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1We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes
2and ran in this way: "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the west of England in
3connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave
4Paddington by the 11:15." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Will you go?" "I really don't
5know what to say. I have a fairly long list at present." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been
6looking a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and you are always so interested in Mr.
7Sherlock Holmes' cases." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through one of them," I answered.
8"But if I am to go, I must pack at once, for I have only half an hour." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at
9least had the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and simple, so that in less than the
10time stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Holmes was pacing up and down
11the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey travelling-cloak and close-fitting
12cloth cap. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It makes a considerable difference to me, having
13someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else biassed. If you will keep
14the two corner seats I shall get the tickets." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers
15which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation,
16until we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.
17"Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "The London press
18has not had very full accounts. I have just been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
19particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "That
20sounds a little paradoxical." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless
21and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they have established a
22very serious case against the son of the murdered man." "It is a murder, then?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I
23shall take nothing for granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it. I will explain the state of
24things to you, as far as I have been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Boscombe Valley is a country district
25not very far from Ross, in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Mr. John Turner, who made his
26money in Australia and returned some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he held, that of Hatherley,
27was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it
28was not unnatural that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. Turner was
29apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect equality,
30as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same
31age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have avoided the society of the neighbouring English families
32and to have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently seen at the
33race-meetings of the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household,
34some half-dozen at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the families. Now for the facts. "On
35June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to
36the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley.
37He had been out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry, as he had an
38appointment of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came back alive. "From Hatherley Farmhouse to
39the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One was an old woman,
40whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both these
41witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.
42McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his
43belief, the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no more of the matter
44until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William
45Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and
46of reeds round the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe
47Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of
48the wood and close by the lake, Mr. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She
49heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his hand as if to
50strike his father. She was so frightened by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached home
51that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to
52fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came running up to the lodge to say that he had found his
53father dead in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without either his gun or his
54hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On following him they found the dead
55body stretched out upon the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of some heavy and blunt
56weapon. The injuries were such as might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was found
57lying on the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a
58verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the
59magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came
60out before the coroner and the police-court." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If ever
61circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,"
62answered Holmes thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view
63a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different. It must be
64confessed, however, that the case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is
65indeed the culprit. There are several people in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of
66the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect in
67connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred
68the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of
69quietly digesting their breakfasts at home." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you will find
70little credit to be gained out of this case."
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