The Devil's Foot.
The case begins Tuesday, March 16, 1897.
Why?
THE DAY PERMISSION WAS GRANTED:
"It was, then, with considerable surprise that I received a telegram from Holmes last Tuesday . . ."
"It was, then, with considerable surprise that I received a telegram from Holmes last Tuesday . . ."
THE STATEMENT OF THE SEASON, YEAR, AND MONTH:
"It was, then, in the spring of the year 1897 that Holmes’s iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown."
"It was, then, in the spring of the year 1897 that Holmes’s iron constitution showed some symptoms of giving way in the face of constant hard work of a most exacting kind, aggravated, perhaps, by occasional indiscretions of his own. In March of that year Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes I may some day recount, gave positive injunctions that the famous private agent lay aside all his cases and surrender himself to complete rest if he wished to avert an absolute breakdown."
TIME OF THE WRITING:
"Now, after thirteen years, I will give the true details of this inconceivable affair to the public."
"Now, after thirteen years, I will give the true details of this inconceivable affair to the public."
DATE OF PUBLICATION:
December 1910.
December 1910.
DAY THE CASE BEGINS:
"These were the two men who entered abruptly into our little sitting-room on Tuesday, March the 16th, shortly after our breakfast hour . . ."
"These were the two men who entered abruptly into our little sitting-room on Tuesday, March the 16th, shortly after our breakfast hour . . ."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
March 16, 1897.
March 16, 1897.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
April 17, 1897.
April 17, 1897.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY TIMETABLE:
Here’s a tale where the quirkiness of Ernest B. Zeisler’s chronology really comes through. Watson tells us that the case began on "Tuesday, March the 16th" in "the spring of the year 1897." Could it be any more plainly stated?
Yet out of all that, Zeisler homes in on the word "spring." March 16th is not spring, he contends. He then accepts Watson’s judgment of when spring is over Watson’s judgement of when Tuesday, March 16th, is. Personally, I think Watson was probably better with days and dates than vernal equinoxes. But Zeisler, being a "millennium isn’t until 2001" kind of guy, just can’t let our good doctor call March 16th spring.
I can.
Tuesday, March 16, 1897, it is.
Here’s a tale where the quirkiness of Ernest B. Zeisler’s chronology really comes through. Watson tells us that the case began on "Tuesday, March the 16th" in "the spring of the year 1897." Could it be any more plainly stated?
Yet out of all that, Zeisler homes in on the word "spring." March 16th is not spring, he contends. He then accepts Watson’s judgment of when spring is over Watson’s judgement of when Tuesday, March 16th, is. Personally, I think Watson was probably better with days and dates than vernal equinoxes. But Zeisler, being a "millennium isn’t until 2001" kind of guy, just can’t let our good doctor call March 16th spring.
I can.
Tuesday, March 16, 1897, it is.
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