November Meeting: Black Peter

Dozens of Sherlockians from across America, Canada, and France joined in for this month's discussion on The Adventure of Black Peter.  After some general chitchat and introductions, we jumped in to the little bit of news there was to discuss:

We talked about the Sherlockian Saturday at the Pratt event that happened a few hours before our meeting.  Plenty of our members and attendees were at the Pratt event and everyone agreed that it was full of great presentations.

Srini wrote a wonderful blog post for us about looking at the Canon through a physician's eye.

The Beacon Society just started a gazette for kids in fourth through sixth grade and is definitely worth checking out.

Mike announced that backers for Sherlock Holmes and his Baker Street Irregulars should be receiving their copies soon.  Anyone who wasn't able to get in on the Kickstarter can still order the game at a discounted price.

We talked about Brad's podcast, Sherlock Holmes Is Real, and how it argues that the Ronald Howard series was documentary evidence of Sherlock Holmes's real life. 

A few book recommendations were tossed out:

Srini liked House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Heather recommended Villains, Victims, and Violets edited by Tamara Bower and Resa Haile 

Rob recommended More Leaves from the Copper Beeches edited by H.W. Starr

And then it was time to get down to business!

Our story starts off with Watson telling us that 1895 was a busy year for Holmes, with the death of Cardinal Tosca and the case of Wilson the notorious canary trainer.  Rob told of a story he heard when a Sherlockian attended the Gasfitters' Costume Ball during Autumn in Baker Street.  The man was wearing a St. Louis Cardinals jersey with Tosca on the back: Cardinal Tosca! 

Wilson, the notorious canary trainer has had plenty of interpretations as well. Nicholas Meyer adapted this story, which many people remembered fondly.  We talked if the word "canary" was meant to describe birds or criminals.  

Watson says that Holmes was busy that July, but hadn't included him yet in the case.  He knew that Holmes was at work because sailors kept reporting to 221B looking for Captain Basil.  Plenty of us had THIS Captain Basil in mind when we read that:

Holmes comes home one morning carrying a harpoon (which is such a great image!), leading to quite the exchange with his roommate:

Holmes: You'll never guess what I've been up to

Watson: I'm not even going to try

Holmes: I've been trying to stab a pig

Watson: Of course you have

David told us that the game Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments had Black Peter as a playable case where you had to practice harpooning pigs as part of the case.

Stanley Hopkins soon arrives for one of his four appearances in the Canon.  Rob noted that all of Hopkins's appearances occur during The Return.  Hopkins fills Watson in on the case, telling him that they are investigating the murder of a whaling ship captain named Peter Carey.  Carey had been murdered by a harpoon through the chest, "pinned like a beetle on a card."

Randy asked if Peter Carey's body was up off of the ground when he was harpooned to the wall or if he would have been slouched.  Either way, it would have been gruesome.  Joe thought that we should turn this into a part of game night for Holmes in the Heartland.

Hopkins pleads for Holmes to come help, saying, "It's my first big chance."  Holmes agrees to help and they head out.  When they arrive, they find marks showing that someone has tried to break in via the door and the window.  Holmes expects this visitor to return.

After investigating the murder scene, Holmes and Watson take a break and walk through the woods for a few hours before they expect the suspect to return.  Rob pointed out that Holmes appreciated nature, but Randy argued that Watson is quoted as saying Holmes had no room in his life for nature in CARD.  Kevin countered that Holmes showed attention to the moss rose in NAVA, which led to a small discussion on the purpose of that monologue.  Edith and John thought Holmes was covering something up with his digression, while Olivia saw it as genuine.  This conversation somehow led to the Cottingley fairies and Arthur Conan Doyle dressed as Viking.

John got us back on task and said he found it odd that Carey was allowed to be as brutal to everyone in town but the local police never got involved.  He even got away with assaulting the local vicar!

Stacey said the description of Carey's wife and daughter saying they were glad he was dead was heartbreaking.  Elaine said it was a wonder he found anyone willing to marry him in the first place.  

We all agreed that no one cared that Carey was dead and wasn't concerned with the murderer being brought to justice.  Olivia thought this case would have been one where Holmes would have let the villain escape if Hopkins hadn't been present.  Kevin found this very similar to Grimesby Roylott's death in SPEC and Heather expected us to have the same conversation next month with CHAS.

David said Black Peter is similar to ABBE because Holmes is less interested in catching a murderer than he is in clearing the innocent man that had been arrested.  John pointed out that the killer in this story had already covered up one murder, so Holmes may not have been so lenient with him as he was in other stories.

Rob cited Doyle's description of the vigil which led to everyone listing off all of the many, many times where Holmes and Watson are waiting and watching.  Steve thought having a Harry Potter invisibility cloak would have made these stakeouts much easier.  Olivia thought the name "The Thirsty Beasts of Prey" would make for a great name of a drinking group.

John Nelligan, a shrimpy little 20 year-old shows up and starts looking through Carey's stuff before Hopkins arrests him. Stacey thought Nelligan's outfit was hilarious and showed us examples of the styles described.  Nancy and Susan pointed out that his cover story was that he was staying in town for golfing, but Joe wondered why he would be wearing that at 2 am.

Hopkins tells Holmes that he would have brought the case to a successful close without him, and Rob asked everyone if they thought that was true.  Elaine pointed out that Hopkins wouldn't have thought to do a stakeout.  Susan said if this story was going to be published by the Strand, Holmes had better have been useful!

The next morning, Holmes invites Hopkins to Baker Street to discuss the status of the investigation because he thinks Nelligan is innocent.  Elaine found it so sad that Hopkins was happy to throw someone in jail, even with Holmes pointing out all of the problems with his case.  Stacey said Hopkins was probably just acting as the fashion police.  Srini was interested that Holmes always had high hopes for Hopkins.  John pointed out that Holmes didn't suffer fools, but Nancy countered that he often spoke harshly to Watson, so maybe the comments were meant to help develop his skill.

Three sailors soon arrive to interview for a harpooning position with "Captain Basil."  One of them is named Patrick Cairns, and Holmes asks the man to sign a contract.  When he bends over, Holmes handcuffs him and a fight quickly breaks out.  Watson said that Patrick Cairns would have overpowered Holmes if he and Hopkins hadn't intervened.  Rob wondered if this is the only time in the Canon that Holmes is outmatched in a one-on-one battle.  Srini made an argument for Jefferson Hope, and Olivia thought about Sebastian Moran.

Cairns admits that he killed Peter Carey, but did not murder him.  He killed Black Peter in self-defense.  Rob said the reason Peter Carey died is because he brought a knife to a harpoon fight.

Srini wondered why Cairns wouldn't have been willing to try and sell the securities.  Was he expecting to just find cash in the stolen box?

Stacey talked about her parents taking she and her sister to a whaling museum as a teenager and she hated how graphic the pictures and displays were.  Olivia pointed out that Doyle almost died numerous times on his whaling voyage.  Andy wondered if the safety procedures on the ship would earn a SEAL of approval?

The case is closed, and Holmes tells Hopkins that if the police need him, he and Watson will be in Norway.  Why Norway?  

Olivia thought they were going to investigate narwhal attacks and David said it was to see the fjords.  Elaine cited the Klinger Annotated and said that they were hunting down the lost securities but Joe pointed out that Nelligan's father never made it to Norway.  Brad said maybe Holmes and Watson knew something else of value was there.  John wondered if this trip led to the development of a certain Norwegian named Sigerson.  Stacey thought planning a fake whaling expedition just made Holmes want to go somewhere cold.  And Elaine said he could practice his harpooning skills there.  Nancy posited that there was still something in Norway that would help the Nelligan pay off his debts.  No matter what we said, we were having a hard time making a connection to Norway.  But we did piece together this little tune:

Someday we'll find it, the Norway Connection

The blubbers, the dreamers and me

Our next meeting will be on December 12 to talk about Charles Augustus Milverton.  Zoom at once if convenient!

Medical Musings from the Sherlock Holmes Canon by Srini Raghavan

“When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." [SIGN]

These are some of the immortal words uttered by Sherlock Holmes, over the course of his illustrious career in the story of The Sign of the Four.  Supposedly Arthur Conan Doyle’s inspiration for this was taken from his medical training where one is taught to list all the possible diagnoses for a given condition, and try to eliminate those one after the other based on clinical parameters.  

I think one could parse these words a bit, especially the word impossible, but that would be for another day!  I've picked out a few medical oddities along the Canonical journey for your consideration.

In the Speckled Band, Dr. Roylott’s death was caused by an Indian snake and he supposedly died within 10 seconds. 

There are two major types of venom: the hemotoxic and the neurotoxic . While the neurotoxic acts by paralysis of the respiratory muscle and the hemotoxic acts by clotting the blood within the circulation, neither of them will kill in 10 seconds.  It will take many minutes at its fastest, and usually slower than that. This particular snake was identified  to be a viper which produces a hemotoxic poison, which acts slower than a neurotoxin.

Apparently one Mr. Klauber (per Mr. Baring-Gould’s book) postulated that this snake could have been a hybrid of a Gila monster and a cobra, created by the Infamous Doctor Roylott, (a la Frankenstein) and thus capable of going fast up and down the bell-pull rope, and also having a very deadly bite!

This seems very far-fetched, but does allow Mr. Klauber  to give full reign to his imagination!

The more prosaic explanation is that Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle was just exercising a bit of poetic license.

In the Naval Treaty, after the valuable naval manuscript went missing , Mr. Percy Phelps reports that he was unconscious for 9 weeks with “brain fever" and before that he was “practically a raving lunatic"!

During Victorian times “brain fever” would encompass a lot of mental health states, and this sounded like a “nervous breakdown” but it is impossible for one to be unconscious for 9 weeks from it.

Interestingly, the modern day interpretation of brain fever could be stated as encephalitis, most commonly caused by viruses. St Louis has the dubious distinction of having one such virus named after it. 

Now, if one had a viral encephalitis, one could possibly be unconscious for a long period like the nine weeks mentioned in the story.  One interesting explanation could be that mental stress can decrease the body’s immune responses, and what if Mr. Phelps' stress actually made him susceptible to a viral encephalitis at that time? Just a thought as we will never know!

In the opening passage of The Priory School, Dr. Thorneycroft Huxtable entered their rooms at Baker Street and fell down and becomes “insensible."  Dr. Watson postulates it to be “absolute exhaustion - possibly mere hunger and fatigue."

His  face is described as “heavy white" with “leaden color.”  All these suggest that this gentleman actually had a vasovagal episode also known as a fainting spell!

This condition usually does not produce a thready pulse described, “where the stream of life trickled thin and small.” Usually it does produce a slowish and reasonably strong pulse and the diagnosis of a fainting spell is further reinforced by the fact that he “scrambled up in an instant." Travelling 6 hours on a train can't be that exhausting to cause one to faint.

All these are my views from the perspective of a health care provider and I do realize there can be other interpretations, but I did have fun putting my thoughts down, and I hope you all enjoy those as well.