Watson's Tin Box meeting summary - July 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 July 20 for another great gathering of members - 25 in total (if I can count). As always I took a census of where people were attending from four states/districts: Frederick MD won the competition - we had visitors from: Columbia, Bellcamp, Clifton VA, Catonsville, Berwin, Ellicott City, Silver Spring, Odenton, Frederick, Washington DC, Gaithersburg, Woodstock, Fort Meade, Bear DE, Sandy Springm, Baltimore, Woodsboro. 

We also congratulated a new member - Meg Hill-Grigson - who attended her second meeting. As Brent Morris reminded us - attending one meeting may be an honest mistake, attending a second meeting must be on purpose. Welcome Meg! Our server was Sasha, who was (as tradition dictates) presented with a volume of Sherlock Holmes stories.

The story of the meeting was 'Abbey Grange'.... but we always start with toasts. 

Mary Allen offered up a toast to 'The Woman', and Liane Luini offered her 'traditional second toast'. This time, she sourced it from The Sherlock Holmes Scrapbook edited by Peter Haining (1974) - and it was a very appropriate one:

The Old Tin Box
By Jay Finlay Christ, New York, 1946

In the vaults of Cox was an old tin box
With Watson’s name on its lid.
What wouldn’t we pay for that box today
And the secret notes there hid?

Old Russian dame, Ricoletti the lame,
The famous aluminium crutch;
For Alicia, the cutter, the parsley in butter,
What would you give for such?

Story of Randall, Darlington scandal,
The Coptic patriarchs,
The opal tiara, the Addleton barrow 
Dollars? or francs? or marks?

The tale of the pinch of Victor Lynch,
The furniture warehouse mob,
The case at the Hague, the murder at Prague
The powderless Margate job.

The giant rat, the cardinal’s hat,
The Pattersons (first name Grice,)
The cormorant’s bill, the Hammerford will 
We’d take ‘em at any price.

The Phillimore fella who sought an umbrella,
The steamer Friesland (Dutch;)
For Col. Carruthers or Atkinson brothers
One never could give too much.

The Vatican case and its cameo face,
The slithering, unknown worm,
The Abergavenny were none too many 
Where is this Cox’s firm?

Oh, wonderful box in the vaults of Cox!
You come with a touch of salt!
But I offer two blocks of choicest stocks
For the treasure of Cox’s vault.

Also, Maureen Wynn (a long-standing member returning to the fold!) offered a toast - I'm tracking that down and hope to add it to the report.

Tom Fahres then delivered his traditional Haiku for the story - this month for Abbey Grange:

A clean cut bell cord

For Holmes it was a key clue

For Crocker: mistake

Next came Announcements

• Liane Luini reminded everyone that copies of Irene's Cabinet are selling for $10 - and we mail. Even better, Liane announced that we are now accepting submissions for the 2027 Irene's Cabinet. Details will be emailed and posted shortly!
• The DC Whiskey and Sodality meeting will again take place on Sunday, July 26th, 2 pm at Shelly's Back Room, 1331 F Street NW. Contact Terry McCammon for details.
• Tom Fahres and Victoria Wood announced the next meeting of the Maryland Unit of the 221st Southumberland Waffleers will be on Wednesday, August 12 at the Waffle House at 318 S. Jefferson Street in Frederick, MD.  Meeting starts at 11am for waffles and hash browns - will yours be scattered, smothered, topped and covered, or capped and diced? 
• Debbie Clark shared that on Sunday August 30, the Sherlock Sundays with ESPTheatre will be taking place in Frederick — A live radio play mystery starring Sherlock Holmes! It is free (pay what you can) and there are details here https://www.esptheatre.org/sherlock-sundays  
• Lauren Cercone announced that she was selling pins on behalf of the Tea Brokers of Mincing Lane. Message Lauren to order one - several Tin Box members picked up their pin at the meeting.

Finally, back in April there was an announcement about the MD Unit Waffleers. Tom Fahres displayed a completed LEGO-built Waffle House for Show & Tell. As part of the effort, Victoria Wood provided MD Unit Waffleers flags for all WTB members to show their support.

Each month this year, Michelle March has been providing a trinket to the members, inspired by a piece of evidence in the month's story. To keep the evidence, Michelle created a Tin Box for each member, This month, Michelle provided a tiny wine glass, replete with beeswing for us to add to our collections.

 

Debbie Clark presented the evidence box for Abbey Grange. Here are some examples of the evidence.

The evidence box for Abbey Grange, and how the items are densely packed away between their emergence for display every five years or so.

The evidence box on display on the evening of the WTB meeting.

Left: Pictured is the telegram Holmes sent to Captain Croker summoning himto Baker Street.From the story:‘Sit down, Captain Croker. You got my telegram?’‘I got your telegram, and I came at the hour you said.’ Right: Pictured is the wine glass that made Holmes suspicious – it was the onlyglass which contained beeswing.From the story:The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine,and one of them containing some dregs of bee-swing. Also a corkscrew.

Left: Pictured is the bell rope Holmes deduced had been cut and not broken–thus the perpetrator must have been an ‘acrobat’From the story:‘No one but an acrobat or a sailor could have got up to the bell-rope from the bracket, and no one but a sailor could have made the knots with which the cord was fastened to the chair.’ Right: Pictured is the handwritten letter from Hopkins to Holmes on Brackenstall letterhead paper, seeking Holmes’ assistance with the death of Brackenstall. From the story:Holmes drew a note from his pocket and read it aloud.

Our story discussion was robust! We wondered whether the story was true as told by Jack Crocker.... or whether Lady Brackenstall and Jack Crocker would ever have reunited. In fact, the group wondered whether Lady Brackenstall (that devious Australian) manipulated Jack Crocker into killing her husband, leaving her one of the richest women in Kent. Poor Jack was unlikely to turn up on her doorstep a year later and be welcomed with open arms. One wonders how Jack and Mary really were.... after all they had met on a ship, then all of a sudden he's turning up outside her country estate! 

We also wondered about some of the practicalities of this crime - First, how did a dusty bottle survive in the house of a 'confirmed drunkard'? Where was the butler?? We aren't saying he did it, but what sort of butler doesn't hear this drama in the night, nor answer the door when Holmes turns up. Could the Randall gang have sued for the wrongful accusation published in this story? And what sort of gang can steal silverware and flit back and forth across the Atlantic?

We also discussed real-world influences on the story. The divorce law reforms were clearly on someone's mind. Doyle's wife JUST WOULD NOT DIE, leaving him frustrated at being unable to marry his new true love. What did Touie think when she read this story? 

Our guest for the evening was Lauren Cercone, visiting from Bear, Delaware! Lauren grew up outside Boston. She received an AB in Classical & Near Eastern Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College, then an MBA in Marketing from New York University. After bouncing around the US while working in consumer marketing, product development, and research, she found herself in the literal and Sherlockian desert of Phoenix. She founded The Transfixed Correspondence of Phoenix in 2015 to remedy the latter. Lauren is also a member of The Crew of the Barque Lone Star, The Honourable Ronald Adair Las Vegas Card Room, the Legion of Zoom, The Red Circle of Washington DC, Sherlockians of Baltimore, The Tea Brokers of Mincing Lane, and Watson’s Tin Box. 

In 2026 Lauren founded The Tide-waiters of Delaware scion, and that was the inspiration for her talk this evening. Titled 'Time and wide-waiters', Lauren spoke to the group about occupations and words that time has forgotten. One example are the tide-waiters that inspired the Delaware scion name. Lauren is writing up her talk as an article, so we don't want to give the whole talk away - but you'll be able to read about it somewhere soon!

And so, we moved to the final traditions of the evening - collecting payment for our means, and trivia. Michelle March created some wonderful t-shirt stencil designs for quiz prizes - they are wonderful, and I will let them speak for themselves. Amazing:

Olivia Millunzi again created a wonderful trivia quiz.... and here 'tis:

We went to a tie-breaker (which Olivia had prepared because we seem to have ties ALL THE TIME and no-one will back down because the prizes are worth fighting for), and congratulations to Breier Scheetz for winning first prize. BUT REALLY, every member of Watson's Tin Box was a winner - lots of laughs, lots of conversation, lots of Sherlockian entertainment.