July Meeting: The Norwood Builder

Even though we aren't meeting in person, The Parallel Case of St. Louis is still having great meetings via Zoom!  We had 17 folks at this month's meeting, including two new folks from the St. Louis area and two out-of-state visitors (Michigan & Massachusetts).

But first.....

Holmes in the Heartland will be back in 2021!

Covid-19 cancelled a lot of things this year, but we will have it all back up and running on July 9-11, 2021 at the Sheraton Westport.  All of our speakers are signed on to return, and details on Friday night and Sunday afternoon's activities will be announced once they can be confirmed.  If you have already paid for the 2020 weekend, your registration will roll over to the 2021 event.

And our neighbor to the south, Mike McClure, is having great success with his new Sherlock Holmes board game, The Original Sherlock Holmes and His Baker Street Irregulars.  It is going gangbusters on Kickstarter and you can get a copy of this amazing game by backing it before July 25.

And then it was time to get into The Norwood Builder:

Our story starts off with Holmes lamenting that London is boring now that Moriarty is dead but Watson disagrees on moral grounds and tells the readers that they've had "the papers of ex-president Murillo" and "the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland" in recent months.

Most Sherlockian scholars agree that the Murillo case was recorded as "Wisteria Lodge."  It's worth noting that the Friesland also appeared in The Lost World, and was involved with Professor Challenger's escaped pterodactyl.  Was that the event Watson was alluding to that almost cost he and Holmes their lives?  The world may not yet be prepared for that story.

We also learn that Watson has sold his medical practice to move back into Baker Street.  It was bought by a doctor named Verner who was actually a distant relation to Holmes, who provided the money for Verner to buy Watson out.

The story really gets rolling when John Hector McFarlane rushes into the room, expecting Holmes and Watson to recognize his name.  They don't, but Holmes is able to deduce that the man is a bachelor, a solicitor, a Freemason, and an asthmatic.  It's interesting to see that Watson is able to follow this line of deduction without Holmes explaining it to him.  It seems that by this point in the partnership, Watson is seeing AND observing.

McFarlane tells Holmes and Watson that the police are after him for a murder and points out the story in the newspaper.  A large fire was put out in the backyard of Jonas Oldacre's house and the man was missing.  Investigation showed signs of a struggle and blood was found on a walking stick that belonged to McFarlane.  The police suspect that McFarlane burned Oldacre's body in the fire in the back yard the previous night.

Inspector Lestrade arrives at Baker Street to arrest McFarlane, but Holmes convinces him to let the man tell his story.  Lestrade allows it because Holmes has been helpful a time or two before.

McFarlane says that Jonas Oldacre arrived at his office the previous day, saying that he was an old friend of McFarlane's parents.  Oldacre didn't have any children of his own, so he wanted to write up a will and leave everything to McFarlane.

Modern day lawyers, Ed, Rich, and Michael discussed whether or not this will would even be legal, citing facts that legal documents need two witnesses, and whether or not McFarlane could have written up a will where he was the beneficiary.  Michael said that they could possibly come up with a definite answer to this, but they would have to bill us by the hour.  Chris wondered if a notary would have been needed.

After McFarlane agrees, Oldacre tells him that he has leases, deeds, and other papers that McFarlane will need to see at Oldacre's house.  He wants the young lawyer to come out to his house in Norwood that evening, but not to tell his parents because this is a secret.

Stacey pointed out that very few women would have fallen for this.  A creepy man you don't know wants you to come to his house at night?  Very sketchy.  Kevin wondered if young men were just more gullible then, and Heather agreed that women had to make their decisions based on whether or not it would compromise their reputation.  This ploy would not have worked with a woman during the Victorian age.

Once McFarlane shows up at Oldacre's house, a housekeeper shows him in and the two men have dinner.  Afterwards, they go over Oldacre's papers until 11 or 12 that night and Oldacre let him out through the French doors of the office, so he wouldn't wake the housekeeper.  McFarlane couldn't find his walking stick at the end of the night, but Oldacre said not to worry about it, as he could get it the next time he was at the house.

Michael's article from an old Baker Street Journal was cited where he offered that McFarlane was actually an illegitimate heir to the Oldacre estate.

After all of this, Lestrade's officers take McFarlane to a four wheeler while Holmes and Lestrade look at the papers McFarlane brought.  The papers show two different styles of writing, some clear and some bad, proving it was written on a train.  This leads to a great exchange between the two:

Holmes: What do you make of that?
Lestrade: Well, what do you make of it?

Lestrade says that McFarlane's guilt is obvious, but Holmes says it's a little TOO obvious and offers one possible theory that meets Lestrade's facts.

After Lestrade leaves, Holmes goes to Blackheath to meet with McFarlane's mother.  It turns out that Oldacre was an old suitor of hers, but she dumped him.  He sent her a defaced picture on her wedding day.  This actually strengthened Lestrade's case.  We talked about how long Oldacre would've had to hold on to that picture just to deface it and send to her.  What a creep!

Now that we've met Jonas Oldacre, Rich shared his poem recapping the story for us.  The amount of planning that Oldacre would've had to put into this plan made some of us think he may have been the most evil man in the Canon.

Back at Baker Street, Holmes knows something is wrong with this case.  "All my instincts are one way, and all the facts are the other, and I much fear that British juries have not yet attained that pitch of intelligence when they will give the preference to my; theories over Lestrade's facts."

Holmes and Watson head off to Norwood.  The police have searched the burn pile and found "the charred organic remains" and buttons from a pair of Oldacre's pants.

It's never really discovered what those organic remains were, but at the end of the story, Holmes throws out that they could have been rabbit bones.  This led to a group discussion on the plot hole and how it was addressed in the Granada version of the story.  We also wondered why Watson didn't investigate the organic remains.  It should have been pretty easy to tell that it wasn't human remains.

Holmes searched the house and grounds and questioned the housekeeper, but got nothing to help his case.  The only interesting thing he found was that Oldacre's checking account was low because he had been making payments to a man named Mr. Cornelius.

The next morning finds Holmes and Watson back at Baker Street when a telegram arrives from Lestrade saying there is fresh evidence against McFarlane and that Holmes should abandon his case.

Holmes and Watson go to Norwood and Lestrade shows them a bloody thumbprint on a white wall - McFarlane's thumbprint.  Rob wondered just how a perfect thumbprint would be pressed onto a wall without someone knowing.  A couple different arm contortions were tried, but no one could imagine how it was supposed to have happened.

But this new evidence proves that Holmes is correct.  He knows that that thumbprint was not there the previous day when he inspected the house.  We also thought it seemed unlikely that all of the police would have missed such an obvious clue as a bloody print on a white wall.

Holmes and Watson walk around the outside of the house and then pace around the inside.  After this, Holmes tells Lestrade that he can produce an important witness with his help.  He borrows three constables on the scene and two bundles of straw.  The group goes to the top landing, lights the straw on fire, and everyone started yelling "Fire!"

...and Jonas Oldacre appears from a hidden room.

Randy sparked a discussion of fires. It was agreed that the second fire set inside the Oldacre home by Holmes was very reckless and dangerous. Randy showed some of his historic firefighter collection, including old pictures and a very impressive crested helmet.

When he's found out, Oldacre's defense was that it was all a joke

Holmes tells Lestrade to alter his report to make the force look good.  He doesn't want to be mentioned.  "The work is its own reward."  (And probably a payment from Mr. McFarlane.)

Holmes figured that the upstairs was six feet shorter than the floor below it, but not on the outside, leading to the deduction of a hidden room.

This led to a discussion of secret rooms. A question was raised whether the secret room may have been an old priest hole, which Oldacre merely freshened up. Others thought it was all new construction, since Oldacre was a home builder, and Norwood was then a fairly new suburb of London.

Holmes says that Oldacre was out for revenge on McFarlane's mother for jilting him and wanted to disappear from his creditors by taking on a new life as "Mr. Cornelius."  Oldacre won't confirm or deny any of Holmes's theories, but Holmes is just happy to have saved McFarlane from an unjust fate.

And Lestrade wasn't right after all.  Better luck next time.

Jonas Oldacre: Norwood Builder By Rich Krisciunas

JONAS OLDACRE: NORWOOD BUILDER
By Rich Krisciunas © 
Delivered to Parallel Case of St. Louis, July 11, 2020

If you had to rank the scoundrels in the Canon
And could choose among men both dead or alive.
Of those who fit the bill as worst in London, 
Jonas Oldacre would be in the top five.

Wicked men like Professor Moriarty, 
Charles A. Milverton and Colonel Moran.
They were all evil and matched wits with Holmes but
None were more dangerous than this Oldacre man. 

He appeared in the case of “The Norwood Builder” 
Where a handsome young lawyer was falsely accused 
Of drafting a will where he’d get all the money 
And ended up in gaol and was hardly amused. 

It’s been three years since Moriarty had his “fall.”
Crime’s down in London. Sherlock’s life has been a bore. 
As our story begins, Holmes has finished breakfast,
His peace is shattered by a beating at his door.

In rushes McFarlane, he’s pale and out of breath, 
Wild-eyed and frantic. Holmes suggests a cigarette
And deduces he’s an asthmatic solicitor
Without help from Siri or the Internet.

Holmes seems gratified that a murder is alleged
And his new client will soon be arrested.
What better way to start the day; with a new case 
And his unique, deductive skills being tested.

In the Telegraph, Holmes read news from Scotland Yard. 
The victim was murdered and then set afire. 
The suspect was linked by his cane at the scene. 
The police are seeking John McFarlane, Esquire. 

McFarlane, of course, protested his innocence;
Said he’d first met the victim and drafted his will. 
Was shocked to be the sole beneficiary. 
Adamantly claimed he had no motive to kill. 

Lestrade said guilt “was definitely established.
If Oldacre’s dead, MacFarlane gets his estate.
Blood’s on his stick. He’s the last to see him alive.
An open and shut case. There’s no room for debate!”

When Lestrade took John Hector into custody, 
Holmes criticized his lack of imagination.
Many more things needed to be examined so
Holmes chose to start his own investigation.                 

Holmes learned that Jonas had a thing for John’s mom
That ended when another guy she married.
Oldacre became an eccentric bachelor
And broken-hearted memories he’d carried.

Holmes returned to Norwood and closely spied the scene;
Crawled the lawn, scoured papers, searching for a clue. 
But when he found checks written to an unknown man
named Cornelius; the Master’s suspicions grew.

McFarlane’s bloody thumbprint turned up on a wall 
And things began to look like all hope was lost.
But, as Lestrade started writing his final report, 
Holmes asked if his “i’s” were dotted and his “t’s crossed. 

“There’s one more witness to question,” suggested Holmes,
“Til the Norwood case could be solved and completed.”
Two bundles of straw and some matches from Watson
Were needed to expose the culprit who cheated.

When the smoke spread and constables shouted “Fire!”
A hidden door opened and a man ran about. 
Oldacre was smiling, everyone was surprised.
The missing man wasn’t dead, there was no doubt.

His ultimate goal was to fake his own death 
And frame the son of the woman who spurned him. 
He schemed to set fire to some bones and his clothes; 
Make it appear as if McFarlane burned him.

Then he’d disappear; take the name of another, 
With McFarlane convicted and hanged by the neck.
But Holmes was the wiser, McFarlane was saved
And Jonas Oldacre’s vile plan had been wrecked. 

That’s it for my in-depth analysis and
I’ll return the book to its place on my shelf, 
Remembering this story as, where Oldacre 
Tried to make a complete ash of himself.  (1)

(1) A tip of the deerstalker to the late Dr. Phillip Franklin Wagley, M.D., “One must conclude that, although Sherlock Holmes could ‘see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart,’ he did not realise how difficult it is for a man to make a complete ash of himself.” “A Lingering Mystery About the Norwood Affair,” 22 BSJ 166 (1972).

The World View of Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes by Kevin Letts

The World View of Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes
by Kevin Letts

For a class assignment on world views, I wrote the following world view critique on the movie Sherlock Holmes (2009), staring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. This movie mostly shows a spiritualistic existential world view. An existential world view, in a nutshell, is to find meaning in life. For some, it is science. In the case of Holmes and Watson, it is science and fighting crime. A spiritual aspect of this means to believe that there is a spiritual realm without knowing what exactly is out there. 

There are 8 world view questions answered for this essay:

What is truly real? 

What is the nature of external reality? 

What is a human being? 

What happens after death? 

Is it truly possible to know anything or any truth at all? 

What is morality? 

Is history important? 

What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with the world view?

What is prime reality? What is truly real?

The two main protagonists in this movie rely very much on science. In the beginning of the movie, we see a woman who was about to be a victim of a sacrifice. She is under the influence of a drug and Dr. Watson sees this and tells the police that she needs a hospital immediately and not a minister for prayer. We also see Holmes shooting a gun in his rooms while trying to make a sound suppressor for a gun. My point is they are devotees of science. 

Throughout the movie, Holmes talks of wanting facts. A famous quote from the Canon is “Data! Data! Data!  I can't make bricks without clay.” While following a lead, Watson suggests a possible supernatural answer while Holmes replies that he is not opposed to the idea but wishes to have as many facts as he can before jumping to a supernatural conclusion. When Blackwood is reported to rise from the grave, Holmes’s first words are “What are the facts?” Throughout the movie Holmes always relies on solid facts to answer questions. 

At the end of the movie, Holmes not only dismisses the idea of the supernatural but shows conclusively how everything is done through science and not supernatural powers.

What is the nature of external reality?

Much like the answer to question one, scientific law is a big factor to determining what the world is around us. In science, the world is orderly and, using scientific laws, the world around us can be manipulated to a certain extent. Lord Blackwood, using science, has his followers drink their loyalty to him before he attempts to murder all of parliament. It turns out this drink had an antidote that would have kept them immune from the poisonous gas released in parliament. Because Holmes, Watson, and Adler interfered, the plan was foiled.  It was not a failure on Blackwood’s part. His science was accurate and correct, but the protagonists interfered with the procedure. 

Is there a supernatural aspect to the world in this movie? What do the characters believe? Lord Blackwood, before his first hanging (the one he managed to fake), said “Death is only the beginning.” However, he knew he was not going to die. He survived the hanging by an apparatus around his chest and back that took most of the force that would have broken his neck and chocked him and took a drug that slowed his heart beat to the point where it seemed like he was dead. His resurrection, itself, was achieved by breaking the stone that covered his grave and then using an adhesive to glue it back together but then would wash away in the rain so no one would see it. That, plus Holmes showing the world how Blackwood demonstrated his ‘powers’ were nothing more than illusions caused by science gives the idea that there is no supernatural but just the appearance of it. 

What of the main religion of the general populous at the time of this story? It is mostly Christianity. As we see above, it seems that science is the main belief of the protagonists and antagonists. There are priests and religious people in many parts of the movie. How are Christian theists seen in this movie? For the most part, not in a positive light. One example is when Blackwood was waiting for his execution. Outside his jail, there are many people, some in clerical clothing, holding up crosses and signs that has apocalyptic sayings and Scripture verses, mostly from Revelation. They are shouting about the end times and how Blackwood is of the devil. They looked rather unorganized and near riotous. At another point, Holmes laments, after a hotel chambermaid finds him naked and tied to a bed. who screams and runs out apparently offended and thinking Holmes was making a sexual pass at her, “That’s why I find this modern religious fervor so troubling…” because people do not have open minds. Near the end of the movie when Blackwood addresses Parliament and gives members of Parliament one more chance to follow him, there are more religious ‘protesters’ outside holding up crosses and yelling apocalyptically. Blackwood tells the members of Parliament, “Listen to the rabble outside. Listen. Listen to the fear. I will use that as a weapon to control them, and then the world.” Those who hold a Christian theist view are not looked upon well in this movie which may make one believe the protagonists and antagonists really do not believe in the supernatural, but science.  

With that said, however, Watson, during the start of their investigations, tells Holmes about odd things he had seen while he was in the British army that baffled him. He says he knew a man who was able to predict his death down to the number of bullets that killed him and their placement. He says to Holmes, “You have to admit, Holmes, that a supernatural explanation to this case is theoretically possible.” Holmes replies, “Well, agreed, but it is a huge mistake to theorize before one has enough data. Inevitably, one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of twisting theories to suit facts.” Here, we see Holmes and Watson suggesting that there is something more than what is seen, but, before concluding the supernatural, look at the facts, first, and see if there is a scientific, materialistic, reason to what is happening. They do not show atheistic views, per se, but more of an agnostic and spiritual existential worldview in that they believe something, or someone, is out there, but they are not sure what or who. Near the climax of the movie, Holmes goes through the rituals of the Temple and, after finishing, he gives a brief presentation of his conclusions to Watson and Adler. As he starts, he says, “…I may well have reconciled thousands of years of theological disparity, but that’s for another time.” He describes his journey through these rituals as deeper than he has even gone before but has emerged “enlightened.” It appears he, as well as Watson, believes in a spiritual realm and maybe even truths, but he reserves that for another time.

What is a human being?

What is a human being in these movies? As seen above, there is a belief that there is more to a human being than just a fleshy machine that acts on its own with no spirit inside the machine. The supernatural, though faked, is seen as an important factor in this movie and the belief that there is something more to a human than the physical appears to be a possibility if not believed. To Lord Blackwood, the victims of his sacrifices were “five otherwise meaningless creatures called to serve a greater purpose.” They meant nothing to him except a means for him to take over the Temple of the Four Orders, the government of Great Britain, then the world. 

Holmes shows a desire for helping humanity in a couple ways. One, when he visits Blackwood in his cell before execution, Holmes replies to Blackwood’s disregard for his victims by asking if they (scientists) will be allowed to dissect Lord Blackwood’s brain for deformities. Then, he, Blackwood, “would serve a greater purpose.” Holmes shows his value of humanity in general when brought to meet Lord Rotheram (Blackwood’s father) to hire him to stop Blackwood. Holmes says he can choose his clients and for a fee. He says he will stop Blackwood but not for them and not for a fee. He knows Blackwood is a danger to humanity and must be stopped. 

Holmes does show that he values some people above others. He, obviously, has affection for Watson but also for Irene Adler (even though he does not trust her). Watson is his best (if not his only) friend. Meanwhile, Holmes shows little concern for people like Lord Rotheram when he reminds Rotheram, rather as a matter of fact, that everyone in Blackwood’s family winds up dead. When Rotheram is found dead a day or two later, Holmes is brought to the scene of the incident and shows no sorrow or remorse for the death. He does not lament that he should have done something to warn him or advise him to keep him alive. He treated it more as a normal crime scene and a puzzle to solve. 

Watson’s view of humanity is that people should be valued. As a doctor, he showed great care for his patients and even some of those who followed Blackwood. While fighting some of Blackwood’s henchmen, he put them in a choke hold or, in some cases, a ‘sleeper’ hold which renders the opponent unconscious but not dead. Each time he does this, he checks his opponent’s pulse to make sure they are still alive. 

What happens to someone after they die?

In this movie, there is no real discussion of what happens after someone does except for those who follow Blackwood or are convinced he resurrected himself. Neither Holmes nor Watson give any real theories to life after death, heaven, hell, limbo, or becoming one with the universe (like the Star Wars Force). As mentioned above, Lord Blackwood says “death is only the beginning” with confidence because he knew he was not going to die. At the end of the movie, however, when he thought he was going to die; Blackwood cries out to Holmes to save him. Obviously, real death was not the beginning he was looking for and he was scared to die because he does not know what really happens to someone after death. One could argue that the message of life after death is that it is truly unknown or there is nothing after death. At first, the idea of resurrection from the grave seems absurd to Holmes and Watson. After visiting Blackwood’s grave, Watson starts to wonder, but Holmes stays resolute to look for a scientific explanation before looking into the possibility of someone rising from the grave. 

Is it possible to know anything at all?

Again, science is the ultimate way to know if anything is true, has purpose, or not. Holmes repeatedly talks of relying on facts. He wants to know what the facts are and then he forms his theories. Like he told Watson when asked about a supernatural possibility, that he prefers to look at the facts and mold theories around the facts rather the facts around the theories. Then, as referenced above, he emerges enlightened after going through the Temple’s rituals and believes he has reconciled millennia of theological disparity. In existential thinking, an individual must not allow natural law to rule them and make them nothing but a senseless spot in the universe but make something of themselves. The individual must find their own meaning. So, despite the science, they must make their own purpose. They make their own purpose in life. Lord Blackwood says that it is his purpose to take over the world and make the British Empire strong again and to last for millennia. Even with science, he believes it is his purpose to make England strong again and to rule it. 

Like mentioned above, Holmes talks about wanting Blackwood’s brain for research to serve a greater purpose. To him, science and solving crimes is his purpose in life. In this movie, he tries to make a sound suppressor for a gun and, also tries to manipulate flies while playing various chords on his violin and, through musical theory, create order out of chaos. Commentators on both the Holmes of the movie and in the canon have said that solving crime and science are his purposes in life. 

What is morality? How do we know what is right and wrong? 

Holmes and Watson believe in justice. They do follow the law and they do believe in following it to a point. However, when all is said and done, they believe in justice more, even if it means breaking the law. Holmes is willing to break and enter to solve the crime and catch a wicked person who has murdered before, is still murdering, and, he comes to find out later, ready to murder hundreds more to become ruler of the world. He does this with Watson as they find the first lab used by Blackwood’s henchmen, then does it again by trying to break into Irene Adler’s hotel room to get her away from harm. Holmes shows he is dedicated to fighting crime on his own terms. He tells the leaders of the Temple of the Four Orders after they offer to hire him that he will stop Blackwood that he chooses his own clients but will stop Blackwood because he knows he is a danger to society and the world. He is not a vigilante. He normally does not go out looking for crimes to be done. He has people come to him, be it clients or the police force. He saves the life of the potential sixth sacrifice in the beginning of the movie because he was hired by the woman’s family, but when Lord Blackwood is reported to rise from the grave, it’s the police that come to him for help. 

Ultimately, he does believe in a right and wrong more than the established law. How do they know? Mostly through what society would consider right and wrong and what Holmes, himself, would see as justice.

What is the meaning of human history?

Looking at this movie, history is important to help solve the crimes occurring now and to prevent crimes in the near future. Like I mentioned above, Holmes looks to a series of rituals used for hundreds, if not thousands, of years to determine Blackwood’s plan. The Temple of the Four Orders, they admit, have been in control of governments and kingdoms for millennia and Blackwood uses that in his desire to take over the order, then try to take over the government/empire, then, the world. To Holmes, their beliefs may be mythical, but still important because it is what they believe.

Holmes’s history with Irene Adler, though more recent, is still important to him. He shows he does not trust her. After she asks Holmes why, he responds by asking if she wants to know alphabetically or historically. 

What personal, life-orienting core commitments are consistent with existentialism?

Existentialist world views involve people making their own purpose. Much of this is answered in questions 5 and 6. For Holmes and Watson, it is fighting crime and solving cases. It is making scientific discoveries, making England and the world (or their part of it) a safer place. Without a true crime, though, Holmes is bored and starts making experiments that potentially harm himself, Mrs. Hudson, their dog, or even Watson. He wants a case that will engage his mind and make him genuinely think and work to solve it. At one point, before Adler hires him and is notified that Blackwood has risen, he laments to Watson, “There’s nothing of interest for me out there at all.” At one point, Mrs. Hudson is afraid to go into Holmes’s room because he is testing his sound suppressor by shooting bullets into the wall. Watson, trying to comfort her, says he just needs another case to occupy his mind. Though he does not wish to solve petty crimes, he does want to work for justice because if he wanted to use his mind for crime (robbing a bank, committing the perfect murder, etc.) he could but it is obvious he chooses not to.

For Lord Blackwood, his self-proclaimed purpose taking over the world. He says a couple times through the movie that he has been chosen to take over the world and he was born for it. It is the reason he was born.

Conclusion

Overall, I would say this movie has a spiritual existential world view. Both antagonists and protagonists both find their own purpose and are dedicated to it. Because Holmes exposes the ‘magick’ of Lord Blackwood to be nothing but illusions, one could argue this is more atheistic, but it is obvious through Holmes’s declaration of enlightenment after reconciling theological disparity and admitting to Watson that a spiritual answer is possible (though unlikely), and no real endorsement of Christian Theism, it would appear that this movie is more spiritualist than theistic in its existential leanings.

Sources:

World Ritchie, Guy, director. Sherlock Holmes. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2009.