The Adventure of the Speckled Band
Encyclopedia
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes
stories written by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
. It is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
. It is one of four Sherlock Holmes stories that can be classified as a locked room mystery
. The story was first published in Strand Magazine
in February 1892, with illustrations by Sidney Paget
. It was published under the different title "The Spotted Band" in New York World
in August 1905. Doyle later revealed that he thought this was his best Holmes story.
Doyle wrote and produced a play based on the story. It premiered at the Adelphi Theatre
, London
on 4 June 1910, with H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding
as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The play, originally called The Stonor Case, differs from the story in several details, such as the names of some of the characters.
A young woman named Helen Stoner consults the detective Sherlock Holmes about the suspicious death of her sister, Julia. One night, after conversing with her twin sister about her upcoming wedding day, Julia screamed and came to the hallway where Helen came out to see her, in Julia's dying words she said "it was the band, the speckled band!" Julia had been engaged to be married and, had she lived, would have received an annual ₤250
annuity from her late mother's income. Now Helen is engaged to be married. Holmes' investigation of the mother's estate reveals that its value has decreased significantly, and if both daughters had married, Dr. Roylott, Helen's ill-tempered and violent stepfather, would be left with very little, while the marriage of even one would be crippling. Therefore, the main suspicion falls on him.
Dr. Roylott has required Helen to move into a particular room of his heavily mortgaged ancestral home, Stoke Moran. A number of details about the place are mysterious and disturbing. A low whistling sound is heard late at night, as well as a metallic clank. There is a strange bell cord over the bed, and it does not seem to work any bell. Stoner surmises that Julia might have been murdered by the gypsies, whom Dr. Roylott permits to live on the grounds—they wear speckled handkerchiefs around their necks. A cheetah
and a baboon
also have the run of the property, for Dr. Roylott keeps exotic pets from India. Helen feels reluctant to sleep in the room.
After Helen leaves, Dr. Roylott comes to visit Holmes, having traced his stepdaughter. He demands to know what Helen has said to Holmes, but Holmes refuses to say. Dr. Roylott bends an iron poker into a curve in an attempt to intimidate Holmes, but Holmes is unaffected as he maintains a rather jovial demeanor during the encounter. After Roylott leaves, Holmes straightens the poker out again, thus showing that he is just as strong as the doctor.
Having arranged for Helen to spend the night somewhere else, Holmes and Watson sneak into her bedroom without Dr. Roylott's knowledge. Holmes says that he has already deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns out to be successful. They hear the whistle, and Holmes also sees what the bell cord is really for, although Watson does not. Julia's last words about a "speckled band" were in fact describing "a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India". The venomous snake had been sent to Julia's room by Dr. Roylott to murder her. After the swamp adder bit Julia, he called off the snake with the whistling, which made the snake climb up through the bell cord, disappearing from the scene.
Now the swamp adder is sent again through the ventilator by Dr. Roylott to kill Julia's sister Helen. Holmes attacks the snake, sending it back through an air ventilator connected to the next room. The aggravated snake bites Dr. Roylott instead, and, within seconds, he is dead. Holmes grimly notes that he is indirectly responsible for Dr. Roylott's death, but that he is unlikely to feel much guilt over the death.
Richard Lancelyn Green
, the editor of the 1998 Oxford paperback edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, surmises that Doyle's source for the story appears to have been the article named "Called on by a Boa Constrictor. A West African Adventure" in Cassell's Saturday Journal, published in February 1891. In the article, a captain tells how he was dispatched to a remote camp in West Africa
to stay in a tumbledown cabin that belonged to a Portuguese trader. On the first night in the cabin, he is awoken by a creaking sound, and sees "a dark queer-looking thing hanging down through the ventilator above it". It turns out to be the largest Boa constrictor
he has seen. He is extremly paralysed with fear as the serpent comes down into the room. Unable to cry out for help, the captain spots an old bell that hung from a projecting beam above one of the windows. The bell cord had rotted away, but by means of a stick he manages to ring it and raise the alarm.
The name swamp adder is an invented one, and the scientific treatises of Doyle's time do not mention any kind of adder
of India
. To fans of Sherlock Holmes
who enjoy treating the stories as altered accounts of real events, the true identity of this snake has been a puzzle since the publication of the story, even to professional herpetologists
. Many species of snakes have been proposed for it, and Richard Lancelyn Green
concludes the Indian Cobra
(Naja naja) is the snake which it most closely resembles, rather than Boa constrictor, which is not venomous. The Indian cobra has black and white speckled marks, and is one of the most lethal of the Indian venomous snakes with a neurotoxin
which will often kill in a few minutes. It is also a good climber and is used by snake charmer
s in India. However, snakes are deaf, therefore it would not be possible to signal a snake by whistling. Also, while snakes are capable of climbing solid objects, there is no way one could have climbed a cord.
In the Soviet dramatization of the story, the deafness inconsistency (while not the others) was solved by Dr. Roylott (suspecting the deafness of snakes) softly knocking on the wall in addition to whistling. While snakes are deaf, they are sensitive to vibration.
Bitis arietans
from Africa, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper also bear resemblance to the swamp adder of the story, but they have hemotoxin
— slow working venoms.
The herpetologist Laurence Monroe Klauber
proposed, in a tongue-in-cheek article which blames Dr. Watson for getting the name of the snake wrong, a theory that the swamp adder was an artificial hybrid between the Mexican Gila monster
(Heloderma suspectum) and Naja naja. His speculation suggests that Doyle might have hidden a double-meaning in Holmes' words. What Holmes said, reported by Watson, was "It is a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India"; but Klauber suggested what Holmes really said was "It is a samp-aderm, the deadliest skink in India." Samp-aderm can be translated "snake-Gila-monster"; Samp, Hindi
for snake, and the suffix
aderm is derived from heloderm, the common or vernacular name of the Gila monster generally used by European naturalist
s. Skink
s are lizards of the family Scincidae, many of which are snake-like in form. Such a hybrid reptile will have a venom incomparably strengthened by hybridization, assuring the almost instant demise of the victim. And it will also have ears like any lizard, so it could hear the whistle, and legs and claws allowing it to run up and down the bell cord with a swift ease.
production, with H. A. Saintsbury
as Holmes before the production moved to New York
. There was a London revival of this play in 1921.
The short story was earlier adapted for a 1923 film starring Eille Norwood
as Holmes and a 1931 film
starring Raymond Massey
as the detective. In 1958, Massey's daughter, Anna Massey
, married another actor who famously played Holmes: Jeremy Brett.
A half-hour television adaptation starring Alan Napier
and Melville Cooper
was broadcast in 1949.
The pilot episode of the BBC's 1964-1965 series Sherlock Holmes was a new version of "The Speckled Band", airing in May 1964. It was written by Giles Cooper, directed by Robin Midgley, and starred Douglas Wilmer as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. "The Speckled Band" was the eighth episode of the first series of Holmes adaptations starring Jeremy Brett
. The 1944 film The Spider Woman is based on several Holmes stories, among them "The Speckled Band."
"The Speckled Band" was adapted as part of the anime series, Sherlock Hound. In this version, Moriarty poses as Roylott to steal Helen's money, and Hound gets involved when his motorcar breaks down and must stay at their home for the night.
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
stories written by Scottish author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
. It is the eighth of the twelve stories collected in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective and illustrated by Sidney Paget....
. It is one of four Sherlock Holmes stories that can be classified as a locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...
. The story was first published in Strand Magazine
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...
in February 1892, with illustrations by Sidney Paget
Sidney Paget
Sidney Edward Paget was a British illustrator of the Victorian era, best known for his illustrations that accompanied Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand magazine.- Life :...
. It was published under the different title "The Spotted Band" in New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
in August 1905. Doyle later revealed that he thought this was his best Holmes story.
Doyle wrote and produced a play based on the story. It premiered at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 4 June 1910, with H. A. Saintsbury as Sherlock Holmes and Lyn Harding
Lyn Harding
Lyn Harding was a Welsh actor who spent 40 years on the stage before entering British made silent films, talkies and radio...
as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. The play, originally called The Stonor Case, differs from the story in several details, such as the names of some of the characters.
Plot summary
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
annuity from her late mother's income. Now Helen is engaged to be married. Holmes' investigation of the mother's estate reveals that its value has decreased significantly, and if both daughters had married, Dr. Roylott, Helen's ill-tempered and violent stepfather, would be left with very little, while the marriage of even one would be crippling. Therefore, the main suspicion falls on him.
Dr. Roylott has required Helen to move into a particular room of his heavily mortgaged ancestral home, Stoke Moran. A number of details about the place are mysterious and disturbing. A low whistling sound is heard late at night, as well as a metallic clank. There is a strange bell cord over the bed, and it does not seem to work any bell. Stoner surmises that Julia might have been murdered by the gypsies, whom Dr. Roylott permits to live on the grounds—they wear speckled handkerchiefs around their necks. A cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
and a baboon
Baboon
Baboons are African and Arabian Old World monkeys belonging to the genus Papio, part of the subfamily Cercopithecinae. There are five species, which are some of the largest non-hominoid members of the primate order; only the mandrill and the drill are larger...
also have the run of the property, for Dr. Roylott keeps exotic pets from India. Helen feels reluctant to sleep in the room.
After Helen leaves, Dr. Roylott comes to visit Holmes, having traced his stepdaughter. He demands to know what Helen has said to Holmes, but Holmes refuses to say. Dr. Roylott bends an iron poker into a curve in an attempt to intimidate Holmes, but Holmes is unaffected as he maintains a rather jovial demeanor during the encounter. After Roylott leaves, Holmes straightens the poker out again, thus showing that he is just as strong as the doctor.
Having arranged for Helen to spend the night somewhere else, Holmes and Watson sneak into her bedroom without Dr. Roylott's knowledge. Holmes says that he has already deduced the solution to the mystery, and this test of his theory turns out to be successful. They hear the whistle, and Holmes also sees what the bell cord is really for, although Watson does not. Julia's last words about a "speckled band" were in fact describing "a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India". The venomous snake had been sent to Julia's room by Dr. Roylott to murder her. After the swamp adder bit Julia, he called off the snake with the whistling, which made the snake climb up through the bell cord, disappearing from the scene.
Now the swamp adder is sent again through the ventilator by Dr. Roylott to kill Julia's sister Helen. Holmes attacks the snake, sending it back through an air ventilator connected to the next room. The aggravated snake bites Dr. Roylott instead, and, within seconds, he is dead. Holmes grimly notes that he is indirectly responsible for Dr. Roylott's death, but that he is unlikely to feel much guilt over the death.
Richard Lancelyn Green
Richard Lancelyn Green
Richard Lancelyn Green was a British scholar of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, generally considered the world's foremost scholar of these topics.-Background:...
, the editor of the 1998 Oxford paperback edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, surmises that Doyle's source for the story appears to have been the article named "Called on by a Boa Constrictor. A West African Adventure" in Cassell's Saturday Journal, published in February 1891. In the article, a captain tells how he was dispatched to a remote camp in West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
to stay in a tumbledown cabin that belonged to a Portuguese trader. On the first night in the cabin, he is awoken by a creaking sound, and sees "a dark queer-looking thing hanging down through the ventilator above it". It turns out to be the largest Boa constrictor
Boa constrictor
The Boa constrictor is a large, heavy-bodied species of snake. It is a member of the family Boidae found in North, Central, and South America, as well as some islands in the Caribbean. A staple of private collections and public displays, its color pattern is highly variable yet distinctive...
he has seen. He is extremly paralysed with fear as the serpent comes down into the room. Unable to cry out for help, the captain spots an old bell that hung from a projecting beam above one of the windows. The bell cord had rotted away, but by means of a stick he manages to ring it and raise the alarm.
Swamp adder
Adder
Adder may refer to:Snakes:* Any of several groups of venomous snakes of the Viperidae family including Vipera berus, the common European adder, found in Europe and northern Asia...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. To fans of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlockiana
Sherlockonia encompasses:*Memorabilia, such as statuettes, drawings, and movie posters, that concern the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, his associates such as Dr...
who enjoy treating the stories as altered accounts of real events, the true identity of this snake has been a puzzle since the publication of the story, even to professional herpetologists
Herpetology
Herpetology is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians and reptiles...
. Many species of snakes have been proposed for it, and Richard Lancelyn Green
Richard Lancelyn Green
Richard Lancelyn Green was a British scholar of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes, generally considered the world's foremost scholar of these topics.-Background:...
concludes the Indian Cobra
Indian Cobra
Indian Cobra or Spectacled Cobra is a species of the genus Naja found in the Indian subcontinent and a member of the "big four", the four species which inflict the most snakebites in India. This snake is revered in Indian mythology and culture, and is often seen with snake charmers...
(Naja naja) is the snake which it most closely resembles, rather than Boa constrictor, which is not venomous. The Indian cobra has black and white speckled marks, and is one of the most lethal of the Indian venomous snakes with a neurotoxin
Neurotoxin
A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...
which will often kill in a few minutes. It is also a good climber and is used by snake charmer
Snake Charmer
Snake charmer can mean:*Snake charming, the practice of "hypnotizing" snakes*Snake Charmer, a 1983 album by guitarist The Edge, bassist Jah Wobble, multi-instrumentalist Holger Czukay, drummer Jaki Liebezeit, and DJ/remixer François Kevorkian...
s in India. However, snakes are deaf, therefore it would not be possible to signal a snake by whistling. Also, while snakes are capable of climbing solid objects, there is no way one could have climbed a cord.
In the Soviet dramatization of the story, the deafness inconsistency (while not the others) was solved by Dr. Roylott (suspecting the deafness of snakes) softly knocking on the wall in addition to whistling. While snakes are deaf, they are sensitive to vibration.
Bitis arietans
Bitis arietans
Bitis arietans is a venomous viper species found in savannah and grasslands from Morocco and western Arabia throughout Africa except for the Sahara and rain forest regions. It is responsible for causing the most fatalities in Africa owing to various factors, such as its wide distribution and...
from Africa, Russell's viper and saw-scaled viper also bear resemblance to the swamp adder of the story, but they have hemotoxin
Hemotoxin
Hemotoxins, haemotoxins or hematotoxins are toxins that destroy red blood cells , disrupt blood clotting, and/or cause organ degeneration and generalized tissue damage. The term hemotoxin is to some degree a misnomer since toxins that damage the blood also damage other tissues...
— slow working venoms.
Laurence Monroe Klauber
Laurence M. Klauber , was an American herpetologist, and was considered to be the foremost authority on rattlesnakes...
proposed, in a tongue-in-cheek article which blames Dr. Watson for getting the name of the snake wrong, a theory that the swamp adder was an artificial hybrid between the Mexican Gila monster
Gila monster
The Gila monster is a species of venomous lizard native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexican state of Sonora...
(Heloderma suspectum) and Naja naja. His speculation suggests that Doyle might have hidden a double-meaning in Holmes' words. What Holmes said, reported by Watson, was "It is a swamp adder, the deadliest snake in India"; but Klauber suggested what Holmes really said was "It is a samp-aderm, the deadliest skink in India." Samp-aderm can be translated "snake-Gila-monster"; Samp, Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
for snake, and the suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
aderm is derived from heloderm, the common or vernacular name of the Gila monster generally used by European naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
s. Skink
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
s are lizards of the family Scincidae, many of which are snake-like in form. Such a hybrid reptile will have a venom incomparably strengthened by hybridization, assuring the almost instant demise of the victim. And it will also have ears like any lizard, so it could hear the whistle, and legs and claws allowing it to run up and down the bell cord with a swift ease.
Adaptations
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself wrote a stage play based on The Speckled Band, which during 1910 ran for five months in a West EndWest End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production, with H. A. Saintsbury
Harry Arthur Saintsbury
Harry Arthur Saintsbury, usually called H. A. Saintsbury was an English actor and playwright. A leading man, he became well known for his stage interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, was an early mentor of Charlie Chaplin and is considered an authority on the work of Sir Henry Irving.Called Arthur by...
as Holmes before the production moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. There was a London revival of this play in 1921.
The short story was earlier adapted for a 1923 film starring Eille Norwood
Eille Norwood
Eille Norwood was a British actor who spent most of his screen career playing Sherlock Holmes. He was born Anthony Edward Brett in York, England. He apparently took his stage name from his lady friend Eileen and the town of Norwood...
as Holmes and a 1931 film
The Speckled Band (1931 film)
The Speckled Band is a 1931 British film directed by Jack Raymond and an adaption of Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Adventure of the Speckled Band.- Plot summary :...
starring Raymond Massey
Raymond Massey
Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
as the detective. In 1958, Massey's daughter, Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
, married another actor who famously played Holmes: Jeremy Brett.
A half-hour television adaptation starring Alan Napier
Alan Napier
Alan William Napier-Clavering was an English actor, best known for portraying Alfred Pennyworth in the 1960s live-action Batman television series.-Early life and career:...
and Melville Cooper
Melville Cooper
George Melville Cooper , best known as Melville Cooper, was a British stage, film and television actor. Among his roles are the cowardly Sheriff of Nottingham in The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Errol Flynn, and Mr...
was broadcast in 1949.
The pilot episode of the BBC's 1964-1965 series Sherlock Holmes was a new version of "The Speckled Band", airing in May 1964. It was written by Giles Cooper, directed by Robin Midgley, and starred Douglas Wilmer as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson. "The Speckled Band" was the eighth episode of the first series of Holmes adaptations starring Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett
Jeremy Brett , born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, was an English actor, most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in four Granada TV series.-Early life:...
. The 1944 film The Spider Woman is based on several Holmes stories, among them "The Speckled Band."
"The Speckled Band" was adapted as part of the anime series, Sherlock Hound. In this version, Moriarty poses as Roylott to steal Helen's money, and Hound gets involved when his motorcar breaks down and must stay at their home for the night.
See also
- The Speckled Band (1923 film)
- The Speckled Band (1931 film)The Speckled Band (1931 film)The Speckled Band is a 1931 British film directed by Jack Raymond and an adaption of Arthur Conan Doyle's story The Adventure of the Speckled Band.- Plot summary :...
External links
- http://www.oldtimeradiofans.com/template2.php?show_name=Sherlock%20Holmes&title=The%20Speckled%20Band&size=6.64%20MB&file=SHERLOCK%20431001%20(092)%2032-22%2029m03s%20Speckled%20Band.mp3&description=This%20episode%20of%20Sherlock%20Holmes%20was%20broadcast%20on%20October%201,%201943%20and%20starred%20Basil%20Rathbone%20and%20Nigel%20Bruce.&dir=sherlock_holmesFree Old Time Radio Shows: The Speckled Band] - broadcast on October 1, 1943, starring Basil RathboneBasil RathboneSir Basil Rathbone, KBE, MC, Kt was an English actor. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films...
and Nigel BruceNigel BruceWilliam Nigel Ernle Bruce , best known as Nigel Bruce, was a British character actor on stage and screen. He was best known for his portrayal of Doctor Watson in a series of films and in the radio series The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes...
. - "The adventure of the speckled band" at Google books