The Notorious Canary-Trainers
A Scion of the Baker Street Irregulars
for friends and fans of Sherlock Holmes
-- celebrating our 40th year!

MARCH 2008: THE DEVIL'S FOOT
Tuesday, March 16, to Saturday, March 20, 1897

This account was first published in England's "The Strand" magazine in December 1910 and in the collection "His Last Bow" in 1917. At the time Holmes was 43 years old and Watson 41. This was about two months after the case of "The Abbey Grange" which we studied at our previous meeting.

Quotes to Note: (Holmes to Watson) "I take it, in the first place, that neither of us is prepared to admit diabolical intrusions into the affairs of men."

(Holmes to Watson) "I thought I knew my Watson."

(Watson to Holmes) "You know that it is my greatest joy and privilege to help you."

(Holmes) "I followed you." (Reply) "I saw no one." (Holmes) "That is what you may expect to see when I follow you."

To read the full text of this story online, go to this Web site where you can choose a version which allows you to click on any highlighted word and find out all of its uses in other stories. Otherwise, go to Wikisource or The Sherlockian Net.

For a Wikipedia plot summary and related links, click here.

For questions to review after reading the story -- to test yourself on how well you have observed -- check out these links:

Hounds of the Internet

The Sherlockian Net

Check out this Standford University commentary on this story.

Read here about the mysterious "devil's footprints" discovered in England in 1855.

What else was happening in 1897? Click here to find out.

Our meeting was held at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16, at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, West Towne.

FEBRUARY 2008: No meeting due to snow. Discussion of "The Devil's Foot" was rescheduled for March 16.

JANUARY 2008: Sherlock Holmes Birthday Party; no case study scheduled.

DECEMBER 2007: THE ABBEY GRANGE
Saturday, January 23, 1897

This account was first published in England's "The Strand" magazine in September 1904, in the U.S. in "Collier's" on Dec. 31, 1904, and in the collection, "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" in 1905.

Quotes to Note: (Holmes to Watson) "'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'"

(Holmes to Watson) "We have not yet met our Waterloo, Watson, but this is our Marengo, for it begins in defeat and ends in victory."

(Watson)"The first faint winter's dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek."

(Holmes to Watson) "I must admit, Watson, that you have some power of selection which atones for much which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of a scientific exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader."

(Holmes to Watson) "I dare say you thought I acted rather badly to Stanley Hopkins just now?" (Watson) "I trust your judgment." (Holmes) "A very sensible reply, Watson."

(Holmes to Watson) "Once or twice in my career I feel that I have done more real harm by my discovery of the criminal than ever he had done by his crime. I have learned caution now, and I had rather play tricks with the law of England than with my own conscience. Let us know a little more before we act."

To read the full text of this story online, go to this Web site where you can choose a version which allows you to click on any highlighted word and find out all of its uses in other stories. Otherwise, go to Wikisource or The Sherlockian Net.

For a Wikipedia plot summary and related links, click here.

Check out this Standford University commentary on this story.

For questions to review after reading the story -- to test yourself on how well you have observed -- check out these links:

Hounds of the Internet

The Sherlockian Net

What else was happening in 1897? Click here to find out.

Our meeting was held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 16, at Booked for Murder, 2701 University Ave.

(For earlier stories we've discussed, click here.)