Silver Blaze and the Red Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was very clever when he made a horse the central figure in the tale titled "Silver Blaze," because as was described in the story, no one suspected that the horse may have committed the killing of Straker. This is exemplified when the local constable suspected that the horse was kidnapped, and Straker was killed when trying to stop the kidnappers by falling on his own knife. But in fact, Sherlock Holmes was clever enough to discover the truth; Straker was attempting to lame the horse and the horse accidentally killed him when it was frightened and ran away. Because the horse committed the killing of Straker, there is no legal recourse against an animal that actually acted in self-defense. The really surprising part was how Holmes discovered that the bookmaker, Fitzroy Simpson, the elusive stranger who dropped his handkerchief, was not the killer as the constable originally surmised. This fact, in addition to the bill addressed to the Straker's address but without the correct name, helped Holmes discover that Straker was leading a double life and desperately in need of money. The three lame sheep that Holmes later discovered then sealed the fate of Mr. Straker, he had been practicing surgery on the sheep. However, I did not discover the true fate of Mr. Straker before Holmes did, in fact I was mostly lost. In truth, I had no idea the significance of the lame sheep, and while I did suspect the bill found in Straker's pocket was significant, I could not put it all together. I too suspected that the horse had been kidnapped, it seemed logical, and I also believed that the stranger was involved. I followed the presumptive path of accepting the constable's theory and did not follow the clues, like Holmes, and discover the real truth.

Part #2

The "Red Headed League," by sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is not only a curious case for the renowned detective Sherlock Holmes, but it is also a rather humorous one as well. The first and foremost humorous aspect is the title itself, "The Red Headed League," and as Holmes surmised, it is simply too preposterous a concept for it to be real. But at the beginning of the story, this concept is an enormous enigma and almost overshadows the real story behind its conception. As one ponders the preposterousness of the Red Headed League, they are not thinking about the possible crime that lurks beneath it. This is the reason I believed that the ad specifically wanted red headed men, they are the most rare of any hair color. But at the same time the color of the hair may have been incidental, simply a means of throwing any possible hound off the scent. It was a ruse and the criminal behind it hoped that anyone investigating would concentrate on the red headed aspect and not on the possibility that it was covering up a crime. But this was not enough for Holmes, who immediately began to think that the entire situation was wrong. The fact that Jabez Wilson was asked to perform a task from ten in the morning until two in the afternoon meant to Holmes that he was wanted out of the shop for that period of time. The fact that his assistant Spaulding worked for half pay and spent much time in the basement indicated that Spaulding was doing something nefarious in the basement. And finally the fact that a bank was next door, and that the Red Headed League mysteriously vanished indicated that the bank was about to be robbed. I knew something was amiss when the bank was mentioned, and I figured that it was going to be robbed, but I was unable to deduce that it would be a tunnel to the bank by which the robbers planned to do it. I too thought it had something to do with red headed men, and came to focus too much on that aspect and not on the activities of the assistant in the basement.