Watson's Tin Box meeting summary - April 20, 2026

On the third Monday of each month, the Watson's Tin Box of Ellicott City scion meets at Union Jack's in Columbia MD and we gathered on April 20 for another great gathering of members - 25 in total. As always I took a census of where people were attending from, and Columbia MD was the winner again (i.e. the locals). We also had guests from the MD locations Berwyn Heights, Darnestown, Woodstock, Woodbine, Baltimore, Silver Spring, Gaithersburg, Ellicott City, Belair, and Frederick (and a few others).

We did not have a first-time visitor, but we had TWO returning members to welcome. Amazingly, we had one of the four founders of WTB and Gasogene Number 1 - Kem White - join us. Kem's last meeting before this was probably in the early 90s (!!!!) so that's a record of more than 30 years for time between meetings that will be hard to beat! We also welcomed back Crystal Buland from VA after six or so years away - happy reunions.

We also had one new member (i.e., attending his second meeting) - our presenter for the evening Ross Davies from Washington, DC !! Our waitress Stevie was a first-timer with us at WTB, and we gave her a copy of Adventures (of course!) to get started.

The story of the meeting was 'The Veiled Lodger'.... but we always start with toasts. 

Grant Heller provided a toast to 'The Woman', and Liane Luini dug into the archives and produced a toast to Watson, adapted from a poem written by 'Evoe' she read in Profile by Gaslight (1944, edited by Edgar W. Smith). 'Evoe' was Edmund George Valpy Knox (1881 – 1971), a British poet and satirist. He was editor of Punch 1932–1949, having been a regular contributor in verse and prose for many years. Brother of The Reverend Ronald Knox.

Thoughts on Seeing “The Hound of the Baskervilles” at the Cinema
By “Evoe”
“The stately Holmes of England, how beautiful he stood.
Long, long ago in Baker Street—and still in Hollywood.
He keeps the ancient flair for clues, the firm incisive chin,
The deerstalker, the dressing-gown, the shag, the violin.
But Watson, Dr. Watson! How altered, how betrayed
The fleet of foot, the warrior once, the faster than Lestrade!
What imbecile production, what madness of the moon
Has screened my glorious Watson as well nigh a buffoon?
Is this the face that went with Holmes on half a hundred trips
Through nights of rain, by gig, by train; are these the eyes, the lips?
These goggling eyes, these stammering lips, can these reveal the mind
How strong to tread where duty led, his practice cast behind?
His not to reason why nor doubt the great detective’s plan—
The butt, maybe, of repartee yet still the perfect man,
Brave as the British lion is brave, brave as the buffalo,
What do they know of England who do not Watson know?
We have not many Sherlocks to sift the right from wrong
When evil stalks amongst us and craft and crime are strong;
Let not the Watsons fail us, the men of bull-dog mold,
Where still beneath the tight frock-coat beats on the heart of gold.
Watson, who dared the Demon Hound nor asked for fame nor fee,
Thou should’st be living at this hour. England hath need of thee!”
Thus did I muse and muse aloud while wondering at the flick
Till people near me turned and said, “Shut up, you make us sick.”
I left and found a hansom cab, the last one left on earth,
And, “Drive,” cried I, “to Baker Street for all that you are worth!”
Liane: Let us raise our glasses to the Real Canonical Watson that we all admire

Tom Fahres then delivered his traditional Haiku for the story - this month The Veiled Lodger:

Vial of poison,

Lion, coward, a woman.

Where’s the adventure?

We then moved on to Announcements 

• Liane Luini our editor of Irene's Cabinet was selling issues for the first time! If you can't come to meetings, copies are available for $10 and we mail ! Just email Liane for details. We will also sell issues at other Scion meetings we attend.

• Ross Davies shared details of the ACD Society, which you can join, and when you do, you receive the "A Common Newsletter" that includes a page of the manuscript of the Terror of Blue John Gap - you can read the accompanying essays at their site.
• Tom Fahres and Victoria Wood displayed a new flag for the 221st Southumberland Waffleers. I'm not going to lie. I don't know a lot about Waffle House, but there's a gathering at any Waffle House near a Sherlockian event. Tom also displayed a his Waffle House model.

• Evy Herzog announced the the next meeting of the Adventuresses of Sherlock Holmes in New York will be on 23rd May. More information about ASH here, and contact Evy for details of the event.
• Nea Dodson kindly donated 'duplicate' Sherlockian books she happened to have in her library - there were some happy recipients. 
• WTB member Kurt Oelmann passed away in January. Kurt's son contact us and donated his Sherlock book collection to WTB, which is now being cared for and enjoyed by members.
• The DC Whiskey and Sodality meeting will again take place on Sunday, April 26, 2 pm at Shelly's Back Room, 1331 F Street NW. Contact Terry McCammon for details.
• Michelle March announced she is planning a Sherlock event for kids at a library and is looking for volunteers.

  

Ross Davies BSI was our guest presenter for the evening. Ross operates a website featuring Sherlockian maps and toasts (www.rossdavies.org), edits the Baker Street Almanac, and heads The ACD Society and The Five Orange Pips (a NY scion of long standing). (Photograph taken during the presentation by Carla Coupe).

Ross spoke about the amazing work he coordinated and led, understanding the advertising of 'The Dancing Men' story. Ross had found that a Collier's campaign in the US carried a Roman numeral on each ad - Ross gathered a team of people to track down as many of the newspapers that carried the ads as possible. A remarkable and fun team achievement:

In closing, Ross shared a different ad, with very different dancing men - and the search is on to find as many of these as possible. Ross handed out a postcard with the ad for us:

Thank you Ross for a wonderful talk!!

We examined the evidence box for The Veiled Lodger before discussing the story. There aren't an incredible number of opportunities for 'evidence' that will fit in a box, and I should point out there is no heavy club to beat a man to death with, nor is there a veil !! 

Paul Churchill did find plenty of inspiration for evidence, including a photograph of the lion taming performance, the huge porcine Ronder, the vial of poison, and the note to Sherlock from Eugenia:

To the story discussion - well, the question of the evening was: is it an adventure? The group agreed, absolutely not. But it did open up a lot of questions. The story was first published in 1927, and appears in the 'Case Book' series of stories. Chronology places it in 1896. Sherlock & Co. recently adapted the story in their podcast series, and is well worth listening to. It has never been adapted for television.

The story opens with Watson speaking about all the records of prior cases at 221B (not stored in ton boxes yet), and that he knows some are trying to have their case records destroyed to protect the family names. Watson warns that "I deprecate, however, in the strongest way the attempts which have been made lately to get at and to destroy these papers. The source of these outrages is known, and if they are repeated I have Mr. Holmes’s authority for saying that the whole story concerning the politician, the lighthouse, and the trained cormorant will be given to the public. There is at least one reader who will understand."

Mrs Merrilow of South Brixton arrives to state that her lodger, who constantly wears a veil, would like to meet with Sherlock and get something off her chest to "ease her mind" before she dies. We loved Doyle's description of when Mrs. Merrilow "waddled out of the room" - who was the real-life inspiration?

We wondered about the truth of her story - even when she could finally unburden herself - was she telling the whole truth? And if Mrs. Rhonder's life wasn't her own - whose was it? Holmes displayed conventional morality in that moment.

I was struck by the village/town name of Abbas Parva. Turns out that 'Abbas' means owned (formerly) by an Abbey, and 'Parva' means little or small in Latin. There are quite a few villages with each name in England - for example Ashby Parva, Ludford Parva, Ash Parva ; and Milton Abbas, Cerne Abbas, Itchen Abbas - but there is not Abbas Parva in England.

And finally, the quiz! Olivia was away, but she managed to send it over to us - and here it is!!