Suddenly I realized that I
was afraid of seeing him
again, and my worry
returned, stronger than
ever. Was he the killer or
not? I had to know the
truth - and quickly. To
help me think clearly, I
wrote down what I knew.
Is Sherlock Holmes the
Whitechapel murderer?
The arguments for:
1 He was in Whitechapel on the nights of the
murders, and alone at the right times.
2 When he was out of London or I was with him, there
were no murders.
3 He can change his appearance easily.
4 He studied medicine. He could easily cut up a
body in the dark.
5 He knows the lanes and yards of Whitechapel well.
6 He can escape from the police because he knows
their plans - indeed, he makes their plans.
The arguments against:
1 He spends his life fighting crime.
2 I know my friend. I know he could not do these
things.
When I read what I had written, I began to wonder
how well I knew Holmes. Did he really fight against
crime? He took cases because they interested him,
not because he hated crime. It was all just a game
to him. He fought crime to amuse himself. It was now
late at night. I was terribly tired, but I knew that I had
to decide what to do before Holmes came back.
Suddenly, as I lay back in my chair, half-asleep, the
terrible picture of Holmes cutting up that girl's body
appeared again before my eyes. Then, finally, I
knew. It was not what I had seen him do, but how he
had done it. That look of cool amusement on his
face. The way he sang as he worked. The man who
could do that could do anything.
Next day I packed my bags and moved into a hotel.
That evening I asked Mary to have dinner with me. I
told her that I could not sleep while she lived alone in
London and the Whitechapel murderer was free to
kill again. I asked her to marry me sooner than we
had planned. She laughed and said she was not
afraid of the murderer. He never killed women like
her. But she would marry me as soon as possible, she
said, because I looked so worried and unhappy.
Then I wrote a letter to Holmes.
'I am sorry that I cannot welcome you home,' I wrote,
'but I have a reason for that, the best reason in the
world. Mary and I are married. She was badly
frightened by those awful murders in Whitechapel
and will feel safer now that I am by her side.
'It is wonderful to hear from you that Professor
Moriarty is dead. Of course I look forward to hearing
the full story of his death from you.
'Mary and I are spending a little time travelling.
Please write to me at my London club.'
Several days later, Mary and I were married, and we
left London. In a quiet little town by the sea, with
Mary by my side, I felt strong enough to face the
awful truth about Holmes, and to think about what I
had to do. I could not go to the police with my story.
They would think that I was mad. I decided that I
would have to watch Holmes carefully. Only I could
stop him killing again.