(The following is based upon a talk given by Alan Saunders at the
inaugural meeting of The Head Llamas in 1994. It was published in Issue 2 of our
newsletter, 'Llama Droppings')
"Matilda Briggs was not the name of a young woman, Watson,"
said Holmes in a reminiscent voice. "It was a ship which is associated
with the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet
prepared."
(The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire)
(The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire)
 |
| Grrr! |
The following points are the main features we must include in any
explanation of the case:
- Morrison, Morrison and Dodd - This is the legal firm whose letter regarding the Sussex Vampire reminded Holmes of the Sumatran rat in the first place. They are described as a company that specialises in the assessment of machinery. Most pastiches conveniently ignore them.
- The 'Matilda Briggs' - This
ship is obviously a key feature of the case. It should be noted that the
name of the ship is probably a Watson pseudonym; it is significant that
the daughter of the captain of the most famous mystery ship of all, the
'Marie Celeste' was called Sophia Matilda Briggs.
- Watson's non-involvement -
Holmes reminisces about the case to Watson, and the whole tone of the
reminiscence suggests that Watson knows nothing of the case up to this
point. If Watson was not involved we can date the case as occurring during
one of two periods; 1878-1880 which is before Holmes met Watson, or
c.1889-1891 when Watson was married and living away from Baker Street. The
second of these two periods is most likely, as the involvement of
Morrison, Morrison and Dodd suggests a more mature, more established
Holmes. Note Holmes' sly suggestion that Watson assumes Matilda Briggs was
a young woman. A nice touch from a man generally regarded as humourless.
- The giant rat of Sumatra -
In at least two pastiches, no rat appears at all; but in most of the
others some sort of fantastical creature is usually involved. However from
an Englishman's point of view, any rat larger than our own Black or Brown
rats could be considered to be a giant. We need not look for monstrous
creatures for nature has provided us with a perfect specimen: Rhizomys sumatrensis, the Great Sumatran Bamboo
Rat. The length of this creature, excluding the tail, is some nineteen
inches, which is twice the size of either the Black or Brown Rat; truly a
giant.
- The world not being prepared
- This feature is usually used to justify the more fantastical elements of
an account of the case - we, the reader and the world of today are not
prepared for the full details to be known. Holmes, however was speaking in
1896, the year of SUSS; the world of 1896 was not prepared. Perhaps we,
the modern world, are prepared and perhaps we have had the true facts of
the case under our noses the whole time, in of all places, another of
Watson's narratives; one which also has a Sumatran connection.
In DYIN Holmes fakes an obscure Asiatic disease and in doing so tricks
Culverton Smith into confessing to the murder of his nephew, Victor Savage, by
administration of the same disease. What disease was Holmes faking ? We are not
told its name directly, but we may be given it in the story. When Holmes is
trying to convince Watson of how little he knows of obscure diseases, he
mentions one called Tapanuli Fever. Tapanuli is an administrative district of
North West Sumatra, and Culverton Smith is a well-known planter from - Sumatra.
It is probably more than coincidence that Holmes mentions a disease from the
same area of the world that the man he is trying to trap comes from; Tapanuli
fever is almost certainly the disease Holmes is simulating.
Whilst in Sumatra, there was an outbreak of what we will call Tapanuli
Fever on Culverton Smith's plantation. Cut off from any medical assistance,
Smith studied the disease himself, with what Holmes describes as 'far reaching consequences'. What were these consequences?
Consider the following idea. Culverton Smith, an amateur expert in
disease, recognises the potential of the virulent, invariably fatal Tapanuli
Fever as a weapon of destruction. He plans to return to London and make a
further study of the disease using the superior facilities which would be
available to him there. (As a digression, Watson mentions rows of bottles and
jars in Culverton Smith's study which contained disease-causing microbes. One
wonders how much danger money his housekeeper and maids were paid to dust
them!). Somehow he must take specimens of the disease causing organisms back
with him; ideally in as natural a state as possible. We know that Tapanuli fever
is transmitted by being injected into the blood; the box that Culverton Smith
uses to infect Holmes has a device similar to a viper's tooth to inject the
microbes into the victim's bloodstream. This suggests that in its natural state
the disease is transmitted by some form of blood-feeding insect or tick. The
best way to transport these blood-feeding animals would be on their natural
hosts; is it too much to suggest that the mammal that the Tapanuli Fever
carrying insect feeds on is our old friend Rhizomys sumatrensis - The Giant Rat of Sumatra?
From this it is not hard to conceive a scenario involving the ship
'Matilda Briggs' with an agent of Culverton Smith on board as a passenger and a
secret cargo of crates containing Sumatran Rats. Tapanuli Fever breaks out on
board the ship, the crew dies and various legal processes are set in motion.
Morrison, Morrison and Dodd are called in, perhaps on some point relating to
the ship itself; it is after all a piece of machinery. They investigate the
cargo and find the crates of rats instead of more conventional Sumatran
imports. Holmes is consulted and quickly clears up the mystery, at least as far
as naming the agent and Tapanuli Fever as the joint villains. The true villain,
Culverton Smith, escapes; Holmes can prove nothing. So well are his tracks
covered that if Holmes were to attempt to implicate him, he would be accused of
slander or libel. Holmes must bide his time and wait for Culverton Smith to
make a mistake. All this takes place, as we have said, somewhere between 1889
and 1891. By 1896, the year Holmes mentions the case to Watson, Culverton Smith
still remains at large. Thus Holmes does not regard the case of the Giant
Sumatran Rat as concluded, and cannot relate it without slandering Culverton
Smith. The world is not, therefore, prepared for the telling.
Six years later, in 1902, we finally see the conclusion as described in
DYIN. Once again we must digress at this point and briefly consider the date of
DYIN. Most chronologists place it in 1890 based on information in it concerning
Watson's marital status. However, one writer has shown conclusively that this
case in fact took place in 1902; most of the internal evidence fits this date
rather than the earlier one. There is not room to repeat the evidence here;
suffice to say that it is convincing enough for this piece to be based on a
1902 date for DYIN. By this time Culverton Smith is back in London. His nephew,
Victor Savage, dies of Tapanuli Fever and Holmes recognises it as the same
disease as was involved in the 'Matilda Briggs' case. The fact that he has
encountered the disease before also explains how Holmes knew exactly how to
fake its symptoms; remember that he fools the world's greatest expert on it.
The rest of the story you can read for yourself; Holmes' expert malingering
succeeds, and after a delay of over ten years Culverton Smith, The Sumatran
Devil, is finally caged.
1. Collected in 'Sherlock Holmes Through Time and Space'; Edited by Isaac Asimov,
Martin H. Greenburg, Charles G. Waugh (Severn House).
2. 'The Dying Detective Re-examined' Denis Smith (Sherlock Holmes Journal Vol 18 No 1 Winter 1986)
2. 'The Dying Detective Re-examined' Denis Smith (Sherlock Holmes Journal Vol 18 No 1 Winter 1986)
