The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes

Chapter 16 Research on Scarlet Characters (15)
"That's how Enoch Drebber died. The next thing I'm going to do is to do the same to Stangerson, so I can avenge John Ferrier. I know Stangerson was at the Halliday Hotel. I wandered about the hotel all day, but I never saw him. I think it must be that the absence of Drebber made him feel that something was wrong. Stan Jiexun is really cunning, he has always been very careful. But if he thinks that he can escape from me as long as he stays in the room, then he is very wrong. Soon, I will find out The window of the bedroom where he lived. The next morning, I used a ladder in the alley outside the hotel, and took advantage of the early morning twilight to climb into his room. I woke him up and said to him, He killed someone a long time ago, and now it's time for him to pay. I told him about the circumstances of Dreb's death and asked him to take a pill as well. He didn't want to accept the chance I gave him to live, but directly Jumped out of bed and stabbed my throat with a knife. In self-defense, I stabbed him in the heart. No matter what method was used, the result was the same, because God would never let him The one who picked out the non-toxic pill with his hand.

"I've got a few more things to say, and I'll be fine when I'm done, because I'm dying too. I drove the carriage for a day or two afterwards, because I wanted to work harder and save up enough money to go back to America. Go. When I was parked in the square that day, a shabby boy asked if there was a coachman called Jefferson Hope. He said there was a gentleman at 221B Baker Street who wanted to hire him. Car. I followed without a doubt. All I knew afterward was that the young man handcuffed both my hands with such ease and cleanliness as I had never seen before. I have. Gentlemen, that is all I have experienced. You may consider me a murderer, but I myself consider myself, like you, a judge of law."

His story was so thrilling, and his manner so impressive, that we all listened quietly, even the two seasoned professional detectives listened with relish.When he had finished we all sat there in silence for a long time, broken only by the rustle of a pencil on the paper as Lestrade wrote down the last lines of his shorthand confession.

Holmes said at last: "There is one more thing I wish to confirm. Who is that accomplice of yours who came to collect the ring after I advertised?"

The criminal winked mischievously at my friend and said: "I can only confess my own secret, but I don't want to implicate others. After I saw your advertisement, I also thought that this may be a trap, but it may also be It was exactly the ring I wanted. My friend volunteered to give me a look at it. I think you will admit that he did a very good job of it."

"Not at all," said Holmes honestly.

At this time, the police officer said sharply: "Then, gentlemen, the legal procedures must be followed. This Thursday, this criminal will be submitted to the court for trial, and gentlemen will be present at that time. Before the trial, I will take charge of him." The bell rang, and Jefferson Hope was led away by two guards.My friend and I also left the police station, and drove back to Baker Street in a carriage.

We have all been given advance notice to appear in court this Thursday.But when Thursday came, there was no longer any need for us to testify.A higher judge had taken up the case, and Jefferson Hope had been summoned to another court, where he had a fair trial.It turned out that on the night of his arrest, his aneurysm burst.He was found dead on the prison floor the next morning.There was a satisfied and peaceful smile on his face, as if when he was dying, he was not wasting in looking back on the past years, and the great cause of revenge had been fulfilled as he wished.

The next evening, when we chatted about the matter, Holmes said: "Gleason and Lestrade must be mad with rage at the knowledge that this man is dead. It would be the end of their boasting." ?"

I replied, "I don't see what the two of them have done to catch the murderer."

My partner said bitterly: "It doesn't matter what you do in this world. What matters is how you can be believed to have done something." After a pause, he relaxed again. Say, "That's all right. Anyway, I'm not going to let this case go. I don't think I've ever had a better case than this one. It's simple, but there are a few things worth mentioning." I thought it was a warning."

"Simple?!" I couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Yes, it is indeed simple. It is difficult to describe it in other words," said Sherlock Holmes.Seeing the surprised expression on my face, he smiled unconsciously, "You think, without anyone's help, just after some ordinary reasoning, I actually caught this criminal within three days, which proves the case." It's actually very simple."

I said, "That's true."

"I have already told you that anything unusual is generally not an obstacle, but a clue. When solving this kind of problem, the most important thing is to be able to use the method of reasoning, reasoning backward layer by layer It is a very useful and easy skill, but people do not use it often in practice. In daily life, the method of reasoning forward is very useful, so people tend to ignore the method of reasoning backward. method. If there are fifty people who can reason comprehensively from all aspects of the matter, then it is only a few people who can use analytical methods to reason.”

I said, "To be honest, I don't quite understand what you mean."

"I don't expect you to be able to figure it out either. Let me try and see if I can make it clearer. Most people are like that, if you show them a series of facts, they will The possible results tell you that they can connect this series of facts in their minds, and through thinking, they can come up with a so-called result. However, there are a small number of people, if you tell them the result, they will They are able to deduce, through their inner consciousness, the steps leading to this result. This is the faculty I mean when I say 'retrograde reasoning' or 'method of analysis'."

I said, "I see."

"Now this case is an example of the fact that you only know the outcome, and everything else must be discovered by you. Well, now let me explain to you as best I can the various steps of my reasoning in this case. I Start at the beginning. As you know, I went to the house on foot. At the time, I had no preconceived notions about the case. Naturally, I would begin by examining the street, as I have already explained to you. As I had done before, I could clearly see the track of a wagon wheel on the street. After researching, I was sure that this track must have been left at night. Since the distance between the wheels is narrow, I It was concluded that it was a hired carriage rather than a private carriage, because the usual rented carriages in London have narrower wheel distances than private carriages.

"That was the first observation I made. Then I walked slowly to the path in the garden. It happened that this path was a clay path, and it was especially easy to leave marks on it. There is no doubt that , to you, this path is nothing more than a muddy road that has been trampled in a mess. But, to my trained eyes, every trace on the path has its meaning. In detective science, there is no art more important and most easily overlooked than footprint science. Fortunately, I have always attached great importance to this science. After many times of practice, it has become my second Naturally. I saw the heavy boots of the policemen, but I also saw the footprints of the two men who first passed the garden. Their footprints preceded those of the others, which is easily explained. For It can be seen in some places that their footprints have been trampled by the footprints of those who came after them, and have almost completely disappeared. Thus my second link is formed. This link tells me that there are two night visitors, one is very tall. , which I deduced from the length of his stride;

"As soon as I entered the house, the inference was confirmed. The gentleman in the fine boots lay in front of me. If this was a murder, then the tall man was the murderer. There were no wounds on the dead body, but from The tense and excited expression on his face convinced me that before he died, he had foreseen his fate. If it was due to a heart attack, or other sudden natural death, in any case, There would never have been such agitated expressions on their faces. I sniffed the dead man's lips and smelled a little acid, so I concluded that he was forced to take poison to die. His There was still that look of resentment and fear on his face, so I said he was forced. I used this method to eliminate all unreasonable assumptions, and finally came to this conclusion, because no other assumptions can be compared with these The facts match. Do not think that this is an unheard of high-level theory. The record of forced drug use in the criminal annals is by no means news. Any toxicologist will immediately think of the Dolsky case in Odessa and Mao The case of Retourier of Mpellier.

"Now comes the big question of 'why'. The purpose of the murder was not to rob, because nothing was missing from the dead man. Is this a political case, then, or is it a love affair? That is The problem I faced at the time. I was more inclined to the latter. Because in a political assassination, the murderer must run away immediately after he succeeds. But in this murder case, it was the opposite. The murderer did it very calmly and was still everywhere in the house. Leave his footprints. That means he was there the whole time. Therefore, it must be a vendetta, not a political one. Only a vendetta requires such deliberate revenge. When the wall After the blood inscription on the ring was discovered, I became more convinced of my own opinion. This is a clue left on purpose, and you can tell it at a glance. After the ring is found, the mystery will be confirmed. Obviously, the murderer used The ring reminded the victim of some dead or absent woman. I asked Gregson about this, and asked if he had asked about Drebber's past in his telegram to Cleveland. There have been any outstanding issues in. As you may recall, he replied that Drebber had no problems.

"After that, I began to conduct a careful inspection of the room. The results of the inspection confirmed that the murderer was a tall man, and also found some other details, such as Indian cigars, the murderer's long nails, etc. There was no evidence in the house. There was no sign of a scuffle, so I came to the conclusion that the blood on the floor was the murderer's nosebleed when he was agitated. I found that wherever there was blood, there were his footprints. Unless it was a blood It is rare for vigorous people to bleed such a large amount of blood when they are emotional. Therefore, I boldly infer that this criminal may be a strong and red-faced man. Later, the facts proved that my judgment was correct.

"After leaving the house, I went to do what Grayson had neglected. I sent a cable to the Cleveland Police Chief, asking only about Enoch Dreb's marriage. The call back was clear. It said, Drew Bo had accused and appealed for legal protection of an old rival named Jefferson Hope, who is now in Europe. I knew it then, and I had a lead in this secret case. All that remains to be done The only way is to catch the murderer firmly.

"At that time, I had already decided in my mind that it was none other than the carriage driver who entered that room with Drebber.

"Because I can see from some traces on the street that the horses pulling the carts have moved casually. If someone has been driving, this situation is impossible. If the driver is not in this house, then he can come again. Where? And one more thing, it is ridiculous that a sane man should commit a long-planned crime in this way in the presence of a third party who is sure to reveal his secret. Lastly, Is there any better way for a man to follow another man about London than to be a coachman? After all these considerations I have come to this inevitable conclusion: Jefferson . Hope, this man, had to be found among the cabbies in the capital.

"If he had been a coachman, there is no reason to believe that he would quit. On the contrary, from his point of view, a sudden change of work is more likely to attract attention to him, so he must be at least for a while. It is also unreasonable to think that he is now using a pseudonym. Why would he change his name in a country where no one knows his real name? So, I I formed a scouting company of street urchins, and sent them out to every coachyard in the City of London until they found the man I was looking for. They did a good job, I The use of this team is so quick and convenient, you remember all these clearly? As for the murder of Stangerson, it is indeed something I did not expect at all. However, these accidents, no matter what the circumstances It's hard to avoid it. You already know that in this case, I found two pills. I've figured out that there must be such a thing. You see, the whole case is a line of logic. In an unbroken chain that goes back and forth."

"It's wonderful!" I couldn't help exclaiming. "Your skills should be published, so that everyone can know. You should publish the process of solving this case. If you don't want to, I will publish it for you. "

"Do what you like, doctor," he replied, "and look at this!" He handed me a newspaper as he spoke, "look at this!"

Here is a copy of today's Les Echos, and the passage he refers to reports the case of which we are speaking.

The newspaper said: Because of the sudden death of Hope, people in society have one less important event worth talking about.Hope was a suspect in the murders of Mr. Enoch Drebber and Mr. Joseph Stangerson.Although we have heard from the relevant authorities that this is a long-standing criminal case of sexual strife involving issues of love and Mormonism.But the real inside story of this case may never be revealed now.It is reported that both victims were Mormons when they were young.The deceased prisoner Hou Bo was also from Salt Lake City.If the detection of this case has no other special significance, at least it can very prominently illustrate the speed with which the police detectives solve the case, and it is enough to make all foreigners take warning.It would be better for them to settle their disputes in their own country than to bring them to British soil.It was an open secret that the credit for the swiftness of the case was entirely due to Messrs. Lestrade and Gleeson, eminent officers of Scotland Yard.It is reported that the murderer was arrested at the home of a Mr. Sherlock Holmes.As a private detective, Sherlock Holmes has also shown a certain talent in investigating cases. Under the guidance of these two mentors, he will soon be able to achieve certain achievements.It is expected that the two officials will receive some kind of award, as a recognition of their performance and so on.

Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Did I tell you that from the beginning? Here is the result of our study of the Scarlet Letters: earn them a compliment!"

I replied, "Never mind, the whole facts are in my notebook, and the truth will come to light. You should be satisfied that the case has been solved. As the Roman miser said:

"It's up to you to laugh and scold, and I will do it myself; I have a million treasures in my family, and I am the only one who rewards them." '"

(End of this chapter)