On February 20th, 2008, a frigid Wednesday, twenty six hardy members of the Greek Interpreters and guests, one from the Amateur Mendicant Society of Detroit, met at Hershey's Steak and Seafood restaurant in East Lansing for our Winter meeting. The story on which the evening's quiz and discussion focussed was "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot", a tale set on the rugged coast of Cornwall. Our group had not studied this story for at least the past three decades, so it was received with fresh eyes. The meeting opened with the customary Canonical Toasts to Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft Holmes, second Mrs. Watson and The Woman. Following the dinner, a resolution of the quiz was carried out by Bill Reusch (the chemist). This quiz and many earlier quizzes may be viewed in our archives.
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The chief program for the evening consisted of an inventive and well-documented presentation by Straubenzee (aka Michael Ellis), titled "Sherlock Holmes in the State of Michigan". Copius evidence was offered, supporting the premise that Holmes and numerous descendents located in the Northville district near Plymouth and influenced the development of forensic science in the State.
A brief discussion of the Devil's Foot raised several questions concerning matters such as the indisposition of Holmes that led to his forced vacation, and the nature of toxic ordeal poisons. Since it is mentioned in several stories, the nature of a dog-cart was queried. According to Wikipedia, it is a light, usually one-horse carriage that is commonly two-wheeled and high, with two transverse seats set back to back. It is often designed to carry hunting dogs in a cage between two cross-seats. A typical dog-cart is shown in the picture on the right.
An added feature was provided by a new member of The Greek Interpreters, David MacFarlane (Asst. Prof. Forestry Dept.). On learning that his sister, Peggy Perdue (Curator of the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection of the Toronto Public Library) was to attend a Sherlock Holmes conference in Minneapolis, David wrote the following song, which is sung to the tune of the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song.
| Who can stop a killer just in time? |
| Who can take a nothing clue and suddenly solve a most complex crime? |
| Well it's you Holmes and you should know it, |
| with each case and every little movement you show it. |
| You can stop a hound, or an evil villain, |
| criminals abound, but you're always willin'. |
| You survived a plunge into Reichenbach Falls. |
| You survived a plunge into Reichenbach Falls. |
| David MacFarlane |
His rendering of this was met with unanimous approval and applause.
At the meeting's conclusion, Bill Ballenger: recited Vincent Starrett's "221B" poem, followed by our singing of The Anthem.