The Sussex Vampire.
The case begins Tuesday, November 19, 1901.
Why?
DATE OF THE FIRST NOTE:
"Nov. 19th. "
"Nov. 19th. "
THE PAST CASE REFERENCES:
"I leaned back and took down the great index volume to which he referred. Holmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with the accumulated information of a lifetime."
"Voyage of the Gloria Scott . . . Victor Lynch, the forger. Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can’t beat it. Listen to this, Watson. Vampirism in Hungary. And again, Vampires in Transylvania."
"I leaned back and took down the great index volume to which he referred. Holmes balanced it on his knee, and his eyes moved slowly and lovingly over the record of old cases, mixed with the accumulated information of a lifetime."
"Voyage of the Gloria Scott . . . Victor Lynch, the forger. Venomous lizard or gila. Remarkable case, that! Vittoria, the circus belle. Vanderbilt and the Yeggman. Vipers. Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder. Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can’t beat it. Listen to this, Watson. Vampirism in Hungary. And again, Vampires in Transylvania."
"Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson. It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared."
LENGTH OF THE FERGUSON MARRIAGE:
"This gentleman married some five years ago a Peruvian lady the daughter of a Peruvian merchant, whom he had met in connection with the importation of nitrates."
"This gentleman married some five years ago a Peruvian lady the daughter of a Peruvian merchant, whom he had met in connection with the importation of nitrates."
BALLPARK OF THE FIRST FERGUSON MARRIAGE:
"The gentleman had been married twice and he had one son by the first wife. This boy was now fifteen . . . ."
"The gentleman had been married twice and he had one son by the first wife. This boy was now fifteen . . . ."
THE WATSONIAN REST PERIOD:
"Send him that wire and let the matter rest till morning."
"Send him that wire and let the matter rest till morning."
PERIOD OF THE DOG’S AFFLICTION:
"It may have been four months ago."
"It may have been four months ago."
AGE OF THE BABY AND THE ATTACK:
"This was a small matter, however, compared with her conduct to her own child, a dear boy just under one year of age. On one occasion about a month ago this child had been left by its nurse . . ."
"This was a small matter, however, compared with her conduct to her own child, a dear boy just under one year of age. On one occasion about a month ago this child had been left by its nurse . . ."
THE SIMULTANEOUS SPORTS CAREERS:
"Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond."
"Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond."
DURATION OF THE FERUSON RELATIONSHIPS:
"I gather that you did not know your wife well at the time of your marriage?"
"I had only known her a few weeks."
"How long had this maid Dolores been with her?"
"Some years."
STATEMENT OF THE MONTH:
"It was evening of a dull, foggy November day when, having left our bags at the Chequers, Lamberley, we drove through the Sussex clay of a long winding lane and finally reached the isolated and ancient farmhouse in which Ferguson dwelt."
"It was evening of a dull, foggy November day when, having left our bags at the Chequers, Lamberley, we drove through the Sussex clay of a long winding lane and finally reached the isolated and ancient farmhouse in which Ferguson dwelt."
AGE OF THE HOUSE:
"Here, in a huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behind it dated 1670 . . ."
"Here, in a huge old-fashioned fireplace with an iron screen behind it dated 1670 . . ."
DATE OF HOLMES’S WRAP-UP:
"Nov. 21st.
"Referring to your letter of the 19th, I beg to state that I have looked into the inquiry of your client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, and that the matter has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion."
"Nov. 21st.
"Referring to your letter of the 19th, I beg to state that I have looked into the inquiry of your client, Mr. Robert Ferguson, of Ferguson and Muirhead, tea brokers, of Mincing Lane, and that the matter has been brought to a satisfactory conclusion."
WHAT THE BARING-GOULD ANNOTATED SAYS:
November 19, 1896.
November 19, 1896.
WHAT ZEISLER, THE KING OF CHRONOLOGY, SAYS:
November 19, 1896 or 1901.
November 19, 1896 or 1901.
THE BIRLSTONE RAILWAY TIMETABLE:
When looking for the year of "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," the best source to begin our search would have to be Holmes’s good old index. That eclectic compendium of criminal data has much to tell the observant scholar, so let’s observe.
When looking for the year of "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," the best source to begin our search would have to be Holmes’s good old index. That eclectic compendium of criminal data has much to tell the observant scholar, so let’s observe.
"Voyage of the Gloria Scott" comes first. As Holmes’s very first case, that comes as no surprise, but it also tells us there is a certain time-related sequence to the events therein. But at what point did Holmes include "Vampirism in Transylvania"? Well, a good many of his own cases fill the pages before we get to it. Given the relative low occurrence of the letter "V" in phone books, dictionaries, etc., we can safely say that piece wasn’t placed there early in his career. Later in his career, we would expect such data to come less from his studies than from newspapers and periodicals. And why would newspapers and periodicals suddenly be writing about vampires?
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, first published in 1897, would seem the logical inspiration for a sudden return of ancient myths to current events. So if the vampire reference tends to make the case post 1897, where to go from there?
Well, the history of Peru doesn’t look too good up until the early 1890s. Things didn’t really stabilize there until 1895, when a new president stepped in after a year of power struggles. Throw in the five year marriage of the Fergusons, and the most likely year for this case quickly starts to look like 1901, a time when Watson and Holmes were both still at Baker Street.
Given that marvelous London mail service, and the November 19th letter’s delivery by the last post, this one looks like Tuesday, November 19, 1901 to me.
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