The Severed Sherlock Holmes


 

Among the finest of the Sherlock Holmes short stories, The Adventure of the Cardboard Box was cut and mutilated almost as much as the two murder victims whose severed ears were discovered in the titular box.  Published in January of 1893 on both sides of the Atlantic the story, however, was omitted from the works collected in the first British edition The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, published later that year. Inexplicably, it was included in the US edition of the collection published in February of 1894 but omitted in the immediately following printings.

Why? Indeed, this is arguably the grisliest of the Sherlock Holmes stories and may have caused a bit of a stir upon its publication in both editions of The Strand and Harper’s Weekly. There is no evidence of this, however, and fearful may have taken out their scissors preemptively. It’s a pity in either case as the story is first rate Sherlock.


There may have been a change of heart or even a change of time and the story was included in later British editions of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and would finally appear in the States in 1917 in the Holmes collection His Last Bow.  

Of more interest is a cut made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself soon after the story’s omission in The Memoirs. An entire passage in which Holmes reads Watson’s mind before the core of the main story is introduced was cut form later journal printings. Why? The only explanation imaginable is that the mind reading concludes with the revelation that Dr. Watson is an admirer of American clergyman Henry Ward Beecher. There is ostensibly no shame in this as Beecher was an outspoken abolitionist and preacher of love amongst all people. But he was also involved in an infamous adultery trial in 1875 and, undoubtedly, Doyle wanted to shake off associations with that messy business.

Why, though, did Doyle include the reference to Beecher in the first place being well aware of the trial that tarnished Beecher’s life almost two decades before the publication of The Adventures of the Cardboard Box? The answer is made obvious by the narrative. It is classic foreshadowing. By the end of the story it is revealed that infidelity had perpetuated the violent tragedy. It is a classic devise used with masterfully here. However, when the publishers attracted more attention to the story’s brutality by omitting it from The Memoirs, Doyle likely took the precaution should another stigma attach itself. Fortunately, Doyle and his publishers had the good sense to reinstate the passage in later editions.

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