A Case of Identity
Publication & Dates:Strand, September 1891The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes. (3rd story) 1892Illustrations: Sidney Paget (7)Conan Doyle’s 5th storyHolmes’ 17th case
Story Introduction:“My dear fellow,” said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, “life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover over the great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and leading to the most outré results, it would make all friction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and unprofitable.”“And yet I am not convinced of it,” I answered. “The cases which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither fascinating nor artistic.”“A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a realistic effect,” remarked Holmes. “This is wanting in the police report, where more stress is laid perhaps upon the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.”I smiled and shook my head. “I can quite understand you thinking so,” I said. “Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and bizarre. But here”—I picked up the morning paper from the ground—“let us put it to a practical test. Here is the first heading upon which I come. ‘A husband’s cruelty to his wife.’ There is half a column of print, but I know without reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more crude.”“Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,” said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. “This is the Dundas separation case, and as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which you will allow is not an action likely to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.”He held out his snuff-box of old gold, with the great amethyst in the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely ways and simple life that I could not help but commenting upon it.“Ah,” said he, “I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers.”“And the ring?” I asked, glancing at the remarkable brilliant which sparkled upon his finger.“It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in which I served them was of such delicacy that I could not confide even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of my little problems.”“And have you any on hand just now?” I asked with interest.“Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest. They are important, you understand, without being interesting. Indeed I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. Larger crimes are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime, the more obvious, as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, that I may have something better before very many minutes are over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken.”Holmes never leaves Baker St. to solve the case.Case Information
Date:No Dates Mentioned.Watson’s quote in a The Red Headed League. “I remarked the other day, just before we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland.”
Duration:2 Days
Crime:Deception.
Client:Miss Mary Sutherland, “a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess-of Devonshire fashion over her ear.”— “Her broad, good-humoured face.”
Holmes’ Observation of Client:He looked her over in the minute, and yet abstracted fashion which was peculiar to him. “Do you not find,” said he, “that with your short sight it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?”— “As you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most useful material for showing traces. The double lines a little above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her.”“I was much surprised and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which she was wearing were not unlike each other, that they were really odd ones, the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half buttoned, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry.”“You observed that her right glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see that glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had written in a hurry, and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger.”
Victim:Miss Mary Sutherland.
Crime Scene:None.
Criminals:Mr. James Windibank, Miss Sutherland’s stepfather. “your step-father, surely, since the name is different.” Only five years and two months older than Miss Sutherland.“The man who had entered was a sturdy middle-sized fellow, some thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow skinned, with a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating grey eyes.”“There’s a cold-blooded scoundrel!” said Holmes, laughing, as he threw himself down into his chair once more. “That fellow will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entirely devoid of interest.”Mr. Hosmer Angel, (Mr. James Windibank in disguise) a cashier in an office in Leadenhall Street. Engaged to Miss Sutherland. They had met at the gasfitters ball, and three times after.About five feet, seven inches in height; strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre, bushy, black side whiskers and moustache; tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots.Mrs. Windibank, Miss Sutherland’s mother, nearly 15 years older than her husband. “With the connivance and assistance of his wife.”
Punishment:None.“The only drawback is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel.”“The law cannot, as you say, touch you,” said Holmes, unlocking and throwing open the door, “yet there never was a man who deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!” he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man’s face. “It is not part of my duties to my client, but here’s a hunting-crop handy, and I think I shall treat myself to—”
Official Police:None.
Characters:No