The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the second of the twelve "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" in most British editions of the canon, and second of the eight stories from "His Last Bow" in most American versions. The story was first published in the "Strand Magazine" in 1892.

ynopsis

Quite a stir is caused in Croydon when a 50-year-old spinster, Miss Susan Cushing, receives a parcel in the post which turns out to contain two severed human ears packed in coarse salt. The indefatigable though unimaginative Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard suspects a prank by three medical students whom Miss Cushing was forced to evict, owing to their unruly behaviour. The parcel was sent from Belfast, after all, and that was from where one of the former boarders had travelled. Holmes, however, upon examining the parcel himself, is convinced that they are dealing with a serious crime. A medical student with access to a dissection laboratory, Holmes points out, would likely use something other than plain salt to preserve human remains, and would be able to make a neater incision than the rough hack used on these ears. Also, the address itself, roughly written and with a spelling correction, suggests a certain unlearnedness about the sender, and that he is not familiar with Croydon. Even the knot in the string suggests to Holmes that they are looking for a sailing man.

It turns out to be quite an elementary case for Holmes, so much so that he asks Lestrade not to mention his name in connection with it. A few simple questions to Miss Cushing, a few observations, a cable to Liverpool, and a visit to Miss Cushing's sister (although she will not see him because she has "brain fever") convince Holmes that the ears belong to Miss Cushing's other sister and her extramarital lover. He is convinced, too, that the dead sister's husband is the murderer, and that, going by outdated information (as he had been out of contact for a while) he sent the cardboard box containing the ears to Miss Cushing's house in Croydon. Miss Cushing's other sister Sarah — the parcel was addressed "S. Cushing" — was apparently the intended recipient and also a former resident at her sister's, and the husband, Mr Jim Browner, a thoroughly unpleasant man, especially when drunk, had meant to horrify her instead. He blamed her for causing the trouble in his family that culminated in his murdering his wife and her lover.

Browner is indeed a sailor, and Belfast was the first port where he had the chance to post the parcel. Lestrade, acting on Holmes's information, is waiting to arrest him when his ship reaches London. He confesses everything. He is presented with considerable sympathy, a simple man so tormented by guilt at his act that he would welcome being hanged. The real villain of the story - morally if not legally - is clearly intended to be Sarah Cushing, who tried to seduce Browner herself and when he rejected her advances set out to wreck his marriage with her sister.

The story's place

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" was not published in the first British edition of "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes", but it was published in the first American edition, but it was quickly removed. The story was later published again in American editions of "His Last Bow", and put into British editions of the "Memoirs". Even today, most American editions of the canon include it with "His Last Bow", while most British editions keep the story in its original place, within the "Memoirs".

Due to this, the mind-reading trick of Holmes was transposed to "The Resident Patient". This passage in the beginning reveals Dr. Watson to be an avid admirer of Henry Ward Beecher, whose portrait he keeps at his home. The passage seems to have little to do with the mystery, mainly intended to let Holmes reach a new peak of his deductive powers, virtually reading Watson's thoughts. However, it might be considered an oblique hint dropped by Doyle for an observant reader - since Beecher was involved in a famous adultery trial, which would have easily come to the mind of reader at the time of publication.

The Granada TV adaptation with Jeremy Brett was faithful to the orginal, except in the story Browner kills his wife and her lover at sea; in the adaptation he kills them near a pond.

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