Sherlockholmitos (letter Green)
Sherlockholmitos is a letter written by Peter Green published in The Times (Literary Supplement) on 3 november 1932.
Sherlockholmitos
Sir, — One curious piece of evidence seems to have escaped the notice of all students of Sherlockholmitos. In the "Valley of Fear" Holmes convinces a more than usually imbecile C.I.D. man that Moriarty really is a criminal by pointing out that his expenditure is great and his official stipend small. He has, says Holmes, no relation but a brother, a railway porter in a country station in the West. In "The Final Problem," his brother, Colonel James Moriarty, is described as trying to clear his late brother's reputation.
Has any scholar explored the evidence supplied by the way in which people are represented as dressing in the various stories? Do colonels wear gaiters with a frock coat? The description of Colonel Ross in "Silver Blaze" suggests a gas inspector. Do colonels wear long light beards? Colonel Valentine Walter, in "The Bruce-Partington Plans," does. There is a vast sphere of learned research open to any well-equipped student in this matter.
- PETER GREEN,
- Canon of Manchester.
The Cathedral, Manchester.
⁂ We regret that in the thirty-first line of the penultimate paragraph of the article "Sherlockholmitos" the phrase "butler in the Civil Service." appeared by a misprint instead of "brother in the Civil Service."
