by Bill Peschel
[back] Jeff Levy: Jefferson Monroe Levy (1852-1924) was a real estate investor, stock speculator and congressman. Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello, had been bought by Levy’s uncle in 1834, and at the age of 27, Jefferson Levy bought it from him in 1879. He spent several hundred thousand dollars expanding the property and restoring Monticello before selling it to a private foundation in 1923.
[back] Georgetown football game: On Nov. 16, the 6-1 Virginia Cavaliers met the 1-2-2 Hoyas at Georgetown Field in Washington, D.C. At the end of the first half, Virginia led 11-0. But in the last eight minutes of play, with the score 16-6, the Hoyas managed to score twice, including on the last play, to win 17-16.
[back] Collier’s Weekly: The American magazine also published a Household Number every month that contained a new Holmes story.
[back] Foggy, foggy dew: An English folk song about a weaver who woos a maiden into his bed, supposedly to protect her from the “foggy, foggy dew.” The story ends with the maid gone for untold reasons, and the weaver working alongside his son that reminds him of “the many, many times I held her in my arms / to keep her from the foggy, foggy dew.” Folk musicians such as Burl Ives revived the song in the 1950s.
[back] Upset his automobile: Conan Doyle did just that in March of 1904 when he struck a gatepost at the entrance and overturned the vehicle. His brother, Innes, was thrown clear, but Conan Doyle was pinned behind the wheel and had to be rescued.
[back] Six thousand pounds: As we’ll learn, Sir George took the money in two bags of gold and the rest in Bank of England notes. The practice of putting pockets there dates from Beau Brummel’s time, because carrying anything in the breast or side pockets would show. Still, Newnes must have been a sight to see with his coattails swaying.
[back] Sir Alfred Harmsworth: The publishing magnate (1865-1922) who owned the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Times, a book publishing division, and numerous comic and story papers. His first newspaper was called Answers.
[back] Coat of arms: A coat of arms is described using terminology drawn from French or Latin. Couchant: When referring to an animal, it is shown lying down, but with its head raised. Rampant: On its hind legs with both forelegs in the air, another reference to Conan Doyle’s auto accident.
[back] Douglas in his hall: A reference to Marmion, the epic poem by Walter Scott (1771-1832) about the Battle of Flodden. Douglas was loyal to the Scottish King James II, and when the English Lord Marmion insults him within his castle, he shouts, “And dar’st thou then / To beard the lion in his den, / The Douglas in his hall? / And hop’st thou hence unscathed to go? No, by St. Bride of Bothwell, no!”
[back] Sailor was murdered: In 1786, a sailor befriended three men while drinking at the Red Lion Inn in Thursley, five miles from Hindhead. He left the inn with them, intending to walk to Portsmouth and rejoin his ship. On a lonely stretch of Hindhead Common, the men slit his throat and stripped him of his money and belongings. They were caught, convicted and hung on Gibbet Hill near the scene of the crime. Their bodies were left in chains for several years, and 40 years later the main wooden post could still be seen. The sailor was buried in a churchyard and a Celtic cross was erected where he was killed.
[back] Tonneau: An open-top rear passenger compartment on automobiles. Because the early models were shaped like barrels, they were called tonneaus, from the French word for cask or barrel.
Bibliography
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Dash, Mike. “Run Out of Town on an Ass.” Smithsonian, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/run-out-of-town-on-an-ass-112118848/?no-ist, accessed May 26, 2015.
Dahlinger, S.E., and Leslie S. Klinger, editors. Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle & The Bookman. Indianapolis: Gasogene Books, 2010.
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Wikipedia
— — — — — — — — , “IMP Society.” https://explore.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/show/hoos/traditions/washington-society, accessed June 13, 2015.
— — — — — — — — , Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department, People vs. The Public Service Commission of the State of New York. https://books.google.com/books?id=7oVo_LY32ywC&source=gbs_navlinks_s, accessed April 7, 2015.
— — — — — — — — , “Current Affairs,” The Leader: A Review of Current Affairs, Politics, Literature, Art and Industry (Dublin), Vol. X, No. 26. (Aug. 19, 1905): 2. From https://books.google.com/books?id=6kEwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA414, accessed April 14, 2015.
About the Editor
Bill Peschel is a recovering journalist who shares a Pulitzer Prize with the staff of The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. He also is a mystery fan who runs the Wimsey Annotations at Planetpeschel.com.
The author of Writers Gone Wild (Penguin), he publishes through Peschel Press the 223B Casebook Series of Sherlockian parodies and pastiches and annotated editions of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Whose Body? and Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles and The Secret Adversary. An interest in Victorian crime led to the republication of three books on the William Palmer poisoning case.
Peschel was born in Warren, Ohio, grew up in Charlotte, N.C., and graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He lives with his family and animal menagerie in Hershey, where the air really does smell like chocolate.
SHERLOCK HOLMES EDWARDIAN PARODIES AND PASTICHES I: 1900-1904. Notes and essays copyright 2015 Bill Peschel. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of the notes or essays may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except in cases of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, email [email protected] or write to Peschel Press, P.O. Box 132, Hershey, PA 17033.
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