victorian221b | Tales of Criminals

While E. W. Hornung’s gentleman thief Raffles was inspired by Holmes, ACD himself penned a few short stories about burglars.

That Veteran (1882). A traveller meets a man who claims to be a veteran of the Crimean war and tells him about his various remarkable experiences until the traveller falls asleep. Upon waking up the traveller discovers that he was drugged and robbed, and the real war veteran was the owner of the tavern who had shared his tales many times before with other patrons.

Jelland’s Voyage (1892). Two clerks, Jelland and McEvoy, gambled away their means and then the money of their company. Jelland is the leader and McEvoy was “a good boy from the start, but he was clay in the hands of Jelland”. Afraid of being discovered by the manager, they steal the remains of the company’s money and flee.

The Recollections of Captain Wilkie (1895). A doctor who studied under a master of deduction and has a hobby of observing people meets on the train a former cracksman. The cracksman tells the doctor colourful stories of his past exploits and in the process steals the doctor’s valuables. Then, chagrined by the old habit, the cracksman returns everything.

The Man with the Watches (1898), also known as one of extra-canonical Holmes stories. Two partners in crime, an older leader and his younger accomplice, do a series of outrageous and clever scams all over the States. Just like Raffles, Sparrow MacCoy is very savvy about criminal affairs while Edward, just like Bunny, is a “spirited, most beautiful creature” with a “soft spot” about him, and he can’t resist MacCoy’s influence, even though Edward’s family try hard to separate them.

B-24 (1899). A man convicted for robbery and murder makes a statement according to which the lady of the house he broke into helped him with the theft, murdered her husband, and made it look like the culprit was the thief.

One Crowded Hour (1911). A man swindled by a bank owner commits a series of robberies on the road, taking valuables from two innocent parties first, and then from that bank owner. Later he explains that he did so to avoid suspicion and sends to the innocents their valuables via post.