“Very good, we shall wire to him and see if all is well, and if aclerk of your name is working there. That is clear enough, butwhat is not so clear is why at sight of us one of the rogues shouldinstantly walk out of the room and hang himself.”
“The paper!” croaked a voice behind us. The man was sittingup, blanched and ghastly, with returning reason in his eyes, andhands which rubbed nervously at the broad red band which stillencircled his throat.
“The paper! Of course!” yelled Holmes in a paroxysm ofexcitement. “Idiot that I was! I thought so much of our visit thatthe paper never entered my head for an instant. To be sure, thesecret must be there.” He flattened it out upon the table, and a cryMemoirs of Sherlock Holmes 713
of triumph burst from his lips. “Look at this, Watson,” he cried. “Itis a London paper, an early edition of the Evening Standard. Hereis what we want. Look at the headlines: ‘Crime in the City. Murderat Mawson & Williams’s. Gigantic Attempted Robbery. Capture ofthe Criminal.’ Here, Watson, we are all equally anxious to hear it,so kindly read it aloud to us.”
It appeared from its position in the paper to have been the oneevent of importance in town, and the account of it ran in this way:
“A desperate attempt at robbery, culminating in the death of oneman and the capture of the criminal, occurred this afternoon inthe City. For some time back Mawson & Williams, the famousfinancial house, have been the guardians of securities which amountin the aggregate to a sum of considerably over a million sterling.
So conscious was the manager of the responsibility which devolvedupon him in consequence of the great interests at stake that safesof the very latest construction have been employed, and an armedwatchman has been left day and night in the building. It appearsthat last week a new clerk named Hall Pycroft was engaged by thefirm. This person appears to have been none other that Beddington,the famous forger and cracksman, who, with his brother, had onlyrecently emerged from a five years’ spell of penal servitude. By somemeans, which are not yet clear, he succeeded in winning, under a falsename, this official position in the office, which he utilized in order toobtain moulding of various locks, and a thorough knowledge of theposition of the strong room and the safes.
“It is customary at Mawson’s for the clerks to leave at middayon Saturday. Sergeant Tuson, of the City police, was somewhatsurprised, therefore, to see a gentleman with a carpet-bag comedown the steps at twenty minutes past one. His suspicions beingaroused, the sergeant followed the man, and with the aid ofConstable Pollock succeeded, after a most desperate resistance,in arresting him. It was at once clear that a daring and giganticrobbery had been committed. Nearly a hundred thousand pounds’
worth of American railway bonds, with a large amount of scripin mines and other companies, was discovered in the bag. Onexamining the premises the body of the unfortunate watchman wasfound doubled up and thrust into the largest of the safes, whereit would not have been discovered until Monday morning had itnot been for the prompt action of Sergeant Tuson. The man’s skullhad been shattered by a blow from a poker delivered from behind.
There could be no doubt that Beddington had obtained entranceby pretending that he had left something behind him, and havingmurdered the watchman, rapidly rifled the large safe, and then madeoff with his booty. His brother, who usually works with him, has not714 The Complete Sherlock Holmes
appeared in this job as far as can at present be ascertained, althoughthe police are making energetic inquiries as to his whereabouts.”
“Well, we may save the police some little trouble in thatdirection,” said Holmes, glancing at the haggard figure huddledup by the window. “Human nature is a strange mixture, Watson.
You see that even a villain and murderer can inspire such affectionthat his brother turns to suicide when he learns that his neckforfeited. However, we have no choice as to our action. Thedoctor and I will remain on guard, Mr. Pycroft, if you will have thekindness to step out for the police.”
The Gloria Scott
“I have some papers here,” said my friend Sherlock Holmes aswe sat one winter’s night on either side of the fire, “which I reallythink, Watson, that it would be worth your while to glance over.
These are the documents in the extraordinary case of the GloriaScott, and this is the message which struck Justice of the PeaceTrevor dead with horror when he read it.”
He had picked from a drawer a little tarnished cylinder, and,undoing the tape, he handed me a short note scrawled upon a halfsheetof slate-gray paper.
“The supply of game for London is going steadily up [it ran]. “HeadkeeperHudson, we believe, has been now told to receive all ordersfor fly-paper and for preservation of your hen-pheasant’s life.”
As I glanced up from reading this enigmatical message, I sawHolmes chuckling at the expression upon my face.
“You look a little bewildered,” said he.
“I cannot see how such a message as this could inspire horror. Itseems to me to be rather grotesque than otherwise.”
“Very likely. Yet the fact remains that the reader, who was a fine,robust old man, was knocked clean down by it as if it had been thebutt end of a pistol.”
“You arouse my curiosity,” said I. “But why did you say just nowthat there were very particular reasons why I should study this case?”
“Because it was the first in which I was ever engaged.”
I had often endeavored to elicit from my companion what hadfirst turned his mind in the direction of criminal research, buthad never caught him before in a communicative humor. Now hesat forward in this arm-chair and spread out the documents uponhis knees. Then he lit his pipe and sat for some time smoking andturning them over.