Chronology part 12

Chronology of these short stories.

• REDH - Oct 4, 1890. Watson has moved from Paddington to Kensington.
• FINA - April 24, 1891 to May 4, 1891
• EMPT - April 1894, with Watson's bereavement having taken place in the past 3 years

REDH was published in in 1891, and Watson says that he visited Holmes in "autumn of last year." So it is in autumn of 1890, but there is confusion about the month. For example, the newspaper article has a date of April 27, 1890, and everyone says that was two months ago, or eight weeks; if April were correct, then today would be in June, not autumn. Later on, the sign announcing the dissolution of the Red-Headed League is dated October 9, 1890, which is autumn, but NOT two months after April. In addition, the bank robbery plot depends on the date being Saturday. But October 9, 1890 is a Thursday; so the date needs to be on either October 4th or October 11th instead. October 4th seems the obvious choice, as it's easy to mistake the digit 4 as a 9 if the handwriting is unclear.

Fortunately, Dorothy Sayers already looked into this REDH mess many years ago. She concluded that the newspaper article was actually on August 1st, and sloppy handwriting is to blame. Then the Monday that Vincent Spaulding took Jabez Wilson to the Red-Headed League was August 4th, a bank holiday. That explains in her opinion why newspapers didn't report the masses of redheads in town that day. So Duncan Ross hires Jabez Wilson and tells him to start work tomorrow on the Tuesday. Wilson tells Holmes and Watson that eight weeks have passed. It's actually more like nine weeks to October 4, 1890, but of course Wilson is counting his Saturday paydays. He's been paid £32 so far, and he was expecting £4 more on October 4th, but he didn't get that. That's why he's upset and consulting a detective.

Holmes rounds off the money to £30 (or maybe he thought the pay was less on the first short week), and he tells Wilson to look on the bright side of what he gained from this side job. Wilson still wants to find out why the League played such an expensive prank on him. Holmes questions the pawnbroker about his shop assistant Vincent Spaulding, whom Wilson hired a month before the news article, so sometime in July. Holmes will investigate the case, and says they'll probably have news by Monday. After Wilson leaves, Holmes comments on the three-pipe problem, then smokes for 50 minutes, before asking Watson to accompany him for a few hours. Watson claims that his practice "is never very absorbing" and he has nothing to do today; after all, that's why he decided to visit. Anyway, they take the Underground to Aldersgate, then walk to Saxe-Coburg Square, where Wilson's pawnshop is. After investigating the neighbourhood and glimpsing Spaulding, they go have lunch and attend the Sarasate concert that afternoon. Then Holmes lets Watson go home, but asks him to return at 10 PM tonight, and to bring his army revolver. I guess Watson will have dinner with his wife and explain why he'll be out late.

Incidentally, Watson now lives in Kensington, not Paddington any more. When did he make this move? Is the reason for Watson's depleted bank account in CARD because he just bought a new medical practice in Kensington? Was he staying with Holmes in Baker Street while the movers delivered all their furniture to the new house, or was there a delay between selling the old house and moving to the new house? Did all that happen in August, but he didn't explain it in CARD? Does Watson just think those details are boring to readers, or does he not remember what he has told us and when? Anyway, Watson returns that night to find banker Mr. Merryweather and policeman Peter Jones joining them on the case. Watson recognizes Jones and hints that he is the same as Athelney Jones from SIGN. Jones himself mentions the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, but it may be Watson self-promoting again.

Holmes reveals that Spaulding is actually the criminal John Clay, "the fourth smartest man in London." Eventually Merryweather reveals that the bank has lots of French gold in their vault right now. I don't know how much 30,000 napoleons is worth in pounds or dollars, but it sounds like a lot. The Red-Headed League was John Clay's plan to get Wilson out of the shop so he could dig a tunnel to the bank's vault. Soon all four men wait in the bank vault, then capture John Clay and his accomplice Archie when they break in that night. We never hear from Jabez Wilson again or his servant girl, so some readers speculate that Clay killed them before the robbery. But that seems weird, after spending nine weeks avoiding violence with his League scheme. The CBS Radio Mystery adaptation had an interesting idea that the League sent a letter to Wilson ordering him to go out of town that Saturday night to plead that he be reinstated as a member. Of course that would require the "dissolved" sign not to say "dissolved" but to say "you are fired because you are not married." But I guess getting an explanation like that would also prevent Wilson from going to see a detective in outrage; at least he wouldn't see a detective until a week later, or whenever Spaulding disappeared. But also Duncan Ross aka Archie should have just paid Wilson one more time on October 4th so he wouldn't suspect anything at all. Anyway, by my reckoning, REDH is the last of 3 cases in 1890. Holmes probably had more cases that year, but Watson wasn't with him for those.

Now we come to FINA, published in December 1893; we all know it was a fake death, but Watson didn't know it at the time, and Doyle intended the death to be real. Watson believed Holmes to be gone for good, so he grieved sincerely, and he also decided to publish a bunch of stories in the Strand magazine, starting in July 1891. (I've said before that Doyle played a cruel trick by reaching back to May 1891 for the death instead of setting it in 1893; he negates all the previous short stories where we thought Holmes was alive and commenting on each case as it was published.) That at least reveals that Watson has fictionalized the stories to that extent. He's also aware that his stories are somewhat "incoherent", referring to his problems with dates. But I think he's made them incoherent on purpose to disguise the cases for clients who would be embarrassed.

As I said in VALL, Watson actually does know who Professor Moriarty is, but he's feigned ignorance in the story so that he can have Holmes summarize Moriarty to the ignorant readers. He probably lifted a conversation from years earlier, even before VALL, when Holmes first explained how Moriarty pervades London crime. That was back when Scotland Yard still doubted Holmes regarding the professor, and Watson compresses years of intellectual battle to just a few months. Watson doesn't want to write FINA at all but claims he must do so to refute the letters of Colonel James Moriarty, the professor's brother. (In FINA, Watson doesn't give the professor's first name, but in EMPT he'll say the professor is James Moriarty. There's also a third Moriarty brother in VALL, leading some Sherlockians to wonder if all 3 brothers are named James.)

Watson also tells us that he's drifted apart from Holmes so much that he only has records of 3 cases from 1890, and that in early 1891, Holmes was abroad in France. Watson received two notes from him, but was not with him on that case. FINA is not so much a case as an extended trip fleeing from Moriarty. Watson is surprised when Holmes shows up at his house in April 24, 1891, a Friday evening. Looking pale and speaking of air-guns, Holmes explains that he's narrowly escaped 2 attempts on his life today, and he had to spend the day with his brother Mycroft for safety. After learning that Mrs. Watson is away on a visit, Holmes asks his friend to accompany him to Continental Europe until Monday (April 27th). Watson of course agrees, saying his practice is quiet and mentioning his accommodating neighbour. So in Kensington too, Watson has found a helpful neighbour doctor!

As for the Moriarty conversation, Holmes probably just told Watson about his latest progress against the professor, then about the threatening conversation in Baker Street that morning. Holmes gives him complicated instructions for tomorrow morning, but he should have warned Watson that he might lose his luggage; I hope he didn't pack anything important or irreplaceable. Holmes then leaves by the back garden wall, claiming that this will make Watson safer, but I actually think it would make Moriarty's gang think that Holmes is staying the night with Watson. Apparently I'm wrong, though, because the criminals set fire to 221B instead, and I hope that Mrs. Hudson and any servants were uninjured at Baker Street. Watson doesn't find out about the fire until he sees Holmes on the train in disguise as an Italian priest. Sherlock also reveals that Mycroft was the driver of the brougham that took him to Victoria Station. So technically Mycroft appears in this story even if it's more like a mention of him.

The train departs, but Holmes thinks Moriarty will pursue them by hiring a special. So they leave their train, and Holmes makes them discard their luggage to fool Moriarty. After crossing the channel, they continue travelling and presumably buy new luggage and clothes on the way. When the police fail to capture Moriarty on Monday April 27th, Watson insists on staying with Holmes despite the danger, and they continue to Switzerland. Then at Reichenbach Falls, Watson gets decoyed away, and on May 4, 1891, Holmes apparently dies. That was a Monday, a week after Moriarty should have been arrested. At the start of FINA, Watson had claimed that a local Swiss newspaper reported Holmes's death on May 6th, and then there was an English report on May 7th, which was condensed. He does not explain why his readers don't know until 1893, however. We suspend our disbelief because we are grieving with Watson. He shares Holmes's last letter to him, and Holmes even mentions Mrs. Watson in it. (Watson has not mentioned his wife or any attempts to contact her since they left London. I suppose he could have left a letter in Kensington, mentioning the danger from Moriarty and warning her that he might not be able to contact her to avoid Moriarty finding them.)

Watson does not say what date he returned to London, or what he said to Mary whenever they reunited at home. Privacy I suppose, or him still thinking we don't care about his life apart from Holmes. He mentions that Moriarty's gang were tried in court, but that little information came out publicly about Moriarty himself. Thus Watson has been forced to reveal the full truth with this story. I suppose that is why he feigned ignorance of Moriarty, so he could include a full explanation (from a different year) from Holmes about the professor. Even still, we get very little details about specific crimes or their intellectual battle.

So now we move to EMPT, but I will just mention that Doyle published HOUN serially in 1901 to 1902; it was the only new Holmes story after FINA, but it was set in the pre-FINA past. Holmes didn't officially get resurrected until EMPT, published in September 1903. So Holmes was dead for nearly 10 years to Victorian readers, and Doyle probably relented for several reasons, such as money, and fans pleading, and other Holmes adaptations and parodies being successful, so why shouldn't he get some of that success too? EMPT takes place in April 1894, about 3 years after Holmes's fake death in May 1891, so that's a relief that Watson wasn't deceived that long. But it is still a long time for Holmes not to contact him.

Watson tries to fool us at first, talking about the murder of Ronald Adair on March 30th, 1894, and making us think the story will be about his murder. He goes to gawk at the crime scene, then runs into the old bookseller, who follows him back to Kensington. I'm astonished that Doyle remembered that Watson lived in Kensington; he must have reread old stories including REDH before resurrecting Holmes. Anyway, Holmes reveals himself as alive but his explanation of why he faked his death and where he's been for years makes no sense. I've ranted about this before and other Sherlockians have ranted too in the past. But just the idea that Holmes says, "I pretended to be dead to fool three dangerous criminals, so I could capture them later" then says, "One of those criminals saw me alive at the Falls, so I still pretended to be dead" is so infuriating and illogical. Moran could have told anyone and everyone after Reichenbach, so nobody would be fooled into thinking Holmes dead. Nobody but Watson.

Even if Holmes thought it was too late to change his mind once Colonel Moran attacked him, he could at least say that. He could say that he worried Watson would be in danger if he reached out. He could say that when he reached out to Mycroft, that his brother advised him to stay hidden and do some spy work for him for 3 years. I wish an editor or someone else had told Doyle to make it make sense, but I guess they were only too happy for him to resurrect Holmes and their cash cow, regardless of logic. The worst part is Holmes claiming "but it was all-important that it should be thought I was dead, and it is quite certain that you would not have written so convincing an account of my unhappy end had you not yourself thought that it was true." And his callousness in saying, "In your picturesque account of the matter, which I read with great interest some months later" as if insulting Watson's writing is helpful at the moment. But as I pointed out above, Watson didn't publish FINA until Dec 1893, two and a half years after Reichenbach, so it was not mere months later, and it would not have been useful to Holmes's fake death scheme.

This is besides all the historical facts that Holmes gets wrong about Khartoum and his travels in the East. That's why Sherlockians like Rex Stout in "Watson Was a Woman" says the Hiatus tale is hogwash, and insists that Holmes said no such thing. Watson just lied to us for personal reasons. I do want the Hiatus tale to be lies, and that Holmes gave a more sensitive and logical explanation. I at least want it to be like what Bert Coules did in the BBC Radio adaptation, by cutting Colonel Moran out of Reichenbach. Whatever the truth is, Watson forgives his friend, and Holmes manages to sensitively mention Watson's bereavement. There goes Watson again, being vague about his life. Most people think that means his wife Mary Morstan died, though some Sherlockians spin theories that it means something else, like Mary needing to be institutionalized, or a child dying, or something like that. Watson doesn't give us clues, other than him being free to move back in with Holmes in NORW.

Holmes mentions having a case tonight, but he wants to catch up on 3 years with Watson first, so they have dinner together in Kensington I presume. At 9:30 PM, they leave for "the adventure of the empty house" which turns out to be Camden House, across the street from 221B. Holmes has set up his bust in the window, with Mrs. Hudson moving it periodically. As he and Watson wait in the darkness, Sebastian Moran shows up to try to assassinate Holmes. After the shot, they capture Moran and call the police inside. Holmes explains to Lestrade that Colonel Moran killed Ronald Adair with his air-gun. He thinks the case is solid, but it's just circumstantial. That must be why Moran doesn't get hanged, and is still alive many years later whenever Holmes mentions him.

At least Holmes and Watson get to return to 221B and greet Mrs. Hudson. It's just a taste of the happy reunion to come when Watson moves back to Baker Street. I wonder what Mycroft said to Mrs. Hudson, though, for 3 years. I assume the arson in FINA needed to be repaired, and the rooms restored to their pre-FINA status. But how did he explain keeping the rooms untouched for 3 years and paying the rent? Did Mrs. Hudson suspect that Holmes was alive? If so, why didn't she tell Watson? So many unanswered questions.

The chronology of EMPT seems pretty clear in April 1894. I've only seen Sherlockians try to move it to a different date because of WIST, but we'll discuss that when we get there.