The Old Tin Box
One Sherlockian's homage to the untold tales
“As I turn over the pages I see my notes” [GOLD]
The pages of the original 60 Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are filled with brief references to cases that Watson never managed to bring before the public eye.
They represent a tantalizing glimpse of more aspects of an already legendary career, providing additional details that not only give us a better sense of Sherlock Holmes the detective, but of Sherlock Holmes the character as well. It’s part of what led many to think of Sherlock Holmes as a real person, alive and practicing his career in late Victorian / early Edwardian London.
Dr. Watson himself wrote:
“Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin despatch-box with my name, John H. Watson, M.D., Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid. It is crammed with papers, nearly all of which are records of cases to illustrate the curious problems which Mr. Sherlock Holmes had at various times to examine.” [SUSS]
As an homage to Watson’s Tin Box, the great Sherlockian Jay Finley Christ, BSI (“The Final Problem“) once attempted to capture the wonders in verse:
The Old Tin Box
In the vaults of Cox was an old tin box
With Watson’s name on its lid.
What wouldn’t we pay for that box today
And the secret notes there hid?
Old Russian dame, Ricoletti the lame.
The famous aluminum crutch;
For Alicia, the cutter, the parsley in butter,
What would you give for such?
Story of Randall, the Darlington scandal,
The coptic patriarchs.
The opal tiara, the Addleton barrow --
Dollars? or francs? or marks?
The tale of the pinch of Victor Lynch,
The furniture warehouse mob,
The case at the Hague, the murder at Prague
The powderless Margate job.
The giant rat, the cardinal’s hat,
The Patersons (first name Grice),
The cormorant’s bill, the Hammerford will --
We’d take ‘em at any price.
The Phillimore fella who sought an umbrella,
The steamer Friesland (Dutch);
For Col. Carruthers or Atkinson brothers
One never could give too much.
The Vatican case and its cameo face,
The slithering, unknown worm,
The Abergavenny were none too many --
Where is this Cox’s firm?
Oh, wonderful box in the vaults of Cox!
You come with a touch of salt!
But I offer two blocks of the choicest stocks
For the treasure of Cox’s vault.
If you’re interested in learning more about some of the unrecorded cases, we produced a whole series of episodes in our sister podcast Trifles. You can find the entire collection here:
The game’s afoot!
A wonderful ode to the untold cases.