The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1891-10-18
@ BoSCOMBB VALLEY MYSTERY.
An Exciting Tale Of Detective .Adven-
ture by a Private Citizen.
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.


BY A. CONAN DOYLE
c,,,,,so, 1891 By A. Conan poyis. An rights reserved
u. ware seated at breakfast ons morning
~ vi,e and I. when the maid brought In {
.sl.sram. 1t was from Sherlock Holmes. and
ran In this way:
ina been wired for from tho West OF England
4 rnnection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.
anal be glad II you will come with me. Air
ssd scenery perfect Leave Paddinston By
the 11:15.'
looking across ut me. VIII you COR
~ really don't know what to say. 1havs q
fairly long list at present" ,.s,
.nh Anstruther would do your work foz
90, Won have been looking . little pale
;.ts,v think that the change would do you
sood. aud you ore always 30 Interested IN M.
sherlock Holiness cases" r.
Vt should DO ungrateful II were not, seeing
vhot gained through one Of them." an-
.vsred. But II anu to 60 must pack at
once, for I have only half an hour"
Nvexperenco Of camp life In Afghanistan
hsd NJ least had the effect Of making me q
,,ompt and ready traveller. My wants wero
xand simple. 80 that In less than the time
.tated WAS in cab with my valise. rafting
.xay TO Paddington station. Sherlock Holmes
VA, pacing up and down the platform. his tall.
s,rnt figure made even gaunter and taller By
is long gray travelling cloak and close-nt-
ting cloth cap.
1T is really very good Of You to come. Wst-
son." said he. 1T makes . considerable
difference to me. having some one with
mo on whom I can thoroughly rely. Local
mid IA always either worthless or else biassed.
II you will keep the two cornor seats shall
get tho tickets"
We had tho carriage to ourselves. save for an
immense litter Of papers which Holmes had
brought with him. Among these he rummaged
and read. with intervals Of note-taking and Of
meditation. until we were past Reading. Then
he suddenly rolled them all into Q gigantic
lal. and tossed them up on to the rack.
Have you heard anything Of the casef' no
asked.
Not word. have not seen paper for
soma days"
Tho London press has not had very full 40
counts have Just been looking through all
tho recent papers in order to master the par
ticulars. 1t seems. from what gather. to be
one Of those simple cases which are 80 ex-
tremely difficult"
That sounds little paradoxicaL"
But 1t is profoundly true. Slngularity 10
almost invariably clue. The moro feature
less and commonplace crime Is. the more dif-
lcut is it to bring it home In this case. how
ev,r. they have established worry serious case
assinstt as son of the murdered man"
Its murder. them"
: WE'LL It Is coniectured to be so. shall take
nothing for granted until have tho 0pportu-
nifty Of looking personally into. It ! will
explain the state Of things to you. a. far as
have bsenable to understand IL in Q very few
words -! - ~. y = :.
"Bosoombs Valley is . country district not
very far from Ross. In Herefordshirec The
largest landed proprietor In that part is Mr..
John Turner. who made his money In Aus
'tnlA and returned some years ago to the old
Of Hsthsrley. was let to Mr.. Charles Mccarthy.
who was also an ex-Australisn. The mon had
known each other in the colonies. 50 that 1t
was not unnatural that when they came
10 settle down they should do so as near
each other as possible. Turner was appar-
entity the richer man. so Mccarthy became
histenaht. hut still remained. It seems. upon
terms OF perfect equality. as they were fire.
qusntly together. Mccarthy had ono son.
lad Of eighteen. and Turner had an only daugh-
Ter Of the same age. but neither OF them had
wives living. They appear to have avoided
the society Of tho neighboring English famf-
lies. and to have led retired lives. though both
tho McCarthys were fond Of sport, and were
frequently seen at the race meetings Of the
nulghborhood. Mccarthy kept two servants
a man and girl. Turner had considerable
household. some half dozen at the least. That
bas much MS have been able to gather about
the families Now for the facts.
On June 3. that Is. on Monday last. Mo-
earthly left his house at Hatherley about in
the afternoon. and walked down to the Bos-
eombe Pool which Is small lake formed by
the spreading out OF the stream which runs
down the Boscombe Valley. He had been out
with his serving man in the morning at Ross,
and he had told the man that he must hurry.
Is be had an appointment Of importance to
keep at 8. From that appointment he never
une back alive.
From Hatherley farmhouse to the Bosoombe
Ppol Is quarter Of mile. and two people
NV him as he passed over this ground. Ono
vas an old woman. whose name Is not mem
toned. and the other was William Crowder.
nnekeeper In the employ Of Mr.. Turner.
nth these witnesses depose that Mr.. Mccarthy
vas walking alone. The gamekeeper adds
mat within few minutes OF his seeing Mr..
Heartily pass he had seen his son. Mr.. James
Heartily going the same way with q gun I'M
". his arm. To tho best Of his belief tho
a'asr was actually In sight at the time. and
1e son was following him. He thought no
more Of the matter until he heard In the even
asoi the tragedy that had occurred
The two McCarthys were seen after tho |
aasxhen William Crowder. the somekeeper
49, @ .isht Of them. The Boscombe Pool 10
asts wooded round. with just fringe Of
stassnd Of reeds round the edge. A girl OF |
%a,ssen. Patience Moran. WHO'S the daughter |
suuslodgekeeper Of the Boscombe Valley es- |
S~ses In one Of the woods picking flowers. |
~. ~ Hates that while she was there she saw. |
s ns border Of the wood and close by the lake.
~ AcCsthy and his son. and that they OPP
70 be having Q violent quarrel She
hr. Mccarthy tho elder using very
lug ss language to his son. and she sawths
ss a mise up his hand a. II to strike his
49, - Che was 30 frightened by their violence
NJ .sae nan away. and told her mother when
ScNaehed home that she had left tho two
,sS1ar quarrelling near Boscombe Pool.
bsasss. me was afraid that they were going
nsnt She had hardly said the words
~ung Mr. Mccarthy came running up
hSS lodge to say that he had found |