Edinburgh, climb upon that corner ledge and confirm for yourself that there is indeed the “footprint of a gigantic hound!”<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0W2AtPvE2VPuq1wcZDFa5ckZcID1FOpoMhJnIjrA8v7kROYeLjtlBDgG9O_z-h9jseCsEs6P8Gs8Ahc8z25M5Bn3Fipf-Y-Afjqcao1GBY-5_JKWoFdIPHsazEHDfieeQjO0CGc2Auga/s1600/hound+footprint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=""Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF0W2AtPvE2VPuq1wcZDFa5ckZcID1FOpoMhJnIjrA8v7kROYeLjtlBDgG9O_z-h9jseCsEs6P8Gs8Ahc8z25M5Bn3Fipf-Y-Afjqcao1GBY-5_JKWoFdIPHsazEHDfieeQjO0CGc2Auga/s640/hound+footprint.jpg" title="The footprint of a gigantic hound!" width="640" /></a></div>
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But wait – there is more!  Seen more clearly in the photo below is the pawprint of a much smaller animal – a clue outside the bounds of Canonical knowledge certainly.  Whatever could it mean?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQPHpCPnunrPB99fx1RoezOLWYr5GBhja1Rr4Ti0XxV6_1gxp8cNH_hvIHYwoU5VkdsV77dZTG9EnlCrU4RQ0jVQyjv-WzB_vpSlxbzgNM4xPO8I6UXFVDEqpgPurvCig-kp8uEA910AO/s1600/Footprint+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The footprint of a less than gigantic hound" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQPHpCPnunrPB99fx1RoezOLWYr5GBhja1Rr4Ti0XxV6_1gxp8cNH_hvIHYwoU5VkdsV77dZTG9EnlCrU4RQ0jVQyjv-WzB_vpSlxbzgNM4xPO8I6UXFVDEqpgPurvCig-kp8uEA910AO/s640/Footprint+2.jpg" title="Another footprint on the Sherlock Holmes statue" width="640" /></a></div>
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We are, after all, at the birthplace of Doyle. Did Doyle keep a pet which the sculptor wished to acknowledge? But that would be a very obscure bit of trivia to include, especially since Doyle was unlikely to even be aware of a family pet in the first year or so of his life.<br />
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If it is unrelated to Doyle’s birth, perhaps it is related to his birthplace. Picardy Place has no connection itself - but what of the city of Edinburgh, the city which approved the building of this memorial to one of its famous residents. Can we deduce a connection with Edinburgh? The paw print is not of sufficient size to be a companion print of a gigantic hound. It would have to belong to a much smaller dog.  That would most likely rule out half spaniel, half lurcher Toby from <i>The Sign of Four</i>. Is there a small dog strongly associated with Edinburgh, a small dog perhaps contemporaneous with Doyle?<br />
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Of course! No need to eliminate any impossible or improbable suspects, there is only one answer – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobby" target="_blank">Greyfriars Bobby</a>! Known throughout Scotland, Bobby, a Skye terrier, was born about 1855 and for fourteen years guarded the grave of his owner. The statue of Bobby sits at the corner of Candlemaker’s Row and George IV Bridge, just a one mile walk from Picardy Place. A plaque on the base reads "A tribute to the affectionate fidelity of Greyfriars Bobby. In 1858, this faithful dog followed the remains of his master to Greyfriars Churchyard and lingered near the spot until his death in 1872."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyPy7FVqQ44BKgj74I14NNJAmBpi6xCQ_Xr5OwCRBry7ome1AIxqNzOGnUtXp9wBxmZPR2fGP9ZG9hUcT9lSyZibfTdG0CDqChdFGO5G7yrjk98gZMep2ufXCc74gVJnJ26HGJbDAqpkR/s1600/Greyfriars+Bobby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="The famous Greyfriars Bobby" border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyPy7FVqQ44BKgj74I14NNJAmBpi6xCQ_Xr5OwCRBry7ome1AIxqNzOGnUtXp9wBxmZPR2fGP9ZG9hUcT9lSyZibfTdG0CDqChdFGO5G7yrjk98gZMep2ufXCc74gVJnJ26HGJbDAqpkR/s640/Greyfriars+Bobby.jpg" title="Greyfriars Bobby" width="640" /></a></div>
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I only hope that no damage is done to the corner of the pedestal of the Holmes statue by legions of Sherlockians trying to see the two paw prints. Perhaps the city of Edinburgh would be wise to invest in a stone step or two to avoid wear on the ledge.<br />
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I am indebted to Rupert Maragh of the UK for introducing me to the ‘secret of the statue.’<br />
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<i>Robert Stek, BSI will be joining David Stuart Davies at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre in Edinburgh during the <a href="https://www.edfringe.com/" target="_blank">Fringe Festival</a> in August, 2015. David Stuart Davies will be presenting “An Evening with Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle” and Dr. Stek will speak on “The Unusual Friendship of Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini.”</i><br />
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The Secret of Sherlock’s Statue

"For a long time he gazed upwards at it" [ABBE] Princes Street in Edinburgh, Scotland is one of the city’s main thorough...

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by Spocklock

The Mystery of William Gillette's Romantic Lead in the 1916 Sherlock Holmes Film

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"became entangled with this young person" [SCAN]</h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxa-GlH2Iesf0_6L7l21X755ACs-dYUKuxs7zGmV_SFfrra87gw2c4VL4whbHA-YpbZ9H6PrNl_90g-mB5YZhxVHkbS2CzJfqU84FRVfr6aDJ7u9I7gxVHf12dTCbSXHKXWTQsPRMbUvN/s1600/Sherlock_Holmes_1916_still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Holmes and his love interest" border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibxa-GlH2Iesf0_6L7l21X755ACs-dYUKuxs7zGmV_SFfrra87gw2c4VL4whbHA-YpbZ9H6PrNl_90g-mB5YZhxVHkbS2CzJfqU84FRVfr6aDJ7u9I7gxVHf12dTCbSXHKXWTQsPRMbUvN/s640/Sherlock_Holmes_1916_still.jpg" title="William Gillette and Marjorie Kay in Sherlock Holmes (1916)" width="640" /></a></div>
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William Gillette famously wanted a love interest in his play "Sherlock Holmes", hence his telegram to Arthur Conan Doyle: "May I marry Holmes?" When he filmed the play in 1916, the silent movie that was thought lost but is  <a href="http://ihose.co/1916film" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">now being revealed   to the world</a>, Miss Alice Faulkner was there, ready to nestle up to Holmes in the final scene. The question is, <b><i>who played Alice Faulkner in the film that we're all going to be seeing this year?</i></b></div>
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We have always known that the actress was Marjorie Kay. But, well, who was Marjorie Kay? The <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0443130/" target="_blank">Internet Movie DataBase</a> and similar sources tell little or nothing about her. The answer can now be revealed, thanks to inquisitive questions on my part   and skillful genealogical research on the part of talented Sherlockian and historical researcher (and my good friend) <a href="http://wellreadsherlockian.com/" target="_blank">Leah Guinn</a> (her website is wellreadsherlockian.com and she's on Twitter as <a href="http://twitter.com/leahguinn" target="_blank">@LeahGuinn</a>).</div>
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The most remarkable thing we've discovered is that when she made the 1916 film, starring opposite the 62-year-old Gillette, Marjorie Kay was 17 years old. But there's a lot more to her life story than one film. Some highlights:</div>
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<li>Marjorie Kay was born November 2, 1898, in Detroit. (That date comes from a passport application she submitted in May 1916. We have not been able to see her actual birth certificate.) Her parents were  Canadian-born: Robert D. Kay, a jeweller,   and his wife, Margaret Griffin Kay. A number of newspaper mentions call her "a society girl".</li>
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<li>In 1916, presumably after completing <i>Sherlock Holmes</i> (which was released May 15 of that year), she joined the Naval Nurse Corps and went to Europe, where the United States was already providing hospital services even though it would be more   than another year before the US entered World War I. Between May and September she worked at a hospital at Neuilly-sur-Seine and possibly other hospitals, and drove an ambulance. Along the way the Detroit society girl made the acquaintance of Mrs. William   K. Vanderbilt, a pillar of New York society. (There were multiple Vanderbilts; this one was the former Anne Harriman Sands Rutherford, who had married a grandson of the original "Commodore" in 1903.)</li>
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<li>She came home from Europe in September, aboard the <i>SS Rochambeau</i>. Among the keepsakes she brought back was a belt to which were attached 154 military buttons, collar ornaments, shoulder badges, hat badges and belt buckles from Allied armies   and even those of Germany and Austria. The young nurse clearly got to know her patients well.</li>
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<li>Not too long after her return, she was apparently chosen as the model for a Red Cross fund-raising poster. She was dressed in nurse's garb and her hands and arms were outstretched. The key word on the poster: "Give." She was proud of it, and   kept a copy of the poster on the walls of the apartment that she and her husband occupied decades later in Hartford, Connecticut.</li>
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<li>She died June 25, 1949, in Hartford. An obituary says she had been married three times. Details of her marriages are far from clear, but at the time of her death she was officially Mrs. William L. Anderson.</li>
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<li>The obituary traces her career between 1916 and 1949 on the authority of "friends" who "recalled" that she had studied as a coloratura soprano and sung with Enrico Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera. Sometime in the 1920s she settled in Hartford,   opened a dancing school and later managed a talent agency.</li>
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<li>A 43-word obituary in <i>Variety </i>also mentioned Caruso, and said Kay had performed in "The Night Boat", a musical that ran on Broadway for most of 1920 before going on tour. (Much earlier,<i> Film Daily</i> in 1918, referring to Kay as "recently returned"   from France, said she had been signed to co-star in a movie depicting her war experiences. It would appear that nothing came of that project.)</li>
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There you are — a few facts about the young woman who played Sherlock Holmes's love interest and was immortalized in celluloid. Totally absent from the evidence, so far, is any hint of how she got the role in the first place. There is clearly   more of the story to be told, and our research is continuing.</div>
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<i>If you're unable to attend the screening of Sherlock Holmes at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival this weekend, you won't want to miss an opportunity to <a href="http://ihose.co/1916bluray" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pre-order the DVD and Blu-ray</a>, which will be released in October.</i><br />
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The Mystery of William Gillette's Romantic Lead in the 1916 Sherlock Holmes Film

"became entangled with this young person" [SCAN] William Gillette famously wanted a love interest in his play "Sherl...

+ Read more »

by Chris Redmond

Conan Doyle Estate Sues Mr. Holmes

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"the relentless threat" [VALL]</h4>
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Well, they're at it again.<br />
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The Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. - that business entity that takes responsibility for the financial interests (certainly not the reputational interests) of Conan Doyle's descendants - is suing to have the film <i>Mr. Holmes</i> halted. In a lawsuit filed the day before what would have been <a href="http://ihose.co/156ACD" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 156th birthday</a> (classy!), the CDEL named the film studio Miramax, its distributors Roadside Attractions and director Bill Condon - as well as publisher Penguin Random House and screenwriter Mitch Cullin, author of <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1FGJURG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Slight Trick of the Mind</a></i>, upon which the film is based - as defendants in the suit.<br />
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Previously, the CDEL was under fire by Leslie Klinger, BSI ("The Abbey Grange"), who was defending his right to publish <i><a href="http://amzn.to/1StK5Fe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">In the Company of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> without submitting to its extortionate requests. He filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Illinois. Ultimately, the U.S. courts determined that the first 50 of the Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain, with only the last 10 falling under copyright protection. [Details directly below]<br />
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<h3>
Timeline of Events</h3>
<ul>
<li><b>February 14, 2013</b>: Initial lawsuit filed by Leslie S. Klinger against the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.'s heavy-handed attempt to block <i>In the Company of Sherlock Holmes</i> on Amazon and other bookstores - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/02/imagine-that-you-can-bully-me-chas_14.html#.VWDK7PlViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"don't imagine that you can bully me" [CHAS]</a></li>
<li><b>April 17, 2013</b>: Our coverage on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose51" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 51</a> of IHOSE</li>
<li><b>December 27, 2013</b>: Leslie Klinger granted an initial victory in the case - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2013/12/plaintiff-victorious-in-free-sherlock.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"Ha! Nothing could be better." [STOC]</a></li>
<li><b>December 30, 2013</b>: A special <a href="http://ihose.co/freesherlock" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">#FreeSherlock episode</a> of IHOSE, featuring intellectual property legal scholar and expert Betsy Rosenblatt, BSI ("Lucy Ferrier")</li>
<li><b>January 4, 2014</b>: The Conan Doyle Estate issues a press release indicating that it would appeal the decision but that it is still the winner because it holds trademarks on the characters - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/01/conan-doyle-estate-business-entity-on.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"spinning fine theories" [NOBL]</a></li>
<li><b>May 22, 2014</b>: An eyewitness recounted what happened during the appeal hearing - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/05/an-eyewitness-account-to-free-sherlock.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"A higher judge had taken the matter in hand" [STUD]</a></li>
<li><b>June 16, 2014</b>: The appeal was denied by Judge Richard A. Posner, who rebuked the "quixotic" attempt by the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. to seek "perpetual, or nearly perpetual copyright protection" of the Sherlock Holmes character. <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/234319104/Klinger-v-Conan-Doyle-Estate-Ltd-7th-Circuit-Court-of-Appeals-Decision" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"during these fruitless quests" [HOUN]</a></li>
<li><b>July 18, 2014</b>: After the CDEL filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on July 11, the petition was turned down - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/07/the-us-supreme-court-denies-conan-doyle.html#.VWDPSflViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"the last and highest court of appeal" [STUD]</a></li>
<li><b>July 20, 2014</b>: A discussion of all things #FreeSherlock on <a href="http://ihose.co/ihose66" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 66</a> of IHOSE. </li>
<li><b>August 5, 2014</b>: The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the CDEL to cease extortion and pay Klinger's legal fees - <a href="http://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/08/7th-circuit-orders-conan-doyle-estate.html#.VWDR0vlViko" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"your fees will be assured and you will be given a perfectly free hand" [ILLU]</a></li>
<li><b>November 3, 2014</b>: The SCOTUS refused to hear arguments in the case - <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/11/supreme-court-wont-hear-freesherlock.html#.XC5mtlxKjb0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"the final discussion of those matters which lie between us" [FINA]</a></li>
<li><b>May 23, 2015</b>: <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/05/conan-doyle-estate-sues-mr-holmes.html#.XvWd3UVKjb2" target="_blank">Conan Doyle Estate sues Miramax</a> over the release of the film <i>Mr. Holmes</i></li><li><b>August 29, 2015</b>: Conan Doyle Sues Own Estate from Beyond the Grave (satire) - <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/08/conan-doyle-sues-own-estate-from-beyond.html#.X0f44MhKjb0" target="_blank">"opening a grave without the consent of next-of-kin" [HOUN]</a></li>
<li><b>September 5, 2015</b>: <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/09/conan-doyle-estate-reaches-settlement.html#.XvWaHEVKjb0" target="_blank">Settlement reached</a> between CDEL and Miramax</li>
<li><b>November 23, 2015</b>: <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/11/bombshell-interview-with-author-mitch.html#.XvWc40VKjb0" target="_blank">Bombshell interview</a> with author Mitch Cullin over the lawsuit</li><li><b>June 26, 2020</b>: Conan Doyle Estate is suing Netflix over <i>Enola Holmes</i> - <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2020/06/the-conan-doyle-estate-is-suing-netflix.html#.X0f3gshKjb0" target="_blank">"repeated the same story with an absolute disregard" [VALL]</a></li>
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This time, <a href="http://deadline.com/2015/05/mr-holmes-lawsuit-arthur-conan-doyle-estate-sues-bill-condon-1201431854/" target="_blank">the lawsuit was filed</a> in New Mexico (<a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/266283769/Mr-Holmes" target="_blank">read it here</a>), and it takes great pains to indicate that Cullin grew up in that state and visited John Bennett Shaw, BSI ("The Hans Sloane of My Age"), with access to his library. We also note that the U.S. representatives of the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., Hazelbaker and Lellenberg, Inc., reside in New Mexico.<br />
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<div style="display: block; font: 14px helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin: 12px auto 6px;">
<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/266283769/Mr-Holmes#from_embed" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Mr Holmes on Scribd">Mr Holmes</a> on Scribd</div>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="null" data-auto-height="true" frameborder="0" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/266283769/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&show_recommendations=true&access_key=key-xKuOkCTkCvHIqZDbulZk" title="Mr Holmes" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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We're not legal scholars, but there are elements of the legal filing that make more use of specific details about some of the written material and the subject matter than the previous lawsuits did. The CDEL claims that passages from "The Blanched Soldier" and "The Lion's Mane" were copied or assimilated in the new material. Whether or not those facts are relevant and compelling is up for the judicial system to decide.<br />
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"The greedy rogue. They are useful, these traitors, </h4>
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but I grudge them their blood-money."</h4>
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<b>- 'His Last Bow'</b></div>
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But once again, we must question the motivations - and the common sense - of the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. First, we must ask: if the matter was such an egregious copyright infringement when <i>A Slight Trick of the Mind</i> was first published some 10 years ago, why wasn't the CDEL rabidly pursuing the author and his publisher then? You and we both know the answer: because it wasn't a global phenomenon then, as it is now, with Sir Ian McKellen in the starring role of <i>Mr. Holmes</i>.<br />
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While we're at it, Sherlockian Brenda Rossini raised this issue:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The complaint now alleges that Cullin “copied entire passages from Conan Doyle’s copyrighted story ‘The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier.’ Yet, the estate ignored P.D. James’ unattributed gleaning from The Boscombe Valley Mystery in her book<i> Death Comes to Pemberley.</i></blockquote>
Interestingly, the CDEL indicates that it has managed rights with productions such as <i>Sherlock</i>, <i>Young Sherlock Holmes</i> and <i>Elementary</i> - none of which have anything to do with Holmes's retirement.<br />
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In terms of common sense, rather than making a major kerfuffle - on the birthday of their progenitor's birth, no less - the CDEL is now calling for a jury trial and the halting of any production that includes the so-called infringing material. Wouldn't it make more sense to allow the film to become the blockbuster that it is destined to be and then ask for a percentage of the profits?<br />
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Not in the case of the Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. Remember, their <i>modus operandi</i> is to allow plans of publishers and producers to get to the point of no return and then send a threatening letter or file a claim, so that the recipients pay them hush money to make the issue go away. It's been their unabashed business model for the last few years, and the weak have succumbed to its invidious intentions.<br />
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As to us, we feel that the business entity that represents what is left of Conan Doyle's estate is doing irreparable damage to his reputation. Although we all know that Doyle himself wasn't quite so concerned as he famously told playwright and actor William Gillette that he could "marry him, murder him or do whatever you like with" Sherlock Holmes. But this kind of legal wrangling and greed represents a last gasp for relevance and income for individuals who aren't even direct descendants. Surely they have other financial interests to keep them flush.<br />
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It's just sad to see that because of the overgenerous laws of the United States, the legal profession sees more of a payday than the Conan Doyle family.<br />
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What do you think of the latest kerfuffle? Perhaps we should change the hashtag to #FreeMrHolmes...<br />
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<i><br />
</i> <i>Image credit: Paxton Whitehead as Dr. Philip Barbay in <b>Back to School</b> (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPb8ZjebUP8" target="_blank">YouTube</a>)</i><br />
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