The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-02-08
TIE ORIGINAL SHERLOCK nolMrs.
he spoaIss Of the signiaoAnos o. tribes In
Detective Work.

Ne spoalsa Of the signiacancs % tribes In
Detective Work.
Sherlock HOLMES, the detective who hg-
urCs boz many Of Conan Doyle's short stories
8 probably one Of the most popular oharac-
ters in cnutemporaneous fiction. u will
therefore interest the reading public 90
know that this fascinating character was
drawn from life md that the original still
lives Ills name Is DR.. Joseph Bell aud he
is "a lecturer on medical Jurisprudence no
Edinburgh university, where Conan Doyle
was once one ~ his students
Ia discussing his own career with Pail
Mall Budget reporter recently Dr. Bell said.
For 20 ycars or more have bern engaged
IN the practice u medical Jurisprudence on
behalf Of the crown. but there n little can
tell you about IL, Tor, after all, any deduc-
tons and differences and 10 on which
have been the means Of placing at the dis
posnl II the authorities are simple and COM
monplace
1.-THE only credit an take TO myself Is
that appertaining 10 the circumstance that
l always impressed over and over again
upon all my scholars-Conan Doyle among
them-the vast importance Of little distinc-
tiOna, the endless significance Of the tribes.
The great majority Of people. Of incidents
and Of cases resemb BILE each other in the main
and larger features. For instance, most
men have head, two arms, "A nose.
mouth and "a certain number Of teeth. It
is the little differences, in themselves trihes,
such as the droop of an eyelid or what not,
which differentiate men"
"Will you give me an instance Of the
manner in which you note these all inn
portant trifiesW
"This one struck me az funny at the
time. A man walked into the room where
| was instructing the students, and his case
seemed to be very simple one. / was talk
ing about what was wrong with him. OF
course, gentlemen happened TO say, he
has been a soldier In a highland regiment
and probably "a bandsman.' l pointed out
the swagger in his walk, suggestive OF the
piper, while his shortness told me that IL
be had been a soldier il was probably AS a
bandsman. In fact, he had the whole ap-
pearance Of n man In one OF the highland
regiments. The man turned out TO be moth
ing but a shoemaker and said he had never
been in the army in his life. This was
rather a floorer, but being absolutely Ger
tain was right and seeing that something
was up / did "a pretty cool thing. | told
two of the strongest clerks, or dressers, TO
remove the man to "a side room. went and
had him stripped, and under the left breast
! instantly detected little blue ID brand
ed on his skin. He was a deserter OF
course the reason OF his evasion was at once
clear
II always regarded Conan Doyle as one
OF the best students / ever had. He was
exceedingly interested always in anything
connected with diagnosis and was never
tired Of trying TO discover all those little de-
tails which one looks for. | recollect he
was amused once when patient walked in
and sat down.
Good morning. Pat said for II was
impossible not to see that he was an Irish
man. Good morning, your honor, replied
the patient. Did you like your walk over
the links today as you came In from the
south side Of the tOwnP / asked. Yes.
said Pat. Did your honor see mer Well,
Conan Doyle could not see how / knew
that, absurdly simple as it was. On a
showery day, such as that had been, the
reddish clay at bare parts Of the links ad-