#elias openshaw

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Mar. 6

The Five Orange Pips, Part 1 of 3

A bark (or rather barque) in this scenario is presumably referring to a type of ship, but I like to think it's actually about a missing dog that Holmes and Watson had to go find.

Mr. Russell was apparently well-known at the time for his sea stories, and was even admired by Herman Melville! They each dedicated one of their books to the other, which I find really cute.

Oh, Mary. I know that Watson needs to be at Baker Street so he can be there and write about whatever case occurs, so it's always interesting to see what excuse there is for him to be able to do so.

Oh, Holmes. It's a bit of a sad line, but it at least speaks a lot to Watson and Holmes' relationship with one another.

The woman obviously referring to Irene Norton, née Adler. Though evidently there is a contradiction because this story happened in 1887, as Watson mentioned earlier, and The Scandal in Bohemia takes place in 1888. So minus one point to Doyle for poor continuity.

This threw me for a loop. Apparently the first bicycle of a kind was invented in 1817, so yeah I guess this is a believable scenario. It also kind of dates this story in a fun way.

Let's see. Plantation owner, confederate soldier, and a racist, though that last part probably goes without saying. Well, this is as bad as a guy can be in Doyle's time, so hopefully he's not like, a good person in this story.

Elias is evidently not on good terms with the KKK, which is funny considering his history would make you think he's a shoo-in for being their friend.

On one hand, it's nice that Elias is dead. On the other hand, it's not nice to see the KKK have this much reach and power. But on the other, other hand, they are being shown as the villains in this story so far.

This story sure is contemporary for Doyle's time. I wonder what the audience back then thought about all this, or rather, I wonder what the American audience back then thought about all this.

My heart is full of forebodings as well, though for other reasons than John here.

A very, dare I use the term, political Sherlock Holmes mystery so far, and one in which I eagerly await the next letter.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

[faithful-grigori]

“#Look I really don't like Elias Openshaw and I don't think he is at all redeemed by the narrative, #he's a racist selfish idiot murderer”

The Five Orange Pips pt 2

There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.

Ghost murderer.

"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the house with me." "Has he come with you tonight?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Again Holmes raved in the air.

First, all my Holmesies at the rave:

Second, I'm really going to agree with Holmes here. Neither of the first two deaths occurred in the house. The policeman should be on bodyguard duty not house guarding duty. What the actual? This is spectacular incompetence. To the point where it borders on conspiracy.

"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?"

And we come to the further reason why Elias Openshaw was a massive dick. By burning the papers he ensured that his family would have no way to prove that they were gone and therefore protect themself. The one scrap exists by luck rather than design and honestly, isn't proof that everything's been destroyed. Do I want the bad guys to get their papers back? No. But there was definitely a better way to play this than to leave your family with literally no way to protect themselves. You can't just say 'the papers don't exist anymore' and expect everyone to believe it.

Outside the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements—blown in upon us like a sheet of seaweed in a gale—and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more.

In case you had forgotten, the weather is miserable, but Watson's clearly loving it.

"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.

Based on the lack of any physical evidence at the second death site, I still feel like 'the ghosts of the people Elias Openshaw murdered' would 100% be a reasonable solution for this story if it were to step into the supernatural.

As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone,

Sounds fake, but OK. It's the Victorian period. Anything goes. (Also apparently Cuvier was anti-evolution and laid the basis for scientific racism, so we're really in it now)

"It was a singular document. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis."

Ah, a flashback to A Study in Scarlet, if I remember correctly. Nice little nod to the readers, ACD.

a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment

In these days of wikipedia... I think you might call that a completely unknown accomplishment.

And we finally get to the part of the story with the anti-racism. Thank you ACD for putting this in Holmes' voice and making it very, very clear where he stands on the matter.

"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may well have been cause and effect."

And this is where we get the 'Openshaw might have been remorseful and changed sides' narrative from. That and the 'my sins' line from the first part. Sure, fine. Maybe he decided that they were going too far and perhaps the murdering, intimidation and terrorism were a little more extreme than he wanted. But fuck that, because he kept the fucking papers.

Maybe it was shame that held his tongue, but I keep coming back to the papers, over and over again. If he was already marked for death then why tf did he burn the papers and not turn them over to an authority that could actually do something with them? That would have protected his family at least a little and it would have stopped the papers from falling back into the wrong hands. It's absolutely the best play here. He has evidence of crimes committed. He has nothing left to lose. He should have turned the papers over immediately, but whatever. At this point he has no reason not to turn them over.

Sure, he probably would still have been killed, but he was dead anyway. All he had to do was try to take them down with him. But he didn't. He burnt the papers. So even if he was remorseful or ashamed or whatever (and it doesn't seem like from his nephew's description of him that he was particularly changed in his viewpoints) he still didn't go far enough to actually try to do something about it. Instead he put his family at risk and tried to protect what? His reputation? Fuck that.

He stopped for himself. He protected himself. And then at the end, he protected his reputation.

"There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen."

Some music to soothe the spirits. Holmes fiddles while London storms.

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations // Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

All Sidney Paget illustrations are for the Strand Jul 1891 - Dec 1904

"Good night, Mr Sherlock Holmes" Scandal in Bohemia Characters: Watson, Holmes, Irene Adler/Norton

"We found him faced down in a little green-scummed pool." Five Orange Pips Characters: Elias Openshaw, Butler?, John Openshaw

"Holmes lashed furiously." Speckled Band Characters: Holmes

"I am so delighted that you have come." Copper Beeches Characters: Violet Hunter, Holmes, Watson

"Nothing could be better," said Holmes." Stockbroker’s Clerk Characters: Watson, Holmes

"It's Nancy!" Crooked Man Characters: Henry Wood, Nancy Barclay, Miss Morrison

"I hardly expect to go back to Briarbrae." Naval Treaty Characters: Holmes, Watson, Percy Phelps

"The proposition took me completely by surprise." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Dr Mortimer, Sir Henry, Watson, Holmes

"He stopped suddenly and stared fixedly up over my head into the air." Hound of the Baskervilles Characters: Holmes

"They both remembered that they were conscious of the smell of powder." Dancing Men Characters: Mrs Saunders, Local surgeon, Holmes, Village police, Watson, Insp Martin

"He stood with slanting head listening intently." Charles Augustus Milverton Characters: Holmes, Watson

"The dog sniffed round for an instant, and then with a shrill whine of excitement started off down the street." Missing Three-Quarter Characters: Watson, Holmes, Pompey

[bettism]

Elias Openshaw

イライアス・オープンショウ

from "The Five Orange Pips"

「オレンジの種五つ」より

[faithful-grigori]

If “at this point” means the end of the email, I think the issue is that the client, as inheritor of the property, is likely the next in line to be murdered, and while he doesn’t actively condone his uncle’s racism we haven’t seen any indication there’s anything just in him getting murdered by this “mysterious” (to contemporary audiences) killer(s).

Damn. 

UHHHH

mhm

At this point, If I were Holmes I would just walk.   Sounds like he was a racist ass member of the KKK, and he met a suitable end. Next.

[obvious-things]

The Five Orange Pips

Before Reading

Warnings: Mentions of racism, the KKK, and suicide. 

After Reading

Holmes’ client died following his advice, so of course he feels responsible for it. He didn’t protect him and he didn’t avenge him. It’s the fifth time Holmes has been beaten.

Holmes’ speech beginning with “The ideal reasoner..” and ending with “... defined my limits in a very precise fashion.” was all to say that he doesn’t know the answer. Then later seems to know the answer. Was this due to a “conductor of light”?

Context: St. Augustine, Florida was Union controlled for most of the Civil War. Plantations in Florida grew sugar cane, indigo, and fruits. 

Dates: The American Civil War ended in 1865. On the other side of the Atlantic, John Openshaw was born in 1865. In 1869, the KKK suddenly collapsed and Elias moved to Horsham. In 1881, John was representative of his uncle’s estate. On March 10, 1883, (exactly 21 years after Confederate forces withdrew from St. Augustine) Elias received the orange pips. On May 2, 1883, Elias was murdered. On January 5, 1885, Joseph received the orange pips. On January 10, 1885, Joseph was murdered. Near the 20th of September, 1887, John received the orange pips, then two days later consults Holmes and then was murdered on his way home. 

[chipslater]

The Five Orange Pips ♦ By sir Arthur Conan Doyle ♦ Mystery Short ♦ Full ...

Title: The Five Orange Pips

Author: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Genre(s): Crime & Mystery Fiction, Anthologies

Language: English

Read By:  Simon Evers

Librivox Recording

A young gentleman named John Openshaw has a strange story: in 1869 his uncle Elias Openshaw had suddenly come back to England to settle on an estate in Horsham, West Sussex after living for years in the United States as a planter in Florida and serving as a colonel in the Confederate Army.

Not being married, Elias had allowed his nephew to stay at his estate. Strange incidents have occurred; one is that although John could go anywhere in the house, he could never enter a locked room containing his uncle's trunks. Another peculiarity was that in March 1883 a letter postmarked Pondicherry, in India, arrived for the Colonel inscribed only "K. K. K." with five orange pips (seeds) enclosed.

More strange things happened: Papers from the locked room were burnt and a will was drawn up leaving the estate to John Openshaw. The Colonel's behaviour became bizarre. He would either lock himself in his room and drink or he would go shouting forth in a drunken sally with a pistol in his hand. On 2 May 1883 he was found dead in a garden pool.

On 4 January 1885 Elias's brother Joseph – John's father – received a letter postmarked Dundee with the initials "K. K. K." and instructions to leave "the papers" on the sundial. Despite his son's urging, Joseph Openshaw refused to call the police. Three days later, Joseph Openshaw was found dead in a chalk-pit. The only clue with which John Openshaw can furnish Holmes is a page from his uncle's diary marked March 1869 describing orange pips having been sent to three men, of whom two fled and the third has been "visited."

Holmes advises Openshaw to leave the diary page with a note on the garden sundial, telling of the burning of the Colonel's papers. After Openshaw leaves, Holmes deduces from the time that has passed between the letter mailings and the deaths of Elias and his brother that the writer is on a sailing ship. Holmes also recognises the "K. K. K." as the Ku Klux Klan, an anti-Reconstruction group in the South, until its sudden collapse in March 1869 – and theorises that this collapse was the result of the Colonel's maliciously taking their papers away to England.

The next day there is a newspaper account that the body of John Openshaw has been found in the River Thames and the death is believed to be an accident. Holmes checks sailing records of ships who were at both Pondicherry in January/February 1883 and at Dundee in January 1885 and recognises a Georgia-registered barque named the Lone Star, that he infers as a reference to Texas. Furthermore, Holmes confirms that the Lone Star had docked in London a week before.

Holmes sends five orange pips to the captain of the Lone Star, and then sends a telegram to the Savannah police claiming that the captain and two mates are wanted for murder. The Lone Star never arrives in Savannah, due to a severe gale. The only trace of the boat is a ship's sternpost marked "LS" sighted in the North Atlantic. Summary by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Orange_Pips

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#TheFiveOrangePips   #SirArthurConanDoyle  #MysteryStory #FullAudiobook   #CrimeStory  #fiction  #Whodunit #StrangerThings  #BestShortStory  #CrimeStory  #ChipSlater #GreatRead  #BestAudiobook #DetectiveFiction  #Anthologies #SherlockHolmes

[faithful-grigori]

”#at least this time the treatment of race boils down to murderous bigots are bad people”

Letters From Watson: The Five Orange Pips

Part 1: The Fun Bits

Whenever Watson's wife is away on a visit his response is apparently to have slumber parties with Holmes

Once again there are five undocumented cases Watson notes as occurring in the same year as this one. "The island of Uffa" is not the name of any known place, and Paradol is an aromatic chemical that appears to have been isolated fairly recently. It could be some sort of spelling butchering of Pareidolia, the human tendency to derive meaning out of random patterns, but it could also be an invented name of something.

And yet another client has been referred by word of mouth.

"I have been beaten four times [...] once by a woman" supports my idea that this is actually occurring in 1889 or 1890, since I place Scandal in Bohemia in spring of 1889.

John Openshaw's uncle Elias was a racist enslaving bastard piece of work but given that he was involved with the KKK I am not surprised.

Mandatory conversion time but Elias made 1400 pounds (142,300 pounds / 170,700 USD) or more off of his crimes against humanity.

Or he stole them from the rest of the KKK along with those papers, given that plantation owners in general did not necessarily hold on to a huge amount of their previous wealth after the civil war.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Five Orange Pips pt 3

It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city.

I mourn the loss of the storm descriptions, but this is still lovely.

I also have 'I can see clearly now the rain has gone' playing in my head.

As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my heart. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late."

Once again Watson reading the paper is important. Does Holmes just miss out on major events when Watson isn't here? Does he turn up to meetings only to find the person he was meeting with is dead? Does he have other people read the newspapers for him? Does he... do it himself? *shudder*

This is a really tragic story, even allowing for the fact that Elias Openshaw was a tremendous dick and his death was the opposite of a tragedy. Holmes and Watson's inability to save anyone is just... This isn't something you would see in modern detective fiction, except in very extreme examples. I'm not convinced that any of the Openshaws were exactly good people (hanging out with racist former terrorists will do that) but there is still tragedy in this. They all died. The last two for no reason. It's such senseless death. Holmes was too late. Everything was just too late. Even if they weren't good people, their deaths are just... so pointless.

In real life, I don't tend to think anyone deserves death. In fiction, a satisfying death is... well, satisfying. These offer no satisfaction or pathos or purpose. So yeah, tragic.

"Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and a splash in the water.

I love how they record the name of the officer in the paper. It's more like an incident report than a news story. Good old Police-Constable Cook. I hope he got a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.

It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham.

If this were a modern mystery it absolutely would not be John Openshaw. That's a terrible way to identify a body. I know there's no DNA and no fingerprinting, and also his entire family has been murdered by racist terrorists, but still. Sometimes I have letters to other people in my pockets. Sometimes I have loyalty cards etc. belonging to other people in my pockets because I am borrowing them. But I am not my father... I kind of want it to not be him. He's faked his own death and is living in Tahiti and the person in the river is the guy who tried to kill him. Good for John.

The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident

Vengeful ghost. Vengeful ghost!

calling the attention of the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages.

Well, at least some good has come of this adventure. I'm all for improving health and safety.

"No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before."

Police-Constable Cook has had enough excitement for one day. Best if he gets some rest.

But now shit's personal. They made him angry.

All day I was engaged in my professional work

I mean, I know Watson has a day job, but it's strangely jarring to have this 'we failed' revelation and then Watson goes off and listens to people cough for 8 hours or something. 😂🤣😂

"I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "What do you mean?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "S. H. for J. 0."

Sherlock is petty af and I am here for it.

"I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers and files of the old papers, following the future career of every vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in '83."

I also appreciate that Holmes is shown here doing the tedious legwork. It's not all sudden sparks of inspiration and instant feats of deduction. Sometimes you have to go down to a room full of records and read until your eyes bleed.

We did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of the boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of the fate of the Lone Star.

Another set of criminals lost at sea. Not sure why that happened this time when they could have been caught another way, but... I guess they... got their comeuppance? ACD really liked 'storms blow everybody dies' endings, I guess.

Return of the 'equinoctial gales' though! Glad they got a callback after being such main characters throughout. Does that count as foreshadowing?

[no-side-us]

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Mar. 10

The Five Orange Pips, Part 3 of 3

It's interesting that Holmes already feared that John Openshaw had been murdered. I guess overnight he realized the KKK were going to act faster than he suspected they would.

The murder of John Openshaw is too tragic, especially after how happy and relieved he was to have Holmes promise to help him. It's even worse considering now that whole family is dead, all because one of them was a racist piece of shit that pissed off other, even more racist pieces of shit.

John Openshaw's death is clearly affecting Holmes here, which it obviously would. I have to wonder though what alternatives could have possibly helped Openshaw. Maybe if he simply didn't leave London, or even stayed with Holmes and Watson for a night, he'd still be alive.

Come on Holmes, I'm sure you can figure this one out pretty easily. Sometimes the type of information Holmes doesn't know can be very peculiar.

So the KKK murderers died in a shipwreck. You know, that's the same ending as The Resident Patient, where the people who killed Mr. Blessington were suspected to have died in the same way.

Honestly, I'm not sure I like this ending. The shipwreck wasn't even that satisfying with those run-of-the-mill murderers, but considering this is the KKK I was hoping for something more definite, some real satisfying vengeance for Holmes to deal out. And we also never learned what it was that Elias did to anger the KKK. Or what the letter and sundial thing was about. All in all, it's a very impersonal ending for what had suddenly become a very personal case.

A Case of Identity is up next. Hopefully it ends more evenly.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

[faithful-grigori]

“#I know what happens later might indicate some sort of remorse on Elias' behalf, #but if he was truly remorseful, #well I guess I'll get into that later”

The Five Orange Pips pt 1

the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case

Another round of 'look at all the fun cases I won't be talking about today 🤣. I feel like the Amateur Mendicant Society is a bit like Neville St Clair, as mendicant means beggar, so it feels like a group of people who dress up as beggars for the fun of it. Paradol is apparently a chemical found in peppers and ginger that makes it spicy, but I have no indication of when that chemical was first named, so whotf knows what that was about.

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage.

I love this description. It's so extra. Also the phrase 'equinoctial gales' is lovely. Watson, you should have taken up poetry.

My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.

Watson can't be left alone for more than a day at a time. Mary had to ask Sherlock to Watson-sit for her as she went to see her 'mother' *winkwink*. He needs enrichment in his enclosure.

He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.

Interrogation lighting! WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!

"You have come up from the south-west, I see." "Yes, from Horsham." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive." "I have come for advice."

Sorry, Holmes. This guy does not gaf about your creepy knowledge of clay and chalk mixes.

AH... hello racism. All the racism... So much racism. I mean, I know the story so yeah... but dear god if ever there were a literary character who deserved to die, it's this one. Fuuuuuck Elias Openshaw.

'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'

The world's tiniest violin was unable to perform because it did not give a fuck.

" 'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy."

Well that's one way to say you always hated your sibling. And also to tell your nephew you hate him too. This guy is the absolute worst in so many ways. Like he just keeps piling on more reasons that he's the worst onto the already huge steaming pile. Yes, the people hunting him are even worse, but he's still just a terrible terrible person.

We found him, when we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden.

A fitting place for him to be.

No, I will not be feeling any sorrow at his passing.

I'm sorry that his brother's getting the same treatment, though. He doesn't seem like the most pleasant person in the world, but the fact he doesn't know what the initials stand for already puts him head and shoulders above his dead brother.

The attitude of his son to Elias and his war record and postwar activity doesn't exactly indicate that the pair of them are not-racist, though. But they don't appear to have actively murdered anybody or fought in order to perpetuate slavery, so... the bar is low. The bar is really really low on this one. Is there somewhere lower than the centre of the Earth's core?

And the threat of death for something they know nothing about... which, why did Elias not tell people what the fuck was going on? Why did he not...? Well, we'll get onto that bit. Just fuck Elias. Really, truly, Fuck Elias Openshaw.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Five Orange Pips pt 2

There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads.

Ghost murderer.

"They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the house with me." "Has he come with you tonight?" "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Again Holmes raved in the air.

First, all my Holmesies at the rave:

Second, I'm really going to agree with Holmes here. Neither of the first two deaths occurred in the house. The policeman should be on bodyguard duty not house guarding duty. What the actual? This is spectacular incompetence. To the point where it borders on conspiracy.

"There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?"

And we come to the further reason why Elias Openshaw was a massive dick. By burning the papers he ensured that his family would have no way to prove that they were gone and therefore protect themself. The one scrap exists by luck rather than design and honestly, isn't proof that everything's been destroyed. Do I want the bad guys to get their papers back? No. But there was definitely a better way to play this than to leave your family with literally no way to protect themselves. You can't just say 'the papers don't exist anymore' and expect everyone to believe it.

Outside the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements—blown in upon us like a sheet of seaweed in a gale—and now to have been reabsorbed by them once more.

In case you had forgotten, the weather is miserable, but Watson's clearly loving it.

"But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to what these perils are?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered.

Based on the lack of any physical evidence at the second death site, I still feel like 'the ghosts of the people Elias Openshaw murdered' would 100% be a reasonable solution for this story if it were to step into the supernatural.

As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone,

Sounds fake, but OK. It's the Victorian period. Anything goes. (Also apparently Cuvier was anti-evolution and laid the basis for scientific racism, so we're really in it now)

"It was a singular document. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the main points of my analysis."

Ah, a flashback to A Study in Scarlet, if I remember correctly. Nice little nod to the readers, ACD.

a possession of all knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment

In these days of wikipedia... I think you might call that a completely unknown accomplishment.

And we finally get to the part of the story with the anti-racism. Thank you ACD for putting this in Holmes' voice and making it very, very clear where he stands on the matter.

"You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may well have been cause and effect."

And this is where we get the 'Openshaw might have been remorseful and changed sides' narrative from. That and the 'my sins' line from the first part. Sure, fine. Maybe he decided that they were going too far and perhaps the murdering, intimidation and terrorism were a little more extreme than he wanted. But fuck that, because he kept the fucking papers.

Maybe it was shame that held his tongue, but I keep coming back to the papers, over and over again. If he was already marked for death then why tf did he burn the papers and not turn them over to an authority that could actually do something with them? That would have protected his family at least a little and it would have stopped the papers from falling back into the wrong hands. It's absolutely the best play here. He has evidence of crimes committed. He has nothing left to lose. He should have turned the papers over immediately, but whatever. At this point he has no reason not to turn them over.

Sure, he probably would still have been killed, but he was dead anyway. All he had to do was try to take them down with him. But he didn't. He burnt the papers. So even if he was remorseful or ashamed or whatever (and it doesn't seem like from his nephew's description of him that he was particularly changed in his viewpoints) he still didn't go far enough to actually try to do something about it. Instead he put his family at risk and tried to protect what? His reputation? Fuck that.

He stopped for himself. He protected himself. And then at the end, he protected his reputation.

"There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellowmen."

Some music to soothe the spirits. Holmes fiddles while London storms.

[mariana-oconnor]

The Five Orange Pips pt 1

the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case

Another round of 'look at all the fun cases I won't be talking about today 🤣. I feel like the Amateur Mendicant Society is a bit like Neville St Clair, as mendicant means beggar, so it feels like a group of people who dress up as beggars for the fun of it. Paradol is apparently a chemical found in peppers and ginger that makes it spicy, but I have no indication of when that chemical was first named, so whotf knows what that was about.

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage.

I love this description. It's so extra. Also the phrase 'equinoctial gales' is lovely. Watson, you should have taken up poetry.

My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.

Watson can't be left alone for more than a day at a time. Mary had to ask Sherlock to Watson-sit for her as she went to see her 'mother' *winkwink*. He needs enrichment in his enclosure.

He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.

Interrogation lighting! WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!

"You have come up from the south-west, I see." "Yes, from Horsham." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive." "I have come for advice."

Sorry, Holmes. This guy does not gaf about your creepy knowledge of clay and chalk mixes.

AH... hello racism. All the racism... So much racism. I mean, I know the story so yeah... but dear god if ever there were a literary character who deserved to die, it's this one. Fuuuuuck Elias Openshaw.

'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'

The world's tiniest violin was unable to perform because it did not give a fuck.

" 'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy."

Well that's one way to say you always hated your sibling. And also to tell your nephew you hate him too. This guy is the absolute worst in so many ways. Like he just keeps piling on more reasons that he's the worst onto the already huge steaming pile. Yes, the people hunting him are even worse, but he's still just a terrible terrible person.

We found him, when we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden.

A fitting place for him to be.

No, I will not be feeling any sorrow at his passing.

I'm sorry that his brother's getting the same treatment, though. He doesn't seem like the most pleasant person in the world, but the fact he doesn't know what the initials stand for already puts him head and shoulders above his dead brother.

The attitude of his son to Elias and his war record and postwar activity doesn't exactly indicate that the pair of them are not-racist, though. But they don't appear to have actively murdered anybody or fought in order to perpetuate slavery, so... the bar is low. The bar is really really low on this one. Is there somewhere lower than the centre of the Earth's core?

And the threat of death for something they know nothing about... which, why did Elias not tell people what the fuck was going on? Why did he not...? Well, we'll get onto that bit. Just fuck Elias. Really, truly, Fuck Elias Openshaw.

[quill-of-thoth]

Letters From Watson: The Five Orange Pips

Part 1: The Fun Bits

Whenever Watson's wife is away on a visit his response is apparently to have slumber parties with Holmes

Once again there are five undocumented cases Watson notes as occurring in the same year as this one. "The island of Uffa" is not the name of any known place, and Paradol is an aromatic chemical that appears to have been isolated fairly recently. It could be some sort of spelling butchering of Pareidolia, the human tendency to derive meaning out of random patterns, but it could also be an invented name of something.

And yet another client has been referred by word of mouth.

"I have been beaten four times [...] once by a woman" supports my idea that this is actually occurring in 1889 or 1890, since I place Scandal in Bohemia in spring of 1889.

John Openshaw's uncle Elias was a racist enslaving bastard piece of work but given that he was involved with the KKK I am not surprised.

Mandatory conversion time but Elias made 1400 pounds (142,300 pounds / 170,700 USD) or more off of his crimes against humanity.

Or he stole them from the rest of the KKK along with those papers, given that plantation owners in general did not necessarily hold on to a huge amount of their previous wealth after the civil war.

[sarahthecoat]

oh that is a good question, why is elias on such bad terms with his former associates, when he doesn't seem to have had much of a change of heart. maybe they just didn't like him absconding to england with sensitive papers, which if released might incriminate them. or maybe the rest of the group went one step too far for him and that's why he chose to abscond in the first place, along with losing the plantation. i don't think i have the stomach to do any actual research, and besides this is fiction.

Letters From Watson Liveblog - Mar. 6

The Five Orange Pips, Part 1 of 3

A bark (or rather barque) in this scenario is presumably referring to a type of ship, but I like to think it's actually about a missing dog that Holmes and Watson had to go find.

Mr. Russell was apparently well-known at the time for his sea stories, and was even admired by Herman Melville! They each dedicated one of their books to the other, which I find really cute.

Oh, Mary. I know that Watson needs to be at Baker Street so he can be there and write about whatever case occurs, so it's always interesting to see what excuse there is for him to be able to do so.

Oh, Holmes. It's a bit of a sad line, but it at least speaks a lot to Watson and Holmes' relationship with one another.

The woman obviously referring to Irene Norton, née Adler. Though evidently there is a contradiction because this story happened in 1887, as Watson mentioned earlier, and The Scandal in Bohemia takes place in 1888. So minus one point to Doyle for poor continuity.

This threw me for a loop. Apparently the first bicycle of a kind was invented in 1817, so yeah I guess this is a believable scenario. It also kind of dates this story in a fun way.

Let's see. Plantation owner, confederate soldier, and a racist, though that last part probably goes without saying. Well, this is as bad as a guy can be in Doyle's time, so hopefully he's not like, a good person in this story.

Elias is evidently not on good terms with the KKK, which is funny considering his history would make you think he's a shoo-in for being their friend.

On one hand, it's nice that Elias is dead. On the other hand, it's not nice to see the KKK have this much reach and power. But on the other, other hand, they are being shown as the villains in this story so far.

This story sure is contemporary for Doyle's time. I wonder what the audience back then thought about all this, or rather, I wonder what the American audience back then thought about all this.

My heart is full of forebodings as well, though for other reasons than John here.

A very, dare I use the term, political Sherlock Holmes mystery so far, and one in which I eagerly await the next letter.

[sarahthecoat]

yep.

The Five Orange Pips pt 1

the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the British bark Sophy Anderson, of the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Camberwell poisoning case

Another round of 'look at all the fun cases I won't be talking about today 🤣. I feel like the Amateur Mendicant Society is a bit like Neville St Clair, as mendicant means beggar, so it feels like a group of people who dress up as beggars for the fun of it. Paradol is apparently a chemical found in peppers and ginger that makes it spicy, but I have no indication of when that chemical was first named, so whotf knows what that was about.

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and to recognize the presence of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage.

I love this description. It's so extra. Also the phrase 'equinoctial gales' is lovely. Watson, you should have taken up poetry.

My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.

Watson can't be left alone for more than a day at a time. Mary had to ask Sherlock to Watson-sit for her as she went to see her 'mother' *winkwink*. He needs enrichment in his enclosure.

He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit.

Interrogation lighting! WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?!

"You have come up from the south-west, I see." "Yes, from Horsham." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is quite distinctive." "I have come for advice."

Sorry, Holmes. This guy does not gaf about your creepy knowledge of clay and chalk mixes.

AH... hello racism. All the racism... So much racism. I mean, I know the story so yeah... but dear god if ever there were a literary character who deserved to die, it's this one. Fuuuuuck Elias Openshaw.

'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!'

The world's tiniest violin was unable to perform because it did not give a fuck.

" 'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy."

Well that's one way to say you always hated your sibling. And also to tell your nephew you hate him too. This guy is the absolute worst in so many ways. Like he just keeps piling on more reasons that he's the worst onto the already huge steaming pile. Yes, the people hunting him are even worse, but he's still just a terrible terrible person.

We found him, when we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden.

A fitting place for him to be.

No, I will not be feeling any sorrow at his passing.

I'm sorry that his brother's getting the same treatment, though. He doesn't seem like the most pleasant person in the world, but the fact he doesn't know what the initials stand for already puts him head and shoulders above his dead brother.

The attitude of his son to Elias and his war record and postwar activity doesn't exactly indicate that the pair of them are not-racist, though. But they don't appear to have actively murdered anybody or fought in order to perpetuate slavery, so... the bar is low. The bar is really really low on this one. Is there somewhere lower than the centre of the Earth's core?

And the threat of death for something they know nothing about... which, why did Elias not tell people what the fuck was going on? Why did he not...? Well, we'll get onto that bit. Just fuck Elias. Really, truly, Fuck Elias Openshaw.