Since 1902 when Arthur Bartlett Maurice published his review of The Hound of the Baskervilles, the mystery of Bertram Fletcher Robinson's influence upon the novella has plagued Sherlockians. All agree that Robinson is probably responsible for bringing the following Dartmoor legend to Doyle's attention in 1901:
Sir Richard Cabell viciously accused his wife of having an affair with a man of Buckfastleigh.
Lady Cabell denied this, but refusing to believe her, Cabell started thrashing her mercilessly. Finally, though, Lady Cabell was able to break away from him; escaping their house, she began fleeing for her life across the bleak, surrounding moors that were swept by the wild, chill winds from the even bleaker regions of nearby Dartmoor.
Moments later, however, Cabell overtook her, and in a rage, murdered the woman with one of his hunting knives.
Then came the hound....the hound was Lady Cabell's own; a large, faithful dog that had leaped after Cabell when Cabell had gone chasing her across the moors. Now, though, bounding up to Cabell as the treacherous man was killing his wife, the hound madly attacked Cabell, and after a fierce and violent struggle, the hound slaughtered Cabell.
In the struggle however, the hound itself was fatally wounded by Cabell's slashing knife, and the next day on the moor the people of the village found the animal laying dead right alongside the corpse of its slain mistress. [1]
When Doyle visited Dartmoor in April of 1901 he stayed at Rowe's Duchy Hotel in Princetown. In a letter home he wrote: “Here I am in the highest town in England...(Fletcher) Robinson and I are exploring the moor over our Sherlock Holmes book. I think it will work out splendidly.” [4] The inclusion of “our” in the letter would seem to indicate the novel is to be a collaboration as mentioned in the review. Yet, there is only the brief prefatory remark mentioning Robinson's assistance. Yet, this is not the only honor he received as Doyle has Dr. Mortimer relate the curse of the Baskervilles in much the same manner as did Robinson that April of 1901.
As Doyle and Robinson crossed the moor they were being driven by Harry Baskerville. Doyle began to collect data for his new Sherlock Holmes adventure and:
Grimspound Bog, combined with Fox Tor Mire, became the Grimen Mire.
Merrivale Hill became Meripit Hill.
Dartmoor Prison became Princetown Convict Prison; by a freakish Doylean joke, the officious warden named Seldon became a prisoner of that name.
And what about the source for Baskerville Hall, with its two towers and its sprawling sinister gloom? The description of the towers precisely fits Conan Doyle's hated school, Stonyhurst, in Lancashire; the body of the hall is Brook Manor. [5]
The narrative of the story however, presents many more mysteries than those Holmes must deal with in the story.
In the opening chapter of the novella, we discover Watson and Holmes involved in a discussion concerning a walking stick a visitor has left behind. Watson induces that its owner must be a country practitioner, and then proceeds to refer to the initials CCH as the “something hunt.” Perhaps Watson was confused in the narrative and thinking of “The King of the Foxes” which features the Ascombe hunt and the country practitioner, Dr. Middleton.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is also one of the only Sherlock Holmes stories in which the detective is absent from the narrative for a predominate period. He appears in the first three chapters in which he performs in a very un-Holmes-like manner. In Chapter I, Holmes selects the wrong Dr. James Mortimer. In Chapter II, Holmes engages Mortimer in the stichomithic exchange, and then hands the narrative over to Mortimer. In Chapter III, Holmes blunders badly in an attempt to find the identity of the individual who is following Baskerville and Mortimer. Holmes then enlists the aid of young Cartwright, not the Baker Street Irregulars, to check at every London Hotel for the mysterious stranger who told the cabbie his name was Sherlock Holmes. It seems that the Irregulars could have been more expedient than the lone individual. At this point Holmes leaves the narrative until Watson discovers him living in the primitive hut in Chapter XII.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is also the first tale in which the cocaine habit is not mentioned in the narrative. The habit was not supposed to have disappeared until after Reichenbach, but The Hound of the Baskervilles was the first story to be released to the public after the near-deadly encounter with the Napoleon of Crime. It has been my contention for some time that the so called habit was a guise to trick Moriarty into one fatal mistake. Since the professor no longer exists, the need to mention the habit has also disappeared. Which all leads us back to the original question, who wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles? Obviously it was Doyle.
Doyle needed a new story to publish after the death of Holmes, and only Watson could help him. However, Watson was too depressed to write the tale. He could not bear to think of those many hours in their Baker Street Lodgings, and the many cases he had chronicled. During the course of their discussion, Doyle asked Watson: “Surely after so close an association with Holmes you must have tried to outguess the Master?” “There was such a case,” Watson replied, “It involved the Baskerville family, and an old Dartmoor legend. Holmes left the majority of the case in my hands, but...I became baffled and had to call on Holmes to solve the case. No,...no Dr. Doyle, I could never hope to presume myself the equal of Holmes.” At this point we must return to the beginning of our narrative. Finding Watson uncooperative, Doyle was forced to go to Dartmoor and research his first and only Sherlock Holmes story.
Watson is made to look as if he is no longer the dupe because his modesty does not hamper the narrative. With Doyle as the author the truth can be told─Holmes does at times make mistakes too. Robinson is not Dr. Mortimer of the text, rather Dr. Mortimer is Robinson in the acknowledgement. Holmes's cocaine addiction was not mentioned in the narrative because Doyle was not aware of its importance. In spite of these drawbacks, The Hound of the Baskervilles is the most successful Sherlock Holmes story because it shows Watson and Holmes at their best─a team. Even Holmes admits to Watson: “you excel yourself....I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually under-rated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.” [6] So are we all...all very much in your debt Dr. Watson.
NOTES
1 `The History of Sherlock Holmes,' (Sherman Oaks, CA: E-GO Enterprises, Inc. 1975) pp 13-14.
2 The Green Flag, “The King of the Foxes,” A. Conan Doyle, (New York: McClure, Phillips & Co., 1900) pp 269-291.
3 Baring-Gould. William S. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977. V. II, p 1-1.
4 John Dickson Carr, The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (New York: Vintage Books, 1975) p 217.
5 Charles Higham, The Adventures of Conan Doyle, (New York: Vintage Books, 1975) p 146.
6 Baring-Gould. William S. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes, New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977. v.II, p 4.
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