The Untold Tales – Analyzed

Philip K. Jones, AMS

Every Sherlockian has wondered about the Untold Tales at some time or another. Watson and Holmes mention them in more than forty of the Canonical tales, and readers remain fascinated by dreams of stories yet to be told. My own Sherlockian area of interest is in pastiches, parodies and related fiction, and part of the research I do is to identify efforts to tell the Untold Tales. Several lists of these Untold Tales have been published, with varying numbers of entries included. Scholars have identified as many as one hundred and sixty such tales, although I feel many of those identifications are questionable. Keeping this in mind, I have searched the Canon to build a list that will specifically support my effort to recognize the pastiches that attempt to tell these tales.

In the original version of this article I used Baring-Gould's chronology for the Canonical tales but it invited too much controversy. Now I am using Les Klinger’s[1] sequence to process the tales. That is the publication sequence of the books and the story sequence within the books. Taken in this fashion, there is no question about where any tale belongs, as there would be if any other sequence of the individual tales were to be used. The individual Untold Tales will be listed as the citations occur in the Canonical tales. In each tale, I considered the original publication date in The Strand (where applicable) and the date assigned by the author (where available). If no date was given, I used the most generally accepted date in the Literature. For reference, the publication date is listed to the right of the title and the date of occurrence is listed to the left. Obviously, this leads to questions, but I do not have space in the article to discuss these in detail.

As a part of the process of identifying Untold Tales, I am introducing a standard set of codes I shall use as shorthand for all relevant Untold Tales in citations for my own database of pastiches, parodies and related fiction, as well as for articles and other publications. I hope others may find it useful. This set of codes needs to be unique across the Canon, the Apocrypha and the Untold Tales, and it will use the codes developed by Jay Finley Christ for the Canonical tales as a starting place. The code values I have assigned are listed for each Untold or Apocryphal tale.

Criteria for including a citation in this list are simple. First, the event should be cited in the Canon or the published apocrypha. Second, there must be some indication that the citation represents an actual event investigated or dealt with by Holmes and/or Watson. This proviso is important, as there are a fair number of citations in the Canon of events that obviously are not actual cases investigated by Holmes. In spite of this qualification, for my purposes, items must also be included if Sherlockian pastiches, parodies or related fiction have been written about them. This consideration will add a number of otherwise unacceptable entries to the list

The Untold Tales that I have identified fall into five distinct categories. The first category is that of obvious references to events involving Holmes and Watson. These form the bulk of the entries and will be listed in the sequence the tales appear in Klinger's books. Each Canonical tale is listed, along with its Christ Code. Untold Tale citations from that Canonical story are then listed along with a proposed compatible abbreviation for each such tale.

[03/04/1881] A Study in Scarlet (STUD)[12/1887]

1.... Mr. Lestrade … got himself in a fog recently over a forgery case (LEST).

2.One morning a young girl called, fashionably dressed ...(FASH).

3.... a gray-headed, seedy visitor, looking like a Jew pedlar...(PEDL).

4.... a slipshod elderly woman (ELDE).

5.... an old, white-haired gentleman had an interview...(GENT).

6.... a railway porter in his velveteen uniform (RAIL).

[07/07/1888W][2] The Sign of [the?] Four (SIGN) [02/1890]

7.I was consulted last week by Francois le Villard... (VILL).

8....the most winning woman I ever knew was hanged for poisoning three little children... (WINN).

9....the most repellent man of my acquaintance is a philanthropist... (REPE).

10....you once enabled my employer, Mrs. Cecil Forrester, to unravel a little domestic complication (FORR).

11....you lectured us all on causes and inferences and effects in the Bishopgate jewel case (BISH)[3].

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes [10/14/1892]

[03/20/1888W] A Scandal in Bohemia (SCAN) [07/1891]

12.Internal references indicate Watson was married before he wed Mary Morstan following SIGN (1MAR)[4].

13....of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder...(TREP).

14....the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee...(ATKI).

15....finally, the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland (HOLL).

16.When Mrs. Turner (not Hudson!) has brought in the tray...(TURN)[5].

17.In the case of the Darlington substitution scandal, it was of use to me...(DARL).

18....and also in the Arnsworth castle business (ARNS).

[04/27/1890W] The Red-Headed League (REDH) [08/1891]

19.We (John Clay and I) have had some skirmishes but we had never set eyes on each other before (CLAY).

[10/09/1889] A Case of Identity (IDEN) [09/1891]

20.This is the Dundas separation case...(DUND).

see #15... it (the ring) was from the reigning family of Holland... (HOLL).

21.... save for one rather intricate matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles... (MARS).

22....from Mrs. Etherege, whose husband you found so easy when … had given him up for dead (ETHE).

[06/27/1889] The Boscombe Valley Mystery (BOSC) [10/1891]

[09/1887W] The Five Orange Pips (FIVE) [11/1891]

23.... the adventure of the Paradol Chamber...(PARA).

24.... the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse...(AMAT).

25.... the facts connected with the disappearance of the British barque Sophy Anderson... (SOPH).

26.... the singular adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa... (GRIC).

27.... and, finally, the Camberwell poisoning case (CAMB).

28.I heard from Major Prendergast how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal (TANK).

29-32.I have been beaten four times – three times by men and once by a woman (BTN1, BTN2, BTN3, BTNW)[6].

[06/1889W] The Man with the Twisted Lip (TWIS)[7] [12/1891]

33....the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have vengeance upon me...(LASC).

[12/27/1889] The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle (BLUE) [01/1892]

[04/1883W] The Adventure of the Speckled Band (SPEC) [02/1892]

34.... Mrs. Farintosh...an opal Tiara (OPAL).

[08-09/1889] The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb (ENGR) [03/1892]

35....and that of Colonel Warburton's madness (WARB).

[10/1888] The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor (NOBL) [04/1892]

36....letters... from a fishmonger...(FISH).

37....letters...a tide-waiter…(TIDE)..

38....Lord Backwater tells me...(BACK)[8].

39....the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture van (GROS).

40.My last client of the sort was a king. ... The King of Scandinavia (KING).

[02/19/1886] The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet (BERY) [05/1892]

[04/07/1890] The Adventure of the Copper Beeches (COPP) [06/1892]

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes [12/13/1893]

[07/12/1888] Silver Blaze (SILV) [12/1892]

[08/10/1888] The Cardboard Box (CARD) [01/1893]

41.... something like Aldridge, who helped us in the bogus laundry affair (BOGU).

[04/1888] The Yellow Face (YELL) [02/1893]

42.…The (first) affair of the second stain… (SEC1) [NOTE! Details differ from SECO].

[06/1889] The Stockbroker’s Clerk (STOC) [03/1893]

[07/1874] The “Gloria Scott” (GLOR) [02/1893]

[10/02/1879] The Musgrave Ritual (MUSG) [05/1893]

43.... the Tarleton murders...(TARL).

44.... the case of Vamberry, the wine merchant...(VAMB).

45.... the adventure of the old Russian woman...(RUSS).

46.... the singular affair of the aluminum crutch…(ALUM).

47.... a full account of Ricoletti of the club foot and his abominable wife (RICO).

48-49.… cases … through… old fellow students. The third of these was that of The Musgrave Ritual (STU1, STU2)[9].

[04/14/1887W] The Reigate Squires (REIG) [06/1893]

50.The whole question of the Netherland-Sumatra Company and of the colossal schemes of Baron Maupertuis... (NETH).

[06/25/1889] The Crooked Man (CROO) [07/1893]

[10/1881W] The Resident Patient (RESI) [08/1893]

51.“And the catalepsy!” … “It is a very easy complaint to imitate. I have done it myself.”(CATA)[10].

[08/15/1888] The Greek Interpreter (GREE) [09/1893]

52....I expected to see you round last week to consult me over that Manor House case (MANO).

53-55.Some(?) of my most interesting cases have come to me this way through Mycroft. (MYC1, MYC2, MYC3)[11].

[07/1889W] The Naval Treaty (NAVA) [10/1893]

see #42.The (First?) Adventure of the Second Stain, that occurred in July 1889, may quite easily be the same as that cited (02/1893) in YELL (SEC1) but it is NOT the story told in SECO.

56....the Adventure of the Tired Captain (TIRE).

57.If it [this paper] turns red, it means a man's life. ...a very commonplace little murder (INDI).

[04/24/1891W] The Final Problem (FINA) [12/1893]

58....I saw in the papers that he had been engaged by the French Government upon a matter of supreme importance... (FREN).

59.... recent cases in which I have been of assistance to the Royal Family of Scandinavia...(ROYA)[12].

[09/1889W]The Hound of the Baskervilles (HOUN) [08/1901]

60....I was exceedingly preoccupied by that little affair of the Vatican cameos...(VATI).

61.Ah, Wilson, I see you have not forgotten the little case in which I had the good fortune to help you (MESS).

62.At the present instant, one of the most revered names in England is being besmirched by a blackmailer, and only I can stop a disastrous scandal (BLAM).

63....he had exposed the atrocious conduct of Colonel Upwood in connection with the famous card scandal at the Nonpareil Club... (NONP).

64....he had defended the unfortunate Mme. Montpensier from the charge of murder that hung over her in connection with the death of her stepdaughter... (MMEN).

The Return of Sherlock Holmes [03/07/1905]

[03/30/1894W] The Adventure of the Empty House (EMPT) [10/1903]

65.I traveled for two years in Tibet, therefore, and amused myself by visiting Lhasa... (as) a Norwegian named Sigerson... (TIBE).

66.I then passed through Persia... (PERS).

67....looked in at Mecca... (MECC).

68....and paid a short but interesting visit to the Khalifa at Khartoum... (KHAL).

69Returning to France, I spent some months...in a laboratory at Montpelier... (MONT).

70.... and Mathews, who knocked out my left canine in the waiting room at Charing Cross... (MATH).

71....of the death of Mrs. Stewart, of Lauder, in 1887 (STEW).

[07/02/1894] The Adventure of the Norwood Builder (NORW) [11/1903]

72....the case of the papers of ex-President Murillo... (MURI).

73....the shocking affair of the Dutch steamship, Friesland, which so nearly cost us both our lives (FRIE).

74.…that terrible murderer, Bert Stevens, who wanted us to get him off in ’87 (STEV).

[07/1898] The Adventure of the Dancing Men (DANC) [12/1903]

[04/23/1895W] The Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist (SOLI) [01/1904]

75....the peculiar persecution to which John Vincent Harden, the well-known tobacco millionaire, had been subjected (HARD).

76....it was near there (Farnham) that we took Archie Stamford, the forger (STAM).

[05/1901] The Adventure of the Priory School (PRIO) [02/1904]

77.I am retained in the case of the Ferrers documents... (FERR).

78....and the Abergavenny murder is coming up to trial (ABEG).

[07/1895W] The Adventure of Black Peter (BLAC) [03/1894]

79....his famous investigation of the sudden death of Cardinal Tosca... (TOSC).

80....down to his arrest of Wilson, the notorious canary-trainer... (WILS).

[01/1899] The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (CHAS) [04/1904]

[06/11/1900] The Adventure of the Six Napoleons (SIXN) [05/1904]

81....the dreadful business of the Abernetty family… the depth the parsley had sunk into the butter... (ABEN).

82....and get out the papers of the Conk-Singleton forgery case (CONK).

[03/27/1895] The Adventure of the Three Students (3STU) [06/1904]

83....Holmes was pursuing some laborious researches in Early English charters... (CHAR).

[Late 11/1894W] The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez (GOLD) [07/1904]

84....I see my notes upon the repulsive story of the red leech...(REDL)[13].

85....and the terrible death of Crosby, the banker...(CROS).

86.Here also I find an account of the Addleton tragedy… (ADDL)[14].

87.…and the singular contents of the ancient British barrow.(BARR).

88.The famous Smith-Mortimer succession case... (SMIT).

89....the tracking and arrest of Huret, the boulevard assassin... (BOUL).

[12/1896W] The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter (MISS) [08/1904]

90.... and there was Henry Staunton, whom I helped to hang (STAU).

[02-03/1897W] The Adventure of the Abbey Grange (ABBE) [09/1904]

91-94.Hopkins has called me in seven times, and on each occasion his summons has been entirely justified... [GOLD, BLAC and MISS are three], the other four are (HOP1, HOP2, HOP3, HOP4).

[07/1894] The Adventure of the Second Stain (SECO)[15] [12/1904]

95....the woman at Margate... No powder on her nose...(MARG).

His Last Bow [10/22/1917]

[01/07/1888] The Valley of Fear (VALL) [09/1914]

96-97.…Inspector MacDonald… Twice already had Holmes helped him… (MAC1, MAC2).

[03/1892W[16])] The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge (WIST) [09/1908]

98....you know how bored I have been since we locked up Colonel Carruthers (CARR).

[09/1902] The Adventure of the Red Circle (REDC) [03/1911]

99.You arranged an affair for a lodger of mine last year ... Mr. Fairdale Hobbs (HOBB).

[11/1895W] The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans (BRUC) [12/1908]

100.Suppose that I were Brooks... (BROO).

101....or Woodhouse, or any of the fifty men who have good reason for taking my life...(WOOD).

[11/1890W] The Adventure of the Dying Detective (DYIN) [12/1913]

[07/1901] The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (LADY) [12/1911]

102....I cannot possibly leave London while old Abrahams is in such mortal terror of his life (ABRA).

[03/1897W] The Adventure of the Devil's Foot (DEVI) [12/1910]

103....Dr. Moore Agar, of Harley Street, whose dramatic introduction to Holmes... (AGAR).

[08/02/1914W] His last Bow (LAST) [09/1917]

104.…I started my pilgrimage at Chicago… (CHIC).

105.…graduated in an Irish secret society at Buffalo… (IRIS).

106.…gave serious trouble to the constabulary at Skibbareen… (SKIB).

107.It was I also who saved from murder by the Nihilist Klopman, Count Von und Zu Grafenstein... (GRAF).

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes [06/16/1927]

[09/03/1902W] The Adventure of the Illustrious Client (ILLU) [02/1925]

[01/1903H] The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier (BLAN) [11/1926]

108.…Watson had at that time Deserted me for a wife… (3MAR)[17].

  1. …the Abbey School in which the Duke of Greyminster was so deeply involved (GREY)[18].
  2. I also had a commission from the Sultan of Turkey which required immediate action... (SULT).
  3. I was once able to do him a professional service… His name is Sir James Saunders (SIRJ).

[07/1903] The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (MAZA) [10/1921]

112.Old Baron Dowson said the night before he was hanged that in my case what the law had gained the stage had lost (DOWS).

113. … facts as to the death of old Mrs. Harold, who left you (Count Sylvius) the Blymer estate… (HARO).

114. …the compete life history of Miss Minnie Warrender. (WARR).

115.…the robbery in the train de-luxe to the Riviera on February 13, 1892. (TRAI).

[05/1902] The Adventure of the Three Gables (3GAB) [10/1920]

116.I believe that my late husband, Mortimer Maberly, was one of your early clients (MABE).

[11/19/1896W] The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (SUSS) [01/1924]

117.Matilda Briggs was...a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra... (GRAT).

118.Victor Lynch, the forger. (LYNC).

119.Venomous lizard, or Gila. Remarkable case that! (GILA)!

[06/1902W] The Adventure of the Three Garridebs (3GAR) [01/1925]

120....Holmes refused a knighthood for services which may, someday, be described. (SERV).

[10/1901] The Problem of Thor Bridge (THOR) [02/1922]

121....is that of Mr. James Phillimore who, stepping back into his own house to get his umbrella, was never more seen in this world (PHIL).

122....the cutter Alicia, which sailed one spring morning into a patch of mist… (ALIC).

123....is that of Isadora Persano, the well-known journalist and duelist... a remarkable worm... (ISAD).

[09/06/1903W] The Adventure of the Creeping Man (CREE) [03/1923]

[07/1907H] The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane (LION) [12/1926]

[10/1896] The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger (VEIL) [02/1927]

124....the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse and the trained cormorant... (POLI).

[1902] The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (SHOS) [04/1927]

125.Since I ran down that coiner by the zinc and copper filings in the seam of his cuff... (COIN).

[08/1898] The Adventure of the Retired Colourman (RETI) [01/1927]

126....I am preoccupied with this case of the two Coptic Patriarchs… (2COP).

The second category of items that are often included in lists of Untold Tales is that of events or persons cited from Holmes’s commonplace books or other reference works. These almost surely do not represent case references, but rather are clearly items from Holmes’s files and not from his personal experience. The following are included only because pastiches have been written or suggested about them:

[03/30/1894W] The Adventure of the Empty House (EMPT) [10/1903]

127....Morgan the poisoner... (MORG)[19].

128....Merridew of abominable memory... (MERR)[20].

[12/1896W] The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter (MISS) [08/1904]

129.There is Arthur H. Staunton, the rising young forger... (FORG)[21].

[09/03/1902W] The Adventure of the Illustrious Client (ILLU) [02/1925]

130. … negotiations with Sir George Lewis over the Hammerford Will case. (HAMM)[22].

131.My old friend (not likely met) Charlie Peace was a violin virtuoso (hanged 02/25/1879) (PEAC)[23].

132. Wainwright (Thomas Griffiths Wainwright, died 1852, a real-life criminal) was no mean artist (WAIN)[24].

[11/19/1896W] The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire (SUSS) [01/1924]

133.Vittoria the circus belle (VITT)[25].

134.Vanderbilt and the Yeggman (VAND)[26].

135.Vigor, the Hammersmith wonder (VIGO)[27].

A third category of Untold Tales is that of citations in the Canon of cases explicitly attributed to other investigators. Several of these must be included because Sherlockian pastiches have been written about them.

[09/1902] The Adventure of the Red Circle (REDC) [03/1911]

136.The hero of the Long Island cave mystery [Mr. Leverton of Pinkerton's] (LONG)[28].

The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place (SHOS)

137.... in the St. Pancras case, you may remember that a cap was found beside the dead policeman... [“Is this your case? No, my friend, Merivale of the Yard, asked me to look into the case”(consultation)] (PANC)[29].