by Bruce Wexler
Both bloodstains and fingerprints identified this meat cleaver as another murder weapon.
Both Conan Doyle and his character have made their own contribution to the study of criminology. So successful was the author’s search for realism that the Sherlockian cases are used as exemplars by professors of forensic medicine the world over. Conan Doyle’s contemporary, French forensics expert Edmund Locard, may have been the first to realize the potential of his work when he advised his students to familiarize themselves with Sherlock Holmes’s cases. As well as being the inventor of the ‘‘silent witness’’ axiom, that ‘‘Every contact leaves a trace,’’ Locard also established the ‘‘Exchange Principal,’’ that stated that when a criminal comes into contact with a victim, they not only leave evidence at the scene of the crime but also take evidence away with them. Locard realized that the Holmes stories illustrated both of these principles. In fact, Conan Doyle’s work effectively began a practice of public education, showing how crimes can be solved with the intelligent interpretation of evidence. This precept features in much modern crime fiction, with CSI the ultimate contemporary example.
The well-defined bloody thumbprint on a whitewashed wall helped to solve the case of “The Norwood Builder.”
The ‘‘forensic’’ literary legacy left by Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes is highly significant. Not only did the Holmes stories popularize the genre of detective fiction, but their accuracy also led to a tradition of extreme realism that continues to this day. Dame Agatha Christie, for example, used her experience as a trained chemist to great effect in her novels, and it is interesting to note that two of the most successful modern practitioners of crime fiction, Katy Reich and Patricia Cornwell, are both forensic professionals. (Reich is a forensic anthropologist, and Cornwell was a clerk in a forensic pathologist’s office.) Their work, like that of Conan Doyle, defies Henry James’s criticism by achieving a true marriage of art and science.
But many believe that Holmes’s methods have also had a wider influence on the world of real life crime fighting. When he traveled to London in 1912, America’s greatest living detective, William J. Burns met with Conan Doyle, and assured him that Sherlock Holmes’s methodology was entirely practical. Burns later maintained that Holmes’s popularity actually influenced the science of criminal detection towards the use of more scientific methods, and that his cases popularized forensics and pathology. Perhaps this is the sleuth’s greatest, living, legacy.
The Black Museum at Scotland Yard has been a repository for crime scene evidence since the early days of crime detection. It is closed to public access and serves as a training facility for the Metropolitan Police Force.
This harrowing forensic specimen from the Kent Police Museum demonstrates the use of plaster casts and dental evidence in criminal identification. The pattern of the teeth exactly matches the dreadful wound on the victim’s body.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Violence does, in truth, recoil upon the violent.”
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Sherlock Holmes and the Law
Crime, detection, and punishment were huge issues during Sherlock Holmes’s professional era. It was a time when some of the most celebrated and terrible crimes ever committed were perpetrated. The expediential growth of London in particular led to a tidal wave of criminality, thriving on poverty, vagrancy, and degradation. Although the motives in Holmes’s cases tend to be far more intellectual and sophisticated, many of the crimes he investigates in the canon have as strong an element of brutality as contemporary “real life” crimes. In the early part of his career at least, the agencies of law enforcement were still in their infancy. But over the course of his casework, their move towards a far higher degree of organisation and professionalism was significant.
As well as the professionalism of the police force, techniques of criminal deduction were also developing during this period. Not only were many discoveries made to advance the use of forensic science in solving crime, but the police service itself was also completely reorganized, as were the judicial and penal systems.
A sergeant in the Victorian police force. After 1869, beards were encouraged.
Holmes and Scotland Yard
Throughout his career, Holmes is often portrayed as working in parallel with various “Inspectors” from Scotland Yard. They are usually at least one pace behind the Great Detective, but are often credited with his successes. Scotland Yard was (and is) the headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police Service, and was founded in 1829. The organization was named after its original location in Great Scotland Yard, but was moved to new premises on London’s Victorian Embankment in 1890, overlooking the River Thames. Holmes’s respect for Scotland Yard is not high, Watson describes how the confidence that the popular press has in the crime solving ability of the organisation affords him “considerable amusement.” But his scorn is probably directed at the Yard’s rather elementary and “conventional” methods of detection, rather than the calibre of its officers. Forensic science would certainly have been more familiar to Holmes than to his colleagues in the police force. Indeed, it was not until 1879 that the Metropolitan police force gave its officers a basic framework of crime scene etiquette, so that “a body must not be moved… and the public must not be admitted (to the room).”
Great Scotland Yard, the original headquarters of the Metropolitan Police.
Several “Yard” officers, together with a couple of Inspectors from provincial police forces, make an appearance in the Sherlock Holmes’s stories. These men are named as Inspectors G. Lestrade, Tobias Gregson, Baynes, Bradstreet, Stanley Hopkins, Athelney-Jones, MacDonald, Martin, and Youghal. In his self-created role as the world’s only “unofficial consulting detective,” Holmes often collaborates with the police, pronouncing a “specialist’s opinion” when “Gregson or Lestrade or Athelney Jones are out of their depth.”
Scotland Yard’s premises in the 1890s.
Interestingly, Leverton, a Pinkerton detective also makes his appearance in the canon, in “The Adventure of the Red Circle.” The American is described as a “quiet, businesslike young man,” and is already known to Holmes as the “hero of the Long Island cave Mystery.” Allan Pinkerton had founded his National Detective Agency in Chicago in 1850, and like Holmes, was famous for his “great power of observation and courage.” Forerunner of the FBI, the Pinkerton Agency spearheaded the use of forensic and ballistic evidence, “stings,” and intelligence gathering; all techniques found in Holmes’s armory.
Holmes admired Allan Pinkerton for his methods of detection.
Inspector Lestrade is the police office who appears most often in the canon. He is locked in professional rivalry with his fellow detective, Tobias Gregson, and Holmes describes the two officers as being “as jealous as a pair of professional beauties.” Both are introduced to in Holmes’s very first case, “A Study in Scarlet.” The pair is also familiar to the public, and described as “well-known officers” in a fictional edition of The London Standard. Holmes refers to Lestrade as “the best of the professionals, I think,” meaning that he is the most able man employed by Scotland Yard. Although Holmes also describes Lestrade as being “devoid of reason,” he obviously admires Lestrade’s grit and determination; believing him to be as “tenacious as a bull dog.” The regard was mutual. Although Lestrade is often exasperated by Holmes’s unconventional methods, he confesses his great regard for Holmes in “The Six Napoleons”. “We’re not jealous of you down at Scotland Yard, no sir, we are damned proud of you.” Holmes is visibly moved by this generous compliment from a fellow professional.
Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard demonstrates his bulldog spirit in A Study In Scarlet.
Lestrade’s rival, “the fair-haired” Inspector Tobias Gregson is also a regular canon character, and (like Lestrade), he also solicits Holmes’s assistance in difficult cases. Holmes believes him to be the more intelligent of the two, and refers to him as “the smartest of the Scotland Yarders. He and Lestrad
e are the pick of a bad lot.” Gregson also makes an impression on Watson, who describes the cool and ruthless way in which he works.
Lestrade presents a doubtful Holmes with his interpretation of the evidence in the case of “The Norwood Builder.”
Provincial policemen with the Inspector standing. Holmes encounters the provincial police in many of his cases and displays little regard for them, with the notable exception of Inspector Baynes of the Surrey Constabulary. Holmes encounters Baynes in “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge.”
Rather than use the traditional methodology of Scotland Yard, the young Inspector Stanley Hopkins attempts to employ Holmes’s own deductive techniques in his own investigations. He also refers several cases to his mentor, including “The Adventure of Black Peter” and “The Adventure of the Abbey Grange.” Although the Great Detective is critical of Hopkins’s application of his methods, he nevertheless “has high hopes for his career.”
Ironically, the only police detective who ever seriously challenges Holmes’s ability, and wins his unequivocal regard, does not work in London at all. Inspector Baynes belongs to the provincial police force of “leafy” Surrey, the county that Conan Doyle was to make his home. In “The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge” the two men work with different methods, (“We all have our little ways. You try yours and I will try mine”) but are both simultaneously on the trail of Henderson/Murillo, and reach the denouement together. Holmes is genuinely impressed by Baynes’s ability, he “laid his hand upon the inspector’s shoulder. “You will rise high you in your profession. You have instinct and intuition.” This remark is highly revealing. It completely refutes the often-held idea that Holmes’s believed only cool reason and intellectual ability were required to solve crimes. In fact, he considers intuition an imperative part of a detective’s equipment.
Early examples of “bobbies on bicycles.” Note the forage caps.
Before the issue of the traditional domed helmet, Victorian policemen wore kepis.
Good career prospects attracted many able men, like Gregson and Lestrade, to join the Metropolitan Police, which is generally considered to have been the first modern police service. To join, a man needed to be less than 35 years of age, at least 5 feet 7 inches tall, literate, and of good character. Police recruits were drawn from a variety of backgrounds. A survey of 1874 revealed that thirty-one per cent came from agricultural jobs, twelve per cent from a military background, five per from other police forces, but the majority were drawn from general laboring jobs. The majority of these recruits came from outside London, including 2.5% from Scotland, and 6.5% from Ireland.
Joining the police force was considered a prestigious career opportunity, and recruitment standards became increasingly high.
The idea of the policeman on his beat was a sound one. Visible policing in Victorian times nipped many crimes in the bud.
Once a man had been accepted, the Metropolitan police force’s policy of merit-based internal promotion meant that he had every chance to improve his prospects. The career path of Metropolitan officer Donald Swanson, who was appointed to head the Jack the Ripper enquiry in August 1888, gives us a good idea of what a high-flying police officer could achieve. Born in Wick, Scotland, Swanson enrolled in the Metropolitan police force in 1868 at the (usual) age of twenty. His warrant card number was 50282. In 1882, he achieved the rank of Inspector, and was promoted to Chief Inspector in the Criminal Investigation Department in 1887. In 1896, he became the Superintendent of Scotland Yard, and retired in 1906 at the age of fifty-eight. The Metropolitan’s system of internal promotion to higher rank meant that able officers, like Lestrade and Gregson, were able to achieve improved pay and working conditions, greater authority, and prestige. From his career timetable, it would seem safe to assume that Lestrade, Gregson, and the other “Inspectors” of the canon are likely to be in their thirties.
Before the organization of the modern police force, Britain relied on night watchman like this one. They were usually older men, possibly with military experience. They were equipped with a lantern, and a cutlass or truncheon.
An early police officer pictured with the tools of his trade: handcuffs, truncheon, frock coat, top hat, duty band, and collar serial number.
Over the course of Swanson’s career, the “Met” grew rapidly. In 1884, the force consisted of 13,319 officers, which included 1,383 working the “beat.” The force had grown to 14,106 officers in 1888. The Metropolitan police was divided into several divisions. A Superintendent, each of whom had four inspectors and sixteen sergeants, headed each division.
The Metropolitan force had been created in 1829, when Parliament passed the Metropolitan Police Act. It was an attempt to formalize law enforcement in the capital, and superseded the ancient practice of “The Watch,” where a body of privately employed men patrolled the streets at night. Social and economic change meant that people flooded into Britain’s cities, and the informal policing arrangements dating from the Middle Ages were completely ineffective, and the streets became increasingly unsafe. Shocked by this state of affairs, the law-abiding public demanded proper protection.
Police Equipment
Their equipment was basic to say the least, just a truncheon (made from gutta percha), a wooden rattle to summon help, and a lamp. A few years later, a whistle was substituted for the rattle. The early uniform was replaced with the more familiar tunic and helmet in 1860.
A police pacifier made of hard tropical wood.
A Tipstaff, a constable’s original badge of office.
Two beat officers’ truncheons made from hardwood.
Many nineteenth century “pacifiers”were ornately decorated with the coat of arms of the county from which the police force was drawn.
A one-candle power police lamp.
A police rattle. This was used to attract attention and summon help.
The oil powered bull’s-eye lamp replaced the candle lamp.
The police whistle was a replacement for the rattle, shown above.
A detail of the Victorian police belt. Each county force had its coat of arms cast into the buckle.
The duty band. This was worn as a belt and signified that the wearer was on duty.
The classic style British policeman’s helmet was first introduced in 1863.
The Victorian constable in full uniform. He wears a blue tunic with matching trousers, a leather belt, black boots, and a helmet with a chinstrap.
Originally, Robert Peel’s legislation created eight police divisions. These first policemen were equipped with a civilian-style blue uniform, consisting of a reinforced top (“pot”) hat and frock coat and trousers, and white gloves. Each constable also had his number embroidered on his shoulder. Policemen were also expected to be clean-shaven at this time, though this rule was relaxed in 1869. Their equipment was basic to say the least, just a truncheon (made from gutta percha), a wooden rattle to summon help, and a lamp. A few years later, a whistle was substituted for the rattle. The early uniform was replaced with the more familiar tunic and helmet in 1860. Over 51% of the first recruits to the police force were dismissed quite quickly, the vast majority for being drunk on duty. But the great challenge facing the new force began apparent all too quickly, when PC Joseph Grantham became the first serving officer to be killed on duty in 1829.
An Inspector from the same period. A man who attained this rank could expect a relatively good standard of living.
At this stage, the force consisted of around 3,300 men, but a period of rioting exposed the thinness of their ranks, and more officers were recruited. 5,493 were in place by 1849. A ratio of one police officer to every 450 citizens was considered ideal, but this was not achieved until later in the century. Other famous London crime fighting institutions, such as the Bow Street Runners were also absorbed into the “Met,” and the area covered by the force was gradually increased to include the outlying districts of the capital. Eighteen divisions now policed 688 square miles of some of the most crime-ridden streets in the wo
rld. Crime was also escalating at a frightening pace. In 1846, 14,091 robberies were reported, including 60 stolen dogs. The clear up rate was rather less impressive. Only 4,551 criminals were convicted and sentenced in that year, while magistrates acquitted 31,572 defendants.
A mounted police officer’s cutlass. Swords of this type were still used in action.
The mounted policeman was (and remains) an important resource in riot control. There was a high level of political unrest in Victorian times.
A mounted policeman’s belt and pouch, displaying the Kent County coat of arms.
Crime and Punishment
Corruption and lack of legal knowledge were rife amongst the judiciary, even at the Old Bailey, where the most serious crimes in Britain (including treason, murder, forgery, and burglary) were tried. Defendants were not even entitled to legal representation unless they could afford to pay for it. There was also a serious lack of consistency in sentencing, as this was usually done by different court to the one that had found the defendant guilty. Error was hardly ever on the side of leniency, and young men in particular were often hung for trivial crimes including petty theft. In effect, many commentators viewed the judicial system as an instrument of social control. Hanging was only limited to perpetrators of murder and treason in 1861.
