THE ADVENTURE OF THE CROOKED MAN
THE MEMOIRS OF
SHERLOCK HOLMES SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
THE ADVENTURE OF THE COOKRED MAN THEME: Mystery Story CHARACTERS PEOPLE: * Sherlock Holmes * Watson * Colonel James Barclay * Mrs. Barclay (Nancy Devoy) * Henry Wood * Ms. Morrison PLACE: * Two maids * Aldershot town * Coachman * Lachine House TIME - EPOCH: Summer 1.888
During the trip, Holmes explains to Watson that James Barclay was the commander of the Royal Mallows. Barclay married a very beautiful woman named Nancy Devoy and their thirty year marriage had been considered a happy couple.
The previous day,
Mrs Barclay and Mss. Morrison had left Lachine House. When Mrs Barclay returned she asked the maid for some tea.
When the maid brought the tea, she found that the door was locked and a furious fight was taking place between Mr and Mrs Barclay inside the room.
The servants heard Mrs Barclay reproach her husband for being a coward. Suddenly there was a cry from Colonel Barclay, a crash and then Mrs Barclay screamed. ide and The coachman ran outs the glass h g u ro th m o ro e th d re te n e e lawn. th to n o d e n e p o h ic h w rs o do inted fa d a h y la rc Ba rs M d n u He fo couch. and was laying upon a floor near Colonel Barclay lay on the e Colonel the corner of the fender. Th round his a d o lo b ith w d a e d s a w r upon a fe f o k o lo le ib rr te a d n a d hea his face.
Hol me s rea son ed tha t the re mu st have been a third person in the room that night and that it was this individual that took away the key.
h i s F r o m observations Holmes can tell that a man ha d sto od in the road and seen the quarrel between Mr and Mrs Barclay and then run across the lawn and entered the room. The third person then left the way he had come taking the key with him.
tell Miss Morrison that the night of the Colonel's death, she an d M rs Ba rc la y back to home to ge th er . As th ey walked a severely crippled man was coming towards them. As he passed he recognised Mrs Barclay and called out her name. Mrs Barclay recognised the man called him He nr y. Th ey bo th se em ed ov er co m e wi th em ot io n at seeing each other. te Mrs Barclay talked in private with the man for a few minu ats and Miss Morrison noticed th y af te r th is ta lk M rs Ba rc la seemed to be very angry.
Holmes locates the mysterious crooked man, Henry Wood. Once Wood is told that Nancy Barclay ma y be ch ar ge d with her husband's murder he agrees to tell his side of the story. Henry Wood gives an extraordinary and tragic account of his life.
He was in the same regiment as James Ba rc la y in Ind ia . Henry met Nancy Devoy and the two fell in love although Nancy's father wanted her to marry James Barclay. During the Mutiny Wo od vo lun te er ed to sli p through enemy lines and get help. James Barclay arranged the route and betrayed Henry to the rebels. Wood endured years of slavery and torment which left him crippled and disfigured.
Wood had been reported dead. After his escape from his tormentors he wished for his friends to remember him as he had been and did not make his story known. Eventually Wood decided that he wanted to see England again. In his chance meeting with Nancy he told her what had befallen him and Nancy then knew the true character of the man she had married. Wood followed Nancy home and witnessed the altercation between husband and wife. He entered the room and at the sight of the man he had betrayed James Barclay had a fit. He fell down and hit his head but he was dead before he fell.
Nelly Ortiz Agudelo