From Watson’s Tin Box: The Red Circle | The Fourth Garrideb

“Somewhere in the vaults of the bank of Cox and Co., at Charing Cross, there is a travel-worn and battered tin dispatch-box with my name, John H. Watson, MD, Late Indian Army, painted upon the lid.”

– The Problem of Thor Bridge (THOR)

‘He said, “I’ll pay you five pounds a week if I can have it on my own terms.” I’m a poor woman, sir, and Mr Warren earns little, and the money meant much to me. He took out a ten-pound note, and he held it out to me then and there. “You can have the same every fortnight for a long time to come if you keep the terms,” he said. “If not, I’ll have no more to do with you.”‘ ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

Watson’s Tin Box, a BSI scion that meets in Columbia, Maryland, shares a few select items from their tin evidence box for The Red Circle with us here at The Fourth Garrideb. These evidence boxes were originally created by the late Paul Churchill, BSI, one of the founders of Watson’s Tin Box and contains both genuine artifacts and genuine faux reproductions that he (and others) created. These items create a great deal of discussion at their monthly meetings and we hope it will do the same here. Enjoy!

‘Yes, sir, prints it in pencil. Just the word, nothing more. Here’s one I brought to show you – SOAP. Here’s another – MATCH. This is one he left the first morning – DAILY GAZETTE. I leave that paper with his breakfast every morning.’ ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

‘Someone is moving in that room,’ said Holmes in a whisper, his gaunt and eager face thrust forward to the window-pane. ‘Yes, I can see his shadow. There he is again! He has a candle in his hand. ~WTB REDC Evidence Box

A single flash – that is A, surely. Now, then. How many did you make it? Twenty. So did I. That should mean T. AT – that’s intelligible enough! Another T. Surely this is the beginning of a second word. Now, then – TENTA. Dead stop. That can’t be all, Watson? ATTENTA gives no sense. Nor is it any better as three words – AT. TEN. TA, unless T. A. are a person’s initials. There it goes again! What’s that? ATTE – why, it is the same message over again. Curious, Watson, very curious! Now he is off once more! AT – why, he is repeating it for the third time. ATTENTA three times! ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

‘This is Mr Leverton, of Pinkerton’s American Agency.’ ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

‘What! Gorgiano of the Red Circle?’ ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

I struck a match, and lit the detective’s lantern. ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

Beside his right hand a most formidable horn-handled, two-edged dagger lay upon the floor, and near it a black kid glove. ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

All this Gennaro told me, and showed me a summons which he had received that very day, a Red Circle drawn upon the head of it, telling him that a lodge would be held upon a certain date, and that his presence at it was required and ordered. ~ WTB REDC Evidence Box

By the way, it is not eight o’clock, and a Wagner night at Covent Garden! If we hurry, we might be in time for the second act.’ ~WTB REDC Evidence Box

Thanks to the 42nd Garrideb, Denny Dobry, for the scans in this post. Thanks also to Debbie Clark, the 58th Garrideb, the current keeper of the evidence boxes.

Watson’s Tin Box, a BSI scion in Columbia, MD, is one of the most active Sherlockian groups in the Middle Atlantic region, Generally meeting on the last Monday of each month, the meetings feature canonical toasts, good conversations and dining, as well as a discussion of the month’s featured story and an educational presentation. For more information about Watson’s Tin Box, please visit their website HERE.

A Scion Society of The Baker Street Irregulars