John Scott Eccles

John Scott Eccles was an English gentleman who was Sherlock Holmes' client in "The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge". He contacted Holmes after staying in a house where all the other occupants disappeared overnight, only to find out that he himself was a suspect in his host's murder.
=="The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge"==
Scott Eccles visits Holmes to ask him to investigate an unsettling experience he recently had. A man named Aloysius Garcia invited him spend the night in his house, Wisteria Lodge. However, Garcia seemed worried and distracted during dinner. Eccles awoke the next morning to find himself alone in the house. While Scott Eccles is recounting his story to Holmes, Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard and Inspector Baynes of the Surrey constabulary arrive to arrest him. Scott Eccles leaves with them, and is not seen for the rest of the story.
Holmes eventually realizes that Aloysius Garcia invited Scott Eccles over to serve as an alibi for his planned murder of Don Juan Murillo, an exiled Central American dictator who was living incognito nearby. Garcia had awakened Scott Eccles in the night and lied to him about the time, so that he could say he was at home at the time Murillo was to be killed. However, Murillo's secretary had discovered the plot and killed Garcia. Garcia's household staff were presumably accomplices in his mission, and when he did not return they fled, leaving Scott Eccles alone in the house.
==Description==
John Scott Eccles was almost a caricature of a respectable English gentleman. Watson describes him as "a stout, tall, gray-whiskered and solemnly respectable person... His life history was written in his heavy features and pompous manner. From his spats to his gold-rimmed spectacles he was a Conservative, a churchman, a good citizen, orthodox and conventional to the last degree." Holmes is less flattering, saying that he sees "no charm in the man", and notes that he is "not particularly intelligent... {However,} he is the very type of conventional British respectability, and the very man as a witness to impress another Briton."
Scott Eccles was a bachelor, but maintained a large circle of friends. He also disliked private detectives, and told Holmes as much almost as soon as they were introduced.
==Adaptations==
* Scott Eccles is portrayed by Donald Churchill in the 1988 Granada adaptation of "Wisteria Lodge".
* In the 1994 BBC Radio adaptation of the story by Bert Coules, he is voiced by David King.
de:John Scott Eccles
Category:British characters
Category:Characters: His Last Bow
Category:Clients