The Adventure of the Cardboard Box
Encyclopedia
"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" is one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes
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 British 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 second of the twelve Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories, originally published in 1894, by Arthur Conan Doyle.-Contents:The twelve stories of the Memoirs are:*"Silver Blaze"...

in most British editions of the canon, and second of the eight stories from His Last Bow
His Last Bow
His Last Bow is a collection of seven Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as the title of the last story in that collection...

in most American versions. The story was first published in the 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 1892.

Synopsis

Quite a stir is caused in Croydon
London Borough of Croydon
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...

 when a 50-year-old spinster, Miss Susan Cushing, receives a parcel in the post which turns out to contain two severed human ears packed in coarse salt. The indefatigable though unimaginative Inspector Lestrade
Inspector Lestrade
Inspector G. Lestrade is a fictional character, a Scotland Yard detective appearing in several of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle used the name of a friend from his days at the University of Edinburgh, a Saint Lucian medical student by the name of Joseph Alexandre Lestrade....

 of Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...

 suspects a prank by three medical students whom Miss Cushing was forced to evict, owing to their unruly behaviour. The parcel was sent from Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

, after all, and that was from where one of the former boarders had travelled. Holmes, however, upon examining the parcel himself, is convinced that they are dealing with a serious crime. A medical student with access to a dissection
Dissection
Dissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components....

 laboratory
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...

, Holmes points out, would likely use something other than plain salt to preserve human remains, and would be able to make a neater incision than the rough hack used on these ears. Also, the address itself, roughly written and with a spelling correction, suggests a certain unlearnedness about the sender, and that he is not familiar with Croydon. Even the knot in the string suggests to Holmes that they are looking for a sailing man.

It turns out to be quite an elementary case for Holmes, so much so that he asks Lestrade not to mention his name in connection with it. A few simple questions to Miss Cushing, a few observations, a cable to Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, and a visit to Miss Cushing's sister (although she will not see him because she has "brain fever") convince Holmes that the ears belong to Miss Cushing's other sister and her extramarital lover. He is convinced, too, that the dead sister's husband is the murderer, and that, going by outdated information (as he had been out of contact for a while) he sent the cardboard box containing the ears to Miss Cushing's house in Croydon. Miss Cushing's other sister, Sarah — the parcel was addressed "S. Cushing" — was apparently the intended recipient and also a former resident at her sister's, and the husband, Mr Jim Browner, a thoroughly unpleasant man, especially when drunk, had meant to horrify her instead. He blamed her for causing the trouble in his family that culminated in his murdering his wife and her lover.

Browner is indeed a sailor, and Belfast was the first port where he had the chance to post the parcel. Lestrade, acting on Holmes's information, is waiting to arrest him when his ship reaches 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...

. He confesses everything. He is presented with considerable sympathy, a simple man so tormented by guilt at his act that he would welcome being hanged. The real villain of the story - morally if not legally - is clearly intended to be Sarah Cushing, who tried to seduce Browner herself and when he rejected her advances set out to wreck his marriage with her sister.

The story's place

"The Adventure of the Cardboard Box" was not published in the first British edition of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, but it was published in the first American edition, though it was quickly removed because of its controversial subject matter. The story was later published again in American editions of His Last Bow, and put into British editions of the Memoirs. Even today, most American editions of the canon include it with His Last Bow, while most British editions keep the story in its original place, within the Memoirs.

Due to this, the mind-reading trick of Holmes was transposed to "The Resident Patient
The Adventure of the Resident Patient
"The Adventure of the Resident Patient", one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 12 stories in the cycle collected as The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes...

". This passage in the beginning reveals Dr. Watson to be an avid admirer of Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century...

, whose portrait he keeps at his home. The passage seems to have little to do with the mystery, mainly intended to let Holmes reach a new peak of his deductive powers, virtually reading Watson's thoughts. However, it might be considered an oblique hint dropped by Doyle for an observant reader - since Beecher was involved in a famous adultery trial, which would have easily come to the mind of reader at the time of publication.

The description about the mind-reading trick of Holmes was from "Our blinds were half-drawn, and Holmes lay curled upon the sofa..." to "I should not have intruded it upon your attention had you not shown some incredulity the other day.".

The Granada TV adaptation

The Granada TV adaptation with 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:...

was generally faithful to the original, with some minor variations: in the story Browner kills his wife and her lover at sea whereas in the adaptation he kills them near a pond; and the adaptation places the action at Christmas time in the midst of a cold and snowy winter, while the original story took place in high summer ("...a blazing hot day in August. Baker Street was like an oven"). In ill health at the time and near the end of his run as the famous detective, Brett nevertheless gives a focused, remarkable performance. This was the last episode broadcast, televised on the 11 April 1994.

Listen for Holmes' eloquent speech at the end of the episode; Holmes has no problem with the mystery of where the ears came from, but toward what end mortals pursue "this circle of misery, violence, and fear" is another question:

"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" says Holmes solemnly. "What is the object of this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must have a purpose, or else our universe has no meaning, which is unthinkable. But what purpose? That, is humanity's great problem, to which reason so far, has no answer."

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