"The Red-Headed League"

The Red-Headed League.

The case begins Saturday, October 11, 1890.

Why?

KEY WATSON DATES OF THE CASE:
"I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of
last year . . ."
"It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months ago."
"THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890."

SIGNIFICANT CANONICAL TIE-IN:
"You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we went
into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland . . ."

WILSON’S ACCOUNT OF TIME PASSED:
"Will you be ready to-morrow?" (Duncan Ross’s words to Wilson on the day of the newspaper ad.
"This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week’s work. It was the same next week, and the same the week after." 
"Eight weeks passed away like this . . ."
"And no later than this morning. I went to my work as usual at ten o’clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little square of card-board hammered on to the middle of the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself."

"THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890."
"This assistant of yours who first called your attention to the advertisement — how long had he been with you?"
"About a month then."

HOLMES’S DETECTION SCHEDULE:
"To-day is Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion."

KEY HISTORICAL REFERENCE OF THE CASE:
"Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon."

SIGNIFICANT PRIOR ACQUAINTANCES:
"Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard?"
"I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. John Clay."

BANKER MERRYWEATHER’S RECORD 1404 CONSECUTIVE WEEKLY RUBBERS:
"It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have not had my rubber."

WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
October 29, 1887. 

WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
October 19, 1889.

THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY’S TIMETABLE:
Well, at least the year seems a no-brainer on this one: 1890. And the day does seem to be Saturday, the day of concerts and rubbers of whist. But when Watson starts telling us that April 27 was two months prior to October 9, all chronological Hell seems about to break loose. 

But is Watson the true culprit here? The good doctor occasionally seems to be blamed by chronologists for quoting what came out of the client’s mouths inaccurately, when those clients may have been totally in the wrong to begin with. (Think about it -- most of them are in no frame of mind to cite accurate dates.) I’ve gone on record prior to this stating that Wilson was lying about his true twenty-four weeks of work to keep Holmes’s fee down ("Upon the Relative Reliability of Watson and Wilson," Baker Street Journal, June 1983), and will stick with that thought. October 9 was the date on that sign. April 27 was the date on the newspaper. Both are pieces of physical evidence actually presented to Holmes and Watson, and yet Jabez Wilson keeps referring to the interval between as eight weeks, even though the digging of a tunnel and copying of all that encyclopaedia material would both fit more comfortably into a twenty-four week span. Plainly, Wilson is lying.

All the Saturday evidence, however, makes me now agree with chronologists like Blakeney, Dakin, Hall, and Thomson . . . October 11 has to be the beginning date of the case. "Duncan Ross" just didn’t know exactly what day it was when he wrote the sign, or else was a little bit late in posting it after he originally wrote it. So the Smash’s final judgment this time out: Saturday, October 11, 1890.