Twenty-four Sherlockians logged in for our latest meeting to discuss The Dancing Men this month. We had a great turnout of 13 locals, Heather, Rob, Elaine, Andy, Michal, Adam, Ed, Wayne, John, Bill, Tom, Stacey, and Michael.
The other half of our group was from around the country and Canada including:
Rich from Michigan
Vince from Indiana
Regina from Michigan
Dan from Ohio
Steve from Texas
Chris from New Jersey
Carla from Maryland
Nancy from Ontario
Elinor from Oregon
Howard from Florida
Paty from Oklahoma
The news this month was all about upcoming events.
The 2021 BSI Birthday Weekend will be online this year. The Distinguished Speaker Lecture will be on Thursday and the Birthday Dinner on Friday. Carla reported that the Gaslight Gala may be on Saturday night, but arrangements are being made to work around the Lost in New York dinner so that people can enjoy every event. Details on these events to follow.
Elinor gave the rundown of the Left Coast Sherlockian Symposium, happening online October 10. Talks will occur the morning of 10/10 and social hours will be on Zoom the Friday before. Tickets are available on their website and it is a name your price event.
Holmes in the Heartland will be next summer on July 9-11 in person. Description of the weekend events can be found here.
Carla announced that the Red Circle of Washington DC will be hosting Nichola Utechin on September 5 and information can found on their website.
Chris announced that The Priory Scholars of New York will be hosting a meeting on October 17. Details to come soon.
Steve invited everyone to the next Crew of the Barque Lone Star meeting on September 5, where Monica Schmidt will be speaking. The group is also publishing their fourth book and details on the meeting and book can be found on their website.
Vince announced that the Bootmakers of Toronto will be hosting an online meeting on September 5 that he will be speaking at. Details to come soon.
Andrew shared that the Harpooners of the Sea Unicorn will be meeting on August 21 to discuss The Veiled Lodger and details can be found on their website.
Steve plugged the Fourth Garrideb's anniversary and their live reading of the Three Garridebs script on their Facebook page
That's a lot of events to keep up with!
Our story opens in 221B Baker Street where Holmes pauses his chemical research to ask Watson if he's not going to invest in South African securities. Before He explains himself, Holmes says, "Confess yourself utterly taken aback... because in five minutes you will say it is all so absurdly simple."
Holmes breaks it down: There's a groove in your left forefinger. You came home from the club with chalk on your hands last night. ---> You played billiards with Thurston. Four weeks ago Thurston had an option on South African properties that he wanted you to join him on. Your checkbook is in my drawer. You haven't asked for the key. ---> You decided not to invest.
"How absurdly simple!"
Rob cited Felix Morley's theory that Watson was an isolationist from this discussion. Watson was a gambler, but choosing not to gamble outside of England's realm showed his political leanings.
Holmes then shows Watson a sheet of paper with drawings of stick figures on it and says that it came in the morning's post from a man named Hilton Cubitt, who will be on the next train to see them. Sure enough, Cubitt arrives and says that the drawings are scaring his wife to death. Even though she won't admit it, he can see it in her eyes.
Cubitt says that he came to London last year for the Queen's Jubilee and met Elsie Patrick. Within a month they were married and she returned to Norfolk with him.
Although Watson doesn't give us a date for this story, Vince informed us that all 29 chronologies he has agree that Cubitt is talking about the Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
Before they were married, Elsie told him that she had "some very disagreeable associations in her life" and that she wished to forget them. Basically, don't ask and I won't tell. Cubitt promises not to ask.
Elaine noted that these are famous last words.
A month ago, Elsie got a letter from America. When she read it, she turned white and threw the note in the fire. She's been nervous ever since.
Cubitt says, "She would do better to trust me."
Spoiler: yeah she would.
Last Tuesday, Cubitt found dancing figures drawn on a window sill in chalk. He thought it was the stable boy, but no. He had them washed off and mentioned it to Elsie in passing later on. She begged to see any future drawings.
Yesterday morning, that paper that Cubitt had sent to Holmes was on the sundial in the garden. Cubitt showed it to his wife and she fainted.
Holmes tells Cubitt that he should ask his wife what is going on but he refuses, saying, "A promise is a promise."
Cubitt tells Holmes that no strangers have been in his neighborhood, but area farmers take in lodgers and there are some public houses in the vicinity.
Holmes tells the man that he can't do anything with just one sample of the drawings. He tells Cubitt to ask around about strangers in the area and to let him know of any more dancing men drawings.
For the next few days, Holmes would pull the drawing out of his pocket and look at it. After two weeks, Cubitt returns.
Elsie has hinted to him about trouble but won't explain. He does have a few more pictures, though. And Cubitt has seen the man that is bothering his wife.
The day after Cubitt's first visit to Baker Street, another message appeared. There was another two days after that, and again three days later.
Finally, Cubitt waited up with his revolver ready for the man. Elsie saw him and begged for him to come to bed, saying all of this was just a joke. But if the jokes were bothering him, they could travel to get away from it.
During this conversation, the man delivered another message. Cubitt saw him, but Elsie held onto her husband so that he couldn't give chase. Cubitt eventually broke free but found no one. When he came back to the house, another drawing was written on the door beside the first.
Kevin wasn't able to join us, but sent the following thought in: "Elsie is foolish. She could have told her husband about her past and no one else needed to know and avoid scandal. She could have told him and then they could have told the police. Elsie knew exactly what kind of man Abe is. He's a murderer. He is dangerous and she did nothing knowing what he is capable of. If she told him, maybe he would have consented to leaving on vacation for a while to protect her. Like I said, her choices are foolish."
Stacey thought that maybe Elsie would have been afraid of Cubitt judging her for her past, but ultimately thought that once a stalker shows up, she should've told her husband.
Heather pointed out that historically, women kept quiet about their pasts. At any time, the husband could leave their wives for the smallest indiscretion.
Carla figured that Elsie was beyond reason and was working from blind animal panic that dug herself into a hole that she couldn't logically think her way out of.
Bill thought it was very simple. Elsie loved Cubitt, but her husband is in danger. He wouldn't have changed his opinion of Elsie. Bill said Watson is a romantic, and he wanted to play up the romantic sacrifice of this story.
Michal said Else loved her husband, but is afraid to leave a mark on the Cubitt name.
Elaine thought Elsie was an idiot.
Elinor said that it would've made things much simpler if Elsie had come clean, but there wouldn't have been much of a story.
Cubitt wants to hide half a dozen farm lads in the bushed and beat the intruder the next time he came along, but Holmes says that the problem was too serious for such a simple remedy. Those of us that grew up in farm country disagreed, knowing just how much damage six farmhands with sticks and cudgels would be capable of.
Holmes says that he can come to Norfolk in a day or two and Cubitt leaves.
Once he's gone, Holmes is very excited, working for hours on what he knows is a cipher. After that, he writes a telegram, hoping for a quick answer. Instead it took two days for a reply.
In the meantime, Holmes tells Watson, "You will have a very pretty case to add to your collection." Rob pointed out that Holmes goes back and forth on his opinion on Watson's chronicles. Some times it's romanticized nonsense, while others Holmes wants to make sure that Watson is getting the information down.
Cubitt telegrams to Baker Street reporting that things have been quiet, but another message was on the sundial today.
After Holmes decodes the new message, he says that they have to go to Norfolk today. But the last train has already left so Holmes and Watson would have to wait. Rob wondered why they didn't look into the mail trains, but Tom pointed out that the author wasn't a stickler for factual details in these stories. Vince noted that if the stories were super accurate, his blog, HISTORICAL SHERLOCK wouldn't have much to post. Chris cited Lyndsay Faye for saying the literary agent wasn't too worried about these facts, and that's why she calls him Arthur Continuity Doyle. Steve said you should never let facts get in the way of a good story!
At this point in the story, Holmes clearly knows that danger is afoot. "We should not lose an hour in letting Hilton Cubitt know how matters stand, for it is a singular and dangerous web in which our simple Norfolk squire is entangled."
Heather said Holmes didn't wire ahead because he's a drama queen and his narcissism made him wait until he could be there in person to stop it. And Elinor agreed that Holmes wouldn't alert the constabulary when he could do it himself.
Carla said she always feels like yelling, "For God sake, man! Use some common sense!" in this story and The Five Orange Pips.
Steve pointed out that at the end of The Blue Carbuncle, Holmes says that it's not his job to make up for the deficiencies of the police, so he wondered how seriously he took that. Is it his job to protect people? Heather said it was, because Cubitt was his client. If Holmes couldn't be there, he should have sent someone to guard the house.
Nancy thought that Holmes underestimated the danger because he was "utterly despondent" after hearing the news from the station master.
John wondered if Holmes had warned Cubitt, would Cubitt have escalated things and gone after the intruder on his own. Rob agreed that the text backed up his thought by saying that Cubitt had waited with his gun and was willing to send out farm boys to fight him.
Stacey thought that Holmes understood the criminal mind and expected him to play cat-and-mouse with Hilton and Elsie. He wasn't prepared for Elsie to invite the criminal to her own home.
Steve pointed out that Holmes failed a client twelve years earlier in The Five Orange Pips, and he hoped that Holmes would live up to Watson's assessment as being the best and wisest man he's ever known by not being so cavalier with his actions.
Vince offered a theory popular among chronologists that the reason Holmes couldn't get to Norfolk sooner was because he was busy with the Retired Colourman case at the same time! Howard backed this up that not only could it have been that case, but one of the many other cases Holmes would have been involved with.
The next day, Holmes and Watson disembark from their train to find that Inspector Martin from the constabulary has already come through. The station master asks if Holmes and Watson are the Scotland Yard detectives. Holmes scoffs and the station master asks if they are surgeons instead. It turns out that Cubitt and Elsie were both shot last night. She shot him and then herself. He's dead, but she is not.
They engage a carriage for a seven mile ride to Cubitt's house where Holmes was lost in "gloomy speculation" and a "blank melancholy" while Watson describes the passing countryside to the reader.
Rob cited a typographical error from the original manuscript here that has been passed down for decades. According to Dancing to Death: A Facsimile of the Original Manuscript of The Dancing Men, the original manuscript read "black melancholy." An error by the original typist changed it to "blank melancholy," leaving readers to wonder at the phrase for years and years.
When Holmes and Watson arrive, Inspector Martin is surprised to meet Holmes. "How could you hear of it in London and get to the spot as soon as I?" Holmes replies, "I anticipated it."
Watson gets some Victorian shade at the police in when he wrote "Inspector Martin had the good sense to allow my friend to do things in his own fashion." That's right, watch and learn. Stacey appreciated that Martin knew to take notes from Holmes, and Heather expected him to get a promotion eventually.
The surgeon comes downstairs and reports that Elsie's "injuries were serious, but not necessarily fatal. the bullet had passed through the front of her brain." Think back to the first time you read this story. That's some pretty graphic stuff for a Sherlock Holmes tale!
The housemaid and cook are questioned, and report that they had been awakened by an explosion and a second one a minute later. They smelled gun smoke and ran to the study to find that the window was closed and Cubitt and Elsie were both shot. Holmes points out that the smell of the gunpowder will prove important.
The surgeon announces that two bullets were fired and there are two wounded people. Case closed. Holmes asks then why there is a third bullet hole in the window sash?
He then points out that an open window would have pushed the gun smoke into the house, but it could not have been opened long because the candle had not sputtered.
Dang. That is some solid attention to detail.
We discussed why Elsie would close the window after the first gunshot. Steve wondered if she was worried that the intruder would come back. Elaine offered that maybe she was scared of other members of a gang.
Holmes finds Elsie's purse with a thousand pounds in it. Michael explained that this would be over $100,000 in today's American money. Rob was surprised that no one had noticed a purse full of cash. And Andrew said a thousand pound purse would be way to heavy for someone to carry.
Michael shared a theory that Elsie actually stole this money from the gang of crooks and married Cubitt to help him maintain his estate. Just another landed man marrying a rich American woman. Thus, she could never reveal the source of this money (and this problem) to her husband. Sure, Abe wanted Elsie back, but he also wanted his damn money!
Holmes, Watson, and Inspector Martin go to look at the garden outside the window. Flowers were trampled with foot marks. Holmes finds a cartridge that had been ejected.
Kevin sent in "The revolver Abe Slaney uses is one that ejects shells. Those are rare today and probably uncommon when this was written. Not many companies made revolvers that ejected shells after being fired. They were originally designed in the 1840s but no one really used them and they were built for a couple European armies but not many were made. The Webly-Fosbery was designed in 1895 but released to the public around 1900-1901. Depending on the setting, a shell-ejecting revolver would be uncommon to rare."
Nancy pointed out that the villain was from Chicago, so he probably wouldn't have used a European gun. What would have been an American style? Rob cited Dante Torese's article in an old Baker Street Journal that said the Colt Single Action Army revolver would eject one cartridge at a time and as an American firearm, would have been familiar to a Chicago gangster.
Michael argued that he had a small semi-automatic that could have been concealed, possibly the same style of gun 007 used in the early Ian Fleming novels. In fact, Michael expanded his thoughts into this blog post.
Holmes asks where Elridge's is. The stable boy said it was a lonely farm, some miles off. Holmes made a dancing men note and sent it off to Mr. Abe Slaney and then tells the inspector to get backup to deal with what's coming.
In the meantime, Holmes explains how he broke the Dancing Men cipher. During this explanation, Holmes talks about his knowledge of the "crooks of Chicago." Rob wondered why there wasn't a Sherlockian society with that name. Michael said it was already taken by the Board of Alderman and Bill thought it would also work for the city council.
Bill called the Dancing Men code "Encryption 101" because it was such a simple code. And the code on the page had mistakes in it! Rob pointed out that there are some theories in scholarship that the code was actually extremely hard, so Watson substituted an easier code so his readers could follow along. Stacey thought that theory held up because this code seemed almost tailor made so that readers could stick with Holmes's logic. And Vince agreed that many things in the Canon were changed just to be more accessible to readers.
Carla cited Brent Morris, a retired mathematician for the NSA, who has given some great talks on this story.
Michael shared that he has an add-on file for Microsoft where he can turn text into the Dancing Men code. Another version of that can be found HERE.
Howard brought up the history of the Dancing Men code and how it was inspired by a code from the Cubitt Hotel made by a seven year old.
Elaine shared how Donny Zaldin had shared his research on the origin for this code at a Torists International meeting. Zaldin found that the Cubitt Hotel may have been an inspiration for the code, but Doyle was also influenced by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Gold Bug." And the hotel even has a plaque up saying that The Dancing Men was written at their hotel (even though it's been proven that Doyle was at another location when the story was written). The autograph album in question was actually lost for years and years until it was discovered in 1954!
Ed made a good point that it is often said that E is the most common letter in the alphabet. But each letter is used only once in the alphabet!
Abe Slaney arrives at the house, a servant shows him to the study, and Holmes puts a pistol to his head while the inspector cuffed him.
Abe asks where Mrs. Cubitt was. Holmes says she's hurt. Abe says no, that was her husband. She wrote me a note. Holmes says, no I wrote it. Eventually, Abe comes to see that he is busted and tells his story.
Elsie's father was a gang boss in Chicago and invented the Dancing Men code. Else ran off from the gang but Abe tracked her to England because they were engaged. When he found his fiancee, he started leaving her notes in the Dancing Men code until she agreed to meet him the previous night. But she wasn't going to run away with Abe. She tried to bribe him to leave. Cubitt interrupted this meeting and he and Abe shot at each other at the same time.
The case is closed, but Watson gave us a nice epilogue from the case.
Abe Slaney was condemned to death, but his punishment "was changed to penal servitude in consideration of mitigating circumstances."
Stacey cited the text saying that Cubitt shot first, but Elaine wondered if that was true. Rich said that Abe wasn't going to kill anyone, he had been invited by Elsie. This made him question the quality of the defense Slaney received at trial. Rob argued that Abe had made threats against Elsie. Ed said that Abe invaded the property and Cubitt didn't know why he was there. Ed and Rich are both attorneys, so you can imagine how good of a debate we got on this topic!
Tom wondered how the Assizes could be certain that Cubitt shot first, and Carla said because they weren't listening to Holmes. This made Rob wonder just how involved Holmes would be with actual court cases. Tom pointed out that often Holmes would hand everything over to the police and be done with the case, making him think that he wouldn't be very involved with the trials, especially because he probably had plenty of other cases happening.
And Elsie Cubitt "recovered entirely" from shooting herself in the front of the brain. How do you recover entirely from a bullet passing through the front of your brain? Rich said it was brandy. Carla cited many other cases of brain injuries in this area, including a man that had a railroad spike pass through his head, as well as Malala Yousafzai who fully recovered. Tom pointed out that the back of the brain is the much more dangerous part to damage.
Stacey loved the last line of the story that said Elsie devoted her whole life to the care of the poor. She came back from this tragedy and used the rest of her life to do good works. Carla thought maybe Elsie Cubitt was really Eliza Hamilton!
**********
And we are now going to a monthly meeting schedule! So plan on meeting again on September 12 to discuss The Solitary Cyclist
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