by Bill Peschel
Care at all: They don’t meet at a corner, but run parallel about a half-mile apart.
Liberty’s: A luxury department store on Great Marlborough Street in London’s West End. Named for Arthur Lasenby Liberty (1843-1917), who founded the store in 1875.
He is an American: The hard felt hat with the rounded crown is called a derby in the U.S. and a bowler in the U.K. This exemplifies the phrase, attributed to George Bernard Shaw but not confirmed, that “England and America are two countries divided by a common language.”
Trafalgar Square: A square in central London in the City of Westminster, named for the battle of Trafalgar (1805), a naval victory during the Napoleonic War. At its center is Nelson’s Column, a monument to Admiral Horatio Nelson, who led the British forces and died during the battle.
While we’re here, let me add that Houndsditch is a road in the eastern part of London, about three miles east of Trafalgar Square. As the name implies, it was the site of a ditch that was part of Londinium’s wall since Roman times, and became a longtime dumping site for refuse, especially dead dogs.
Anachronism in Literature: At least he has Trafalgar Square, the Strand, and the National Gallery correctly situated, but otherwise … Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916) was the army commander and colonial administrator who played key roles in the Sudan invasion, the Second Boer War, and the first half of World War I. He drowned in the sinking of the HMS Hampshire. Winston Churchill (1874-1965) would later serve as prime minister during World War II and 1951-1955, but at this time had been an army officer and war correspondent who had seen action in British India, the Anglo-Sudan War and the Second Boer War (where he had been captured but escaped in a way that brought him notice at home). He had served in parliament and several government posts, but at this time as Home Secretary he played a role in the siege of London’s Sidney Street in January 1911. The police had surrounded a house where two Latvian anarchists wanted for murder were hiding. A firefight ensued, and the outgunned police called on the army for help. After six hours, fire broke out inside the building, one of the anarchists was shot as he looked out a window, and police let the house burn down, killing the other suspect. Churchill was at the scene, and some believe that he had taken command. He insisted that he didn’t, except to reaffirm the police decision to “let the house burn down rather than spend good British lives in rescuing those ferocious rascals.”
Lyddite shells: An explosive made with picric acid, a chemical compound derived from sources such as natural resin, indigo, and animal horn. It was the first high explosive that could withstand the shock of being fired by conventional artillery. In Britain, it was manufactured in Lydd and hence called Lyddite.
Suffragettes: In Britain, the suffragist movement under Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928) had turned to arson, vandalism, and bombings in their attempt to get women the vote. In America, several states had already allowed women to vote, and more would do so in coming years.
Upper Brixton: A neighborhood across the river Thames opposite central London. No wonder the editor gave up arguing.
St. John’s Wood: We’re north of the river again, in the wealthiest part of London.
To use the library: Before the establishment of public libraries, there were private libraries which used residency requirements or a fee to enter. One of them, the London Library, is still in operation at 14 St. James’s Square, and requires, according to its website, “an independent referee who could confirm your name and address if requested.”
Katzenjammer Falls: Sherlockians know, of course, it was the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. Holmes confused the scene of their struggle with the Matterhorn, a beautiful pyramidal peak and one of the highest mountains in the Alps, and “The Katzenjammer Kids,” a popular U.S. comic strip that began in 1897. A katzenjammer, by the way, is a real word. It’s German for “cat’s wail” and describes a state of bewilderment or depression.
Hoss and hoss: An extremely rare idiom that meant that two things are equal. Probably inspired by horse racing. It was popular enough during the late 19th century to inspire a musical farce with that title, but rarely appears in slang dictionaries.
Penny plain or tuppence colored: A phrase originated by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). During the 19th century, toy theatres were a popular toy. Children would cut characters, props, and scenery from preprinted sheets of paper that were sold in two styles: uncolored for a penny, and hand-colored for two pennies. The catch-phrase implied that you could get the basic model for cheap, but the luxury model would cost you more.
Dramaturgy: The practice of adapting a work to the stage. It’s not necessarily the same as play-writing and directing, although a playwright shapes the story so that it can be acted, and a director edits the script to meet the needs of the production. For example, a major task of a director in mounting a production of Hamlet would be to decide which of the three versions to use. In one extreme case, Kenneth Branagh’s four-hour-long Hamlet movie is based on the version in the First Folio with additional material from the second and uses flashbacks to show scenes only described in the script.
Fly cop: There are two possible definitions. There’s “fly” as in sharp-witted and competent, which has been in use since the 1850s. It can also mean a plainclothes detective, which one presumes meant someone who was smart enough to be promoted to this position.
Elderly woman: At 52? I’m afraid so. Demographic records show that a white woman born in 1910 could expect to live 52 years. If you were a white man you could live 49 years, a black woman 38 years, and a black man 34 years. Your odds of a long life improved once you were out of childhood and assuming that you did not die in childbirth (if you were a woman) or from working in a dangerous profession (if you were a man). A woman making it to age 65 in 1910 could expect to live at least another decade.
Mystery of They: Searching newspaper and book archives did not reveal the identity of “They.” We can only assume that it refers to the anonymous authority and source of most conventional wisdom, frequently quoted as “They say . . .”
Nathaniel Hawthorne: American writer (1804-1864). During the 19th century the middle class grew in size and influence, enough to be recognized as a distinctive entity called the bourgeoisie. Hawthorne’s novels and short stories reflected the rise of the industrial economy, the increasing confinement of bourgeois women to the home, how men and women tried to move upward economically, and the anxieties they suffered in doing so. In the late 19th century, Marxism popularized the idea of the capitalist bourgeois standing opposite the proletariat (working) class.
Crayon portrait: During the second half of the 19th century, the rise of photography led to the invention of crayon portraits. A photograph would be taken and a life-sized faint image would be printed on matte paper and finished by an artist using crayon, pastel, or charcoal. This enabled people who were not wealthy to buy life-sized portraits.
Pay gas bills: At the beginning of the 20th century, natural gas rose in popularity as a fuel source, and companies began building pipelines to ship it across state lines. Depending on the location, and the presence of state regulations, prices ranged from 40 cents to $1.30 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Author’s reading in progress: The Waldorf-Astoria hotel was a popular site for author events. It was there that in 1900, the Nineteenth Century Club debated the question, “Is Cheap Literature Cheapening Literature?” Professor H. Thurston Peck, editor of Bookman magazine, favored high prices for books. It kept cheap fiction out of the marketplace, he argued, because it forced readers to think before buying an expensive book: “The man of many books was a rarity. The man of a few books is a rarity to-day. The man of many books is a nuisance.” Publisher S.S. McClure disagreed. Cheap literature brought the standard and classical works into every home, fostering the taste for inexpensive literature instead of cheapening the quality. He also said that critics were not needed, because readers were so discriminating that a publisher could not sell a poor book.
Katzenjammer: A
reference to “The Katzenjammer Kids,” a popular U.S. comic strip that began in 1897. A katzenjammer is German for “cat’s wail” and describes a state of bewilderment or depression.
Gambrinus: (Also spelled Cambrinus) A mythical folk hero in European culture credited with inventing beer. He is depicted as a Falstaffian-sized man, with a large belly and a full beard. Stories about him have been traced back to several regions of France and Germany, but his popularity rose in 1868 with the story “Cambrinus, Roi de la Biere” in Tales of a Beer Drinker by French folklorist Charles Deulin (1827-1877). Cambrinus is an apprentice glassblower who sells his soul to Beelzebub to win the heart of his master’s daughter. He becomes renowned as a musician and becomes the first mortal to brew beer. Gambrinus lives for more than a century, and thwarts Beelzebub by dying and turning into a beer barrel. Deulin later published Tales of King Cambrinus (1874), making him to beer brewing what the Brothers Grimm was to fairy tales. Numerous beer brands have appropriated Gambrinus for their purposes, and a statue of the king stands in Milwaukee.
Surface car: A streetcar, to distinguish it from a subway or an elevated train.
Witch of Endor: A figure from the Bible who appears in the first book of Samuel. Israel’s King Saul had banished all of the necromancers and magicians from his kingdom, but when the Philistines threaten to invade, he turned to prophets and dreams to seek a solution. When that fails, he goes in disguise to the Canaanite city of Endor to find the witch. She calls up the spirit of Samuel, the prophet who had appointed Saul the first king of Israel. He criticizes the king for failing to obey God, and predicts that he’ll be destroyed along with his army in battle the next day. Samuel’s prediction comes true, and the king commits suicide.
French heels: A style of women’s shoe in which the heels are curved well forward of their base and the back and breast line also have a pronounced curve. This could only be created by hand, so this style disappeared in the 1920s as machines took over the production process. Also called a Louis heel, after King Louis XIV (1638-1715), who wore them as high as 5 inches.
Odor of mint: A reference to the mint julep, the mixture of bourbon, powdered sugar, water, and mint, that originated in Virginia.
Pink domino: A small, rounded mask that covers the eyes and the space between them. It is derived from the Latin dominus for “lord” or “master,” combined with the Latin masca for “nightmare” or “specter.”
Bourbon: When it comes to bloodlines and accomplishments, this royal family makes the Windsors look like the nouveau riche. The Bourbons started by ruling Bourbonnais, a small province in central France, between 913 and 1327. They established a toehold on royalty in 1272 when one of their daughters married Louis IX’s younger son. They scraped by as a cadet branch of the royal family until Henry IV ascended in 1589, and ruled France until the revolution in 1792. The family made a brief comeback after Napoleon’s fall in 1814, then came back again the next year and hung on until the 1830 revolution. Another cadet branch of the Bourbons ruled for another 18 years (1830-1848) until it was time to call it a day.
Mitre: The traditional ceremonial headgear, consisting of a cap with a front and back flap pointed at the top and sewn partway up the sides.
Mucilage: A general term for the gluey substance produced by many plants, including aloe vera, flax, and okra, and some microorganisms. One form it takes comes from the root of the marshmallow plant and was used to make the traditional version of that sweet treat. Mucilage was sold as glue used for labels, envelopes, and postage stamps.
Automatic coupler: A device at the end of railway cars that, when pushed together, automatically linked them without needing a worker to help.
Quel beau chien: What a beautiful dog!
Ach! was ein Dog!: Oh! What a dog!
Cosmopolitan: Before Helen Gurley Brown revived the magazine in 1965 with her salacious blend of sex, beauty, health, fashion, and celebrity, Cosmopolitan was a family magazine. Founded in 1886, it published non-fiction alongside stories by H.G. Wells (it serialized The War of the Worlds), O. Henry, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and George Bernard Shaw. Its circulation peaked during World War II with 2 million sales, then dropped over the next two decades as paperbacks and television grew popular.
The Man with the Twisted Lip: Kate Whitney was the wife of Neville St. Clair, a respectable man who vanished during a business trip to London. Thanks to Holmes, she discovers his second life as a filthy beggar, collecting alms to support his family. The story was published in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891).
Locum tenens: Latin for “place holder.” In the medical profession, it’s a physician who takes the place of a patient’s regular physician.
Bradshaw: A railway guide, first published in 1839 by George Bradshaw (1801-1853) as Bradshaw’s Railway Timetables, later Bradshaw’s Railway Companion.
St. Pancras: A major railway station in central London. Named for the Roman who was beheaded around 304 at age 14 during the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian. Some of his relics were taken to England, where several churches were dedicated to him, including St. Pancras Old Church in London.
Sam Weller: The astute Cockney servant in Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers.
Phileas Fogg’s theory: Fogg was the hero of Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1828-1905).
A line of flaming furnaces: In prehistoric times, humans in the Old World discovered that metals such as copper, lead, tin, silver, mercury, and iron could be dug from the earth and turned into useful objects. But these minerals also contained unwanted components such as silica and alumina. To purify the metal, they developed smelting, heating the minerals at a high enough temperature that the metal could be extracted. By the Industrial Revolution, the process required the construction of furnaces that were fed by charcoal for several days. At night, it would be possible to see great stacks of free-standing furnaces belching smoke and flames. Some of them have been preserved and can be seen today, such as the Beckley Blast Furnace in Connecticut and the Pine Grove Iron Works in Pennsylvania.
Dore and Totley tunnel: The 3.5-mile tunnel on the Manchester-Sheffield line was finished in 1893. It is the second-longest tunnel in Great Britain.
Sheffield Telegraph: A weekly newspaper founded as the Sheffield Daily Telegraph in 1855. It became the Sheffield Telegraph in 1938.
G.C. station: The Great Central Railway was created in 1897 when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway merged. It lasted until 1922, when it was incorporated into the London and North Eastern Railway.
Broomhill: A suburb in the western part of Sheffield.
Fulwood: A residential suburb in the southwestern part of Sheffield.
Seals: Used for pasting shut letters and stamping official documents. Beeswax was melted onto paper then impressed with a metal seal denoting its owner. This served two purposes: the wax could not be easily removed without breaking, indicating that the letter had been tampered with, and the unique seal would confirm the identity of the user.
First floor: The floor above street level. What Americans call the first floor in their country is called in England the ground floor.
Druidicals: The best candidate for this picture would be the Lanyon Quoit, a dolmen in Cornwall. It fits the description perfectly. Unfortunately, it collapsed during a storm in 1815, and was so damaged that it was rebuilt in a different formation nine years later. Dolmens, by the way, are rock constructions built like a table. They are believed to top a single-chamber tomb, but its true purpose, like the question of who built them, has not been settled satisfactorily. They date from the Neolithic period (4000-3000 B.C.E.) period in Western Europe. In literature, Aslan the lion from The Chronicles of Narnia, was sacrificed on a dolmen.
Blotter: A pad of paper used to protect the table’s surface from the effects of writing with ink. Because a handwritten letter would leave an imprint on the blotter, it became a trope in mysteries for the detective to “read” the message left on it (or to be de
ceived by a false message).
Moorland rambles: This small country village located about 10 miles southwest of Sheffield has been in existence from before William the Conqueror’s time. It is known for its wide range of historic buildings; the grave of Little John, one of Robin Hood’s outlaws; its connections to Charlotte Brontë and Jane Eyre (many of the locations can be found in this area, including the name Eyre from one of the local gentry); and Hathersage Moor, ideal for long rambles.
Seize him on his arrival: This was inspired by the Crippen murder case. Hawley Crippen (1862-1910) had murdered his wife and fled England in the company of his mistress, who dressed as a boy. Suspicious of the couple, the captain used the newly installed wireless radio to alert the authorities. The couple was arrested upon their arrival in Canada. Crippen was returned to Britain, convicted of murder, and hanged. His mistress, charged with being an accessory, was acquitted.