The Secret Notebooks of Sherlock Holmes Read Online Free PDF Page A

life was saved as much by the action of Upwood and his brave comrades as by that of Murray, my orderly, who, after I myself was wounded, threw me across the back of a pack horse and joined the general retreat to Kandahar.
    In view of this, I feel it would be disloyal of me to publish this account of Colonel Upwood’s subsequent fall from grace at the Nonpareil Club and therefore it will be consigned to my old army despatch box along with other unpublished papers, a fitting resting place, I feel, for this particular manuscript. 16

    1 The date when Sherlock Holmes undertook the investigation entitled ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is disputed, but internal evidence suggests the late 1880s. The great Sherlockian expert William S. Baring-Gould has opted for the autumn of 1888. The account of the inquiry was first published in serial form between August 1901 and April 1902. Dr John F. Watson.
    2 The first reference to Billy, the pageboy or ‘the boy in buttons’, surname unknown, is in ‘The Adventure of the Yellow Face’, ascribed by some commentators to 1882. There are several references to him in the canon. His duties included running errands and showing clients upstairs to the sitting-room. His wages were presumably paid by Sherlock Holmes. He should not be confused with another pageboy, also named Billy, who features in the later adventures at the turn of the century, such as ‘The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone’ and ‘The Problem of Thor Bridge’. Dr John F. Watson.
    3 Until the Betting Act of 1960 was passed, all betting in public places was illegal, but gaming clubs such as Crockford’s were well established, although they ran the risk of being raided by the police and shut down. Dr John F. Watson.
    4 It was because of a game of baccarat that Edward, Prince of Wales, became involved in the Tranby Croft scandal. He and some fellow guests were staying at a country house called Tranby Croft, the home of a rich shipowner, Arthur Wilson, in 1890 when a fellow guest, Sir William Gordon-Cumming, was accused of cheating at the game. He was made to sign a paper promising never to play cards again, which the fellow guests, including the Prince of Wales, also signed. But the scandal leaked out and Gordon-Cummings brought a libel action. The Prince was subpoenaed as a witness. The case was lost but the publicity damaged Edward’s reputation. Dr John F. Watson.
    5 Dr Watson enjoyed betting on horses and confessed that half his army pension was spent at the races. Vide : ‘The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place’. There is no evidence that he bet at billiards. Dr John F. Watson.
    6 After training at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and the Army Medical School at Netley, Hampshire, he was posted to India where he joined the 66th Berkshire Regiment on foot as an army surgeon in Afghanistan. He was wounded at the Battle of Maiwand in 1880 and was invalided out of the army with a pension of 11/6 a day, approximately 57 pence. Vide : A Study in Scarlet . Dr John F. Watson.
    7 Sherlock Holmes once stated: ‘I hold a vast store of out-of-the-way knowledge, without scientific system, but very available for the needs of my work.’ Vide : ‘The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane’. Dr John F. Watson.
    8 According to Greek mythology, Sisyphus, king of Corinth, captured and chained up Death, who had to be rescued by the god Ares. As a punishment, he was forced to push a large stone repeatedly up a hill, only to have it roll down again. Dr John F. Watson.
    9 I have been unable to trace a Cambridge Music-Hall, except for a small establishment in the East End of London, and I suggest it is a pseudonym for the Oxford Music-Hall in Oxford Street in London, where many famous performers appeared. Dr John F. Watson.
    10 The Chairman introduced the acts, usually in a comically extravagant manner, and presided generally over the performance. Dr John F. Watson.
    11 This is probably a reference to Marie Lloyd, a very popular music-hall