Читать книгу A Study in Sherlock - Raymond G. Farney - Страница 17

The Adventure of

the Engineer’s Thumb

 Publication & Dates:Strand, March 1892The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. (9th story) 1892Illustrations: Sidney Paget (8)Conan Doyle’s 11th storyHolmes’ 24th case

 Story Introduction:Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his notice, that of Mr. Hatherly’s thumb and of Colonel Warburton’s madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details, that it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story has, I believe, been told more than once in newspapers, but, like all such narratives, its effort is much less striking when set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes and the mystery clears gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly served to weaken the effect.It was in the summer of ’89, not long after my marriage that the events occurred which I am now about to summarize. I had returned to civil practice, and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Street rooms, although I continually visited him, and occasionally even persuaded him to forego his Bohemian habits so far as to come and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I happen to live at no very great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of these whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my virtues, and of endeavoring to send me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence.One morning, and little before seven o’clock, I was awakened by the maid tapping at the door, to announce the two men had come from Paddington, and were waiting in my consulting room. I dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the guard, came out of the room, and closed the door tightly behind him.“I’ve got him here,” he whispered, jerking his thumb over his shoulder; “he’s all right.”“What is it, then?” I asked, for his manner suggested that it was some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.“It’s a new patient,” he whispered. “I thought I’d bring him around myself; then he couldn’t slip away. There he is, all safe and sound. I must go now, doctor. I have my dooties, just the same as you.” And off he went, this trusty tout, without even giving me time to thank him.I entered my consulting room, and found a gentleman seated by the table.Holmes had done little in this story, only to listen to Hatherley’s story at Baker St., accompany him back to the crime scene and made a few deductions.Case Information

 Date:“It was in the summer of ’89,” Watson telling the story two years later, not long after his marriage.

 Duration:2 Days

 Crime:Attempted murder, counterfeiting, and suspicion of murder.“They are coiners on a large scale,” said Holmes. “They have been turning out half-crowns by the thousands.”

 Client:Mr. Victor Hatherley, Hydraulic Engineer, 16A Victoria Street 3rd floor. Was hired by Colonel Stark to repair a hydraulic press they used for counterfeiting. Colonel Stark attempted twice to murder him, one caused the loss of his thumb.Quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed, soft cap.Young, not more than five and twenty, with a strong masculine face.An orphan, bachelor, residing alone in London. Father deceased.Seven years apprenticed to Vernner and Mattherson, well-known firm in Greenwich.Two years ago started his own business.

 Victims:Mr. Victor Hatherley. Colonel Stark attempted twice to murder him, one caused the loss of his thumb.Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, presumed murdered by Colonel Stark. Age 26, hydraulic engineer. Old newspaper of Holmes’ reported that he went missing the year before.

 Crime Scene:Eyford, home of Colonel Lysander Stark, in Berkshire, near the border of Oxfordshire, within seven miles of Reading.Stark said it was ten miles. “It was a labyrinth of an old house, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations who had crossed them. There was no carpet and no signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches.”“I heard that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and the whole place is in a blaze.”

 Criminals:Colonel Lysander Stark. Over middle size but exceedingly thin, his whole face sharpened away into nose and chin and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Thought to have murdered Jeremiah Hayling.Fritz is the name he is called by Elise.His eyes bright, his step brisk, and his bearing assured.Plainly but neatly dressed, his age nearer forty than thirty.Had something of a German accent.Station-master thought he was Dr. Becher’s patient.Mr. Ferguson, also known as Dr. Becher. A short thick man with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin.“Tell me,” broke in the engineer, “is Dr. Becher a German, very thin, with a long sharp nose?”The Station-master laughed heartily. “No, sir, Dr. Becher is an Englishman, and there isn’t a man in the parish who has a better- lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm.”Elise. Pretty, in a dark dress of rich material and spoke in a foreign tongue. Helped Hatherley escape. “For the love of heaven!” she whispered, “get away from here before it is too late!”

 Punishment:None * “Early that morning a peasant had met a cart, containing several people and some very bulky boxes, driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes’s ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue to their whereabouts.”

 Official Police:Inspector Bradstreet, “Scotland Yard, plain-clothes man.”

 Characters:Watson’s “my old ally, the guard.” Who brought Hatherley to Watson’s home from Paddington Station for medical attention.Eyford station-master.

 Others Mentioned:Watson’s maid, who woke him up before 7:00 a.m.Vernner and Mattherson, where Victor Hatherley apprenticed.Hatherley’s clerk, who showed Colonel Stark in to the office.Dr. Becher, alias of Ferguson.

 Locations:Watson’s home and office. Not very far from Paddington Station.Baker Street.

 Locations Mentioned:Greenwich. Location of Vernner and Mattherson,

 Evidence & Clues:a chestnut colour, fresh horse. Made Holmes think that the location of the house containing the hydraulic press was not far from the Station. And not the twelve miles Hatherley thought.

 Motive:To keep their counterfeiting and its location a secret.

 Timeline:Two years have elapsed since Watson tells the story.One year earlier, Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, age 26, hydraulic engineer, went missing.Day BeforeMorning, Colonel Stark arrives at Hatherley’s office to hire him to repair his machine press.That night, Hatherley takes the train from Paddington Station to Elford. Changing trains in Reading.11:15 p.m., Hatherley arrives at Elford Station and is met by the Colonel.About midnight, Hatherley and Colonel Stark arrive at his house.Hatherley examines the machine and discovers a slight hydraulic leak.Stark, the German, tries to murder Hatherley by crushing him with the press.Hatherley escapes from the press and aided by the woman he climbs out a window, but as he is trying to escape Colonel Stark chops off his left-hand thumb at the windowsill. Falling to the ground he lies unconscious in the rosebushes.1st DayEarly morning, half-dazed, Hatherley goes to the Eyford Station and gets the train to Reading, on his way to London.A little past 6:00 a.m., Hatherley arrives at Paddington Station.Before 7:00 a.m.: Hatherley is brought from Paddington Station to Watson’s home for medical attention for his thumb.Later that morning, Watson and Hatherley arrive at Baker St. to consult with Holmes.Three hours or so afterward, Holmes, Watson, Hatherley, Inspector Bradstreet, and a plain-clothes man, all on the train together bound from Reading to the little Berkshire Village of Elford.Arriving at Elford, they find the house where Hatherley had been the night before was on fire, most likely started by the oil lamp Hatherley left behind in the pressroom being crushed. And they discover the fugitives had fled very early that morning.

 Story Conclusion:“I very much fear that they are a good hundred miles off by now.”And Holmes’ fears came to be realized, for from that day to this no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Earlier that morning a peasant had met a cart, containing several people and some very bulky boxes, driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes’ ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue to their whereabouts.The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which they found within, and still more so by discovering a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill on the second floor. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly; large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored in an outhouse, but no coins were to be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been already referred to.How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained for ever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out of the way of danger.“Well,” said our engineer, ruefully, as we took our seats to return once more to London, “it has been a pretty business for me! I have lost my thumb, I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have I gained?”“Experience,” said Holmes, laughing. “Indirectly it may be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.”

 Weather:None Mentioned.

 Payment:None Mentioned.

 Quotes:“ For the love of heaven!” she whispered, “get away from here before it is too late!”Holmes“They are coiners on a large scale,” said Holmes. “They have been turning out half-crowns by the thousands.”“Experience,” said Holmes, laughing. “Indirectly it may be of value, you know, you have only to put it into words to gain the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your existence.”“all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes’s ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue to their whereabouts.”

 Notes:Watson brings the client to Holmes.“fuller’s earth,” a valuable product that the counterfeiters said they were excavating and used the hydraulic press to process.Watson not living at Baker St.—newly married and in private practice.