What are you doing down there Beppo.
[speaking Italian]
S tand back
we have him at last.
[speaking Italian]
Anything remarkable on hand, Lestrade?
No.
Nothing in particular.
Then tell us about it.
Now you've come to mention it, Mr. Holmes.
There's no denying there is something on my mind.
It first came to my notice four days ago.
A certain Morse Hudson has a shop
for the sale of pictures and statues
in Kennington Road.
But what happened last night was more serious
and also more singular.
Burglary.
Exactly.
A house of a Doctor Barnicot was broken into.
Now this bust was one of a pair
purchased from Morse Hudson
by Doctor Barnicot.
He had put it in his house.
The other he put two miles away in his surgery.
Later that same night.
This is certainly very novel.
Yes, I thought it would please you.
Though in my opinion it comes more into
Doctor Watson's line than ours.
Disease?
I should say madness.
Queer sort of madness too.
You wouldn't think there was anybody living,
now days would you, have such a hatred
for Napoleon Bonaparte.
Actually there are no limits
to the possibilities of monomania.
You see there is the condition
that the modern French psy chologists
have called a 'idée fixe, '
if someone became obsessed with say,
an injustice committed to an ancestor
during the Napoleonic wars,
he might form 'idée fixe',
and under its influence
he might be capable of any fantastic outrage.
My dear Watson, that won't do.
How do you e xplain it then?
I don't attempt to do so.
There you see.
I would simply observe
that there's a certain method
in this gentleman's eccentric madness.
I mean for e xample,
in Dr. Barnicot's house,
where a sound might have
aroused the sleeping family,
the bust was taken outside
before being broken,
whereas in his surgery,
where there was less danger of alarm,
it was smashed where he stood.
I only mentioned it
because you usually have a taste
for all that is out of the common,
no matter how trivial.
I dare call nothing trivial, Lestrade.
Some of my most classic cases
have had the least promising commencement.
Yeah.
That dreadful business of the Abernetty family.
I hardly call the dismemberment
of an entire family trivial.
Well Watson, would you be so kind as to e xplain?
What?
Well the point is that
it only came to Holmes' notice
because the depths which the parsley had sunk
into the butter on a hot day.
Awe.
So you see I cannot afford to smile
at your three busts, Lestrade.
However, I would be obliged
if you would keep me informed
as to developments.
Listen to this Holmes Come I nstantly,
1-3-1 Pitt S treet, Kensington.
Lestrade.
What's it about?
Well it could be anything
but I suspect it's a sequel
to his story of last night,
you know my 'idée fixe. ' Finish your coffee
there's a cab at the door.
Two minutes.
It's attempted murder at least.
Nothing less will hold the London message boy.
There's a deed of violence
in that young fellow's round shoulders
and outstretched neck.
Well, Lestrade will soon tell us.
Look at this, Watson.
The bottom steps swilled down and the others dry.
Footsteps enough, anyhow.
Yes, but whose?
It's the Napoleon bust business again, gentlemen.
They smashed another?
I 'm afraid the affair
has taken a graver turn.
This way.
Mr. Harker, allow me to present,
Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson.
Mr. Horace Harker, of the Central Press Syndicate.
Good of you to come, gentlemen.
Please forgive my agitation.
No apology necessary, Mr. Harker.
A body on one's front doorstep
is always unsettling.
You've told him then?
Not a word.
Now tell us e xactly what occurred.
It's an e xtraordinary thing.
All my life I 've been
collecting other people's news,
and now I have a real life story of my own
and I can't put two words together.
If I had been a journalist
and walked in through that door
I would have interviewed myself
and had two columns in every London newspaper.
And here I am giving away valuable cop y
by telling my story
over and over again
to a string of different people.
However, I 've heard of your name,
Mr. Sherlock Holmes,
so if you could e xplain this queer business
I 'd be more than paid for my trouble
in telling you my story.
A great deal of my journalistic work
is done at night in my den,
in that room adjacent to this one.
At some time
in the small hours of this morning.
[scream]
I shall live that moment
over and over again in my dreams.
Do we know who the murdered man was?
Not yet but you can see the body at the mortuary,
if you wish.
Where did you purchase your bust, Mr. Harker?
From Mr. Hudson of Kennington Road.
Do we know what became of it?
The officer at the door
tells me it's been found
in the front garden
of an empty house on Campden House Road.
I was just going round to see it.
Will you come?
I n a moment, Lestrade.
Well the intruder either had very long legs
or was a most active man.
With that area beneath it was no mean feat
to climb up to this ledge,
let alone to open the window.
Mr. Harker, will you come with us
to see the remains of your bust?
I must make something of it,
although I have no doubt
that every newspaper in London
will be on the streets
with a full and detailed account.
Just my luck.
Do you remember when the stand fell down
at the Downcaster Races?
I was the only journalist in that stand,
and my journal was the only one
that didn't have a published account
because I was too shaken to write a word.
Now I should be too late
with a murder on my own doorstep.
Well?
We have a long way to go
but there is one suggestive fact.
He didn't smash this in the house
or immediately outside it.
Well perhaps he was so rattled and bustled
by meeting this other fellow
that he hardly knew what he was doing.
That's likely enough.
But why did he choose to destroy it
outside this particular house?
It's empty,
so he knew he wouldn't be disturbed.
Yes, but there's another empty house
further up the street
he must have passed.
Why not destroy it there?
The lamp.
By Jove, you're right.
What are we to make of that?
Holmes?
Remember it.
Docket it.
We may come on something later,
which will bear upon it.
Meanwhile, before we go our separate ways
I suggest we make one last concerted visit.
Where to?
The morgue.
They made nothing of his identity up to now.
He was poorly dressed
but doesn't seem to have been a laborer.
Whoever's responsible
did a nasty job on the fellow's throat.
Oh that was the murder weapon,
had a serrated blade.
But whether it belonged to the murderer
or the dead man we don't yet know.
Anything in his pockets to help identify him?
Precious little.
If it might interest you, Mr. Holmes.
Forgive me, Lestrade,
I was just contemplating
the one mystery that not even I can solve.
Death itself.
Pray continue.
As you can see he carried very little.
An apple, some string,
map of London
and a photograph.
Well on part one it's torn.
Look.
Odd looking devil.
Positively simian.
What steps do you propose ne xt, Lestrade?
Well the most practical way of getting at it,
in my opinion, is to identify the dead man.
Once we know who he is
and who his associates are,
we should have a good start in learning
who killed him on the doorstep
of Mr. Horace Harker.
Don't you think so, Mr. Holmes?
No doubt.
It is not the way that I would conduct the case.
And what would you do?
Oh, don't let me influence you, Lestrade.
I suggest that you follow your line of inquiry
and I mine.
And we can compare notes,
and each supplement the other.
But if you are returning to Pitt S treet,
I would be grateful if you would tell Mr. Harker
that I have quite made up my mind,
in this matter.
And so there was a
dangerous and homicidal lunatic
with Napoleonic delusions
at his house last night.
It will help him in his article.
You don't seriously believe that, Holmes?
Don't I?
Well, perhaps not.
I 'm sure it will please Mr. Horace Harker
and the subscribers to the Central Press Agency.
I would be grateful, Lestrade,
if you could make it convenient
to come around to Baker S treet
at six o'clock this evening.
And until then
I would like to keep this photograph
found in the dead man's pocket.
Oh, Mr. Holmes that might be a vital clue.
I trust it is, otherwise it's of no interest to me.
Good luck, Lestrade.
What we pay our taxes for, I don't know.
When any ruffian can walk in
and break one's goods,
under one's nose.
A superb bit of craftsmanship it was too.
Taken from a marble cop y of the Emperor's head
by Dupr'e.
Are you familiar, by chance,
with that great artists.
Yes indeed.
Speaking in familiarly,
do you recognize the man in this photograph?
Man in the photograph?
Yes indeed I do, Mr. Holmes.
The names Beppo.
Beppo?
Yes he was a sort of,
Italian piecework man,
who made himself useful here in the shop.
Oh, he could carve a bit,
and frame, and guild.
I took him on about ten days ago
but he only stayed a week
and then just disappeared.
Didn't even collect his wages.
Perhaps he was responsible
for the breakages.
Responsible for the breakages?
Huh, responsible for the breakages?
My dear sir, this is an international conspiracy.
The Nihilist plot.
Red republications I call them.
Yes.
No one but an Anarchist
would go about breaking statues.
Did they break every one that you sold?
Break every one I sold?
No hardly that.
Just the two bought by a local doctor
and the one left here in my shop.
If anything happened to the other three
I know nothing of it.
Three?
So there was six to begin with?
Six to begin with, yes, yes.
A batch of six.
I ordered them especially
from Gelder & Company of S tepney.
They do e xcellent molding work.
Do you happen to know the names and addresses
of the other customers?
My ledgers, Mr. Holmes,
are confidential.
Mr. Hudson,
if you're theory's correct,
ought we to warn these people of this...
this most dangerous plot?
And who better to do that
than Mr. Sherlock Holmes?
Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
Yes, quite right.
Quite right, sir.
Yes, the country slumbers
but we shall remain vigilant.
Huh?
Follow me, sir.
Here we are.
Mr. Josiah Brown of Chiswick
and Mrs. Sandeford of Reading.
Mrs.? Yes.
Mr. Hudson?
Huh?
Did your two busts differ in anyway
from the other four?
Differ from the other four?
No, no they were all identical.
They're all with a beautiful decoration,
which I ordered especially.
Apart from the decoration
were your six busts
the same as all the others?
The same as all the others?
Well I suppose so.
But you'd have to apply direct
to Gelder & Company to find that out.
I n person.
Excellent idea.
Gentlemen?
When you meet the manager
would you be good enough
to warn him of the conspiracy?
With all the busts they have on the premises
the Red republicans could have field day.
Normally we sell the bust without decoration
but Mr. Hudson ordered
that the whole uniform be painted.
It was e xtra detail
and made it a very special statue.
I n times of the construction, however,
there is no reason
why the six napoleons we sold to him
should be different from hundreds of others.
You see the two molds are put together
and filled with plaster
to make the complete bust.
Are they solid?
Solid?
Yes of coarse
Then they are placed in a special room to dry
and afterwards stored.
The wholesale price is six shillings
but we would get twelve or more.
I can think of no reason
that someone should wish to destroy them.
Or murder for them.
Murder?
So,
your interest in the molding process
had ulterior motives.
Mendelstam, I wonder if you happen to recognize
the man in this photograph.
Yes indeed.
Very well.
This has always been a respectable establishment
and the only time we ever had the police in here
was over this fellow.
About a year ago
he knifed another Italian in the street
and ran in here
with the police on his heels.
Was his name Beppo, by any chance?
Beppo, yes!
His second name, I never knew.
Served me right
for employing a man with such a face.
But he was a good workman,
one of the best.
Do you happen to remember
e xactly when he was arrested?
I could check the pay list.
According to Morse Hudson's records
you sold him six Napoleon's
on June the third, of last year.
Now let me see.
That is correct
Now Beppo, last collected his wages
on May the twentieth,
of that same year.
Then he must have been arrested
sometime the following week.
Well no doubt the police have the e xact details.
The young Italian survived so
Beppo only went to prison for one year.
We have a cousin of his work in here,
perhaps you would wish to speak with him?
No.
Not a word to the cousin, I beg of you.
The matter is very important
and the further I go with it
the more important it seems.
And so yeah.
I merely thought his cousin
might know when Beppo is to be released.
Mendelstam,
if my surmises are correct,
our friend Beppo has been out of jail
for at least eleven days.
Hey, hey, Watson.
Harker has baited the traps.
The press is a very valuable institution
if one knows how to use it.
Read all about it.
Very cunning, Holmes.
Thank you, Watson.
Lestrade!
Mr. Holmes.
Doctor.
Please sit down.
Thank you.
Well uh,
what luck, Mr. Holmes?
We've had a very busy day.
Not entirely wasted.
I can trace each of the busts
now from the beginning.
The busts!
Well of course you have your own methods,
Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
Not for me to say a word against them
but I think I 've done a better days work than you.
I 've identified the dead man.
Splendid!
Who is it?
Pietro Venucci,
son of a respectable Italian tradesman
that involved with a secret political society.
Red Anarchist?
Oh you've been talking to Morse Hudson haven't you?
Do go on, Lestrade.
I refer, of course, to the Mafia,
which, as you may know,
enforces its decrees by assassination.
Obviously our murderer
broke the rules in some fashion
and Pietro is put on his track.
Possibly with that photograph
to aid identification.
They meet
but Pietro receives his own death wound
in the scuffle.
Excellent, Lestrade, but I don't quite follow
your e xplanation of the destruction of the busts.
Dear Holmes, the busts!
You can never get those busts out of your head.
The busts are nothing.
Petty larceny, six months at most.
No, no, no.
It's murder we're really investigating,
and I tell you
I 'm gathering all the threads into my hand.
And the ne xt stage?
Awe, well now.
We have an inspector who's made a specialty
out of the Italian quarter.
I shall go down there with him,
find the man in that photograph you're carrying,
arrest him for murder.
What you say, Mr. Holmes?
Will you come with us?
I think not.
I fancy Chiswick as the address
most likely to find him.
Chiswick?
If you and some of your men
will come with us to Chiswick tonight,
I will go to the Italian quarter with you tomorrow
and there will be no harm in the delay.
I suggest you dine with us
and then you're welcome to the sofa.
A few hours sleep will do us all good.
I don't intend to leave the house before eleven.
It is unlikely that we shall
be home before morning.
But Mr. Holmes...
I n the meantime,
I have a letter to send by Express Messenger.
Mrs. Hudson?
Chiswick?
[speaking Italian]
Pa Pa!
Eleven o'clock.
Gentlemen on your feet.
Come along Lestrade.
Watson, I think you've been
overgenerous with the port.
You've been frugal enough with your information.
Awe that will be our four-wheeler.
Don't forget the revolver, Watson,
and bring the rugs.
This outing wouldn't be
inspired by your 'idée fix, ' would it?
' Idée fixe. ' Yes.
The plaster bust.
I have great hopes, Lestrade.
I n fact, I bet it's e xactly two-to-one
that if you come with us tonight
you'll have the murderer in custody
before the sun rises.
I 'm not a betting man, Mr. Holmes.
Then you have nothing to lose by it do you?
Except a good nights sleep.
Watson, if you've caught a cold it's your fault.
You left the rugs behind.
Sorry, Holmes.
Is that two o'clock?
I don't suppose we can smoke, can we?
Nope.
Thought as much.
Are your men in position?
Oh yes.
Have a humbug, Lestrade.
Watson,
this is no time for humbugs.
Look!
Is that who you e xpected?
His name's Beppo.
Good name for a monkey.
He'll leave by the back door.
How do you know that?
Cause all the other doors are locked.
Oh dear, it's smashed.
Mr. Josiah Brown, I presume?
Yes sir.
And you, no doubt, are Mr. Sherlock Holmes.
I had the note you sent by the e xpress messenger
and I did e xactly as you told me.
Following your instructions,
we locked every door
so as to lead him into the back.
And I 'm very glad to see you have the rascal.
Now I hope, gentlemen,
you will come and partake
in some refreshment.
Thank you, Mr. Brown.
The hour is rather late.
Good night.
Oh good night.
Come, Watson, we have work to do.
Work?
What work?
Lestrade, if you will come around to Baker S treet
tonight at six o'clock.
I hope to be able to show you
that you still have not grasped
the full meaning of this business.
Oh, I think you'll find my theory of the Mafia
will work out all right, Mr. Holmes.
Good night, Lestrade.
Come along now.
Baker S treet please.
And now, Watson, I commend to you
the universal answer to almost all the problems.
What's that, Holmes?
Sleep.
[speaking Italian]
Morning Watson.
And since the manager of Gelder & Company
was mainly responsible for Beppo's initial arrest,
we see the breaking of the busts
as a pathetic attempt to revenge himself.
And it was possibly
the senseless acts of violence,
which transgressed the Mafia's code of behavior
and lead to the murder of young Venucci.
There, I think that takes care
of those details you mentioned last night.
Don't you, Mr. Holmes?
Holmes!
Yes Watson.
Well what do you think of Lestrade's theories?
I 'm sure that they are of the greatest interest
but I regret to say
I 've not listened to a word of them.
Forgive my inattention Lestrade,
I had a rather late night.
Look, what do you think I had?
Come in.
Is Mr. Sherlock Holmes here?
Ah,
I fear I am a little late
but the trains were very awkward.
No matter, no matter.
Have you brought the item?
Oh these are my friends and colleagues,
Doctor Watson and I nspector Lestrade
of S cotland Yard.
You may speak freely in front of them.
Gentlemen, you said in your telegram
that Mr. Hudson had given you my address.
Mr. Sandeford, of Reading.
The same, sir.
How do you do?
It's those busts again.
Correct, Lestrade.
Did he also tell you
just how much my wife paid for it?
No he did not.
Well sir, I am an honest man
and not a very rich one
and she only gave fifteen shillings for it
and I think you ought to know that
before I take the ten pounds from you
that you offered in your telegraph.
Oh your scruple does you much honor,
Mr. Sandeford but I have stated my price
and I shall stick to it.
Oh thank you, Mr. Holmes,
that's very handsome of you.
You're bust sir.
You know my wife has always maintained
there is a marked resemblance between
myself and the Emperor.
I can't say I see it myself.
Sixth Napoleon.
I contacted Mrs. Sandeford
by telegram this morning.
Now,
if you will sign this paper
in front of witnesses,
it is simply to say
that you transferred every possible rights
that you would ever have in the bust to me.
Happ y to, Mr. Holmes, happ y, happ y, happ y.
I am a methodical man and one never knows
what turn of events my take afterwards.
Here is your ten-pound note sir.
Good evening, Mr. Sandeford.
Thank you very much, Mr. Holmes.
It's good evening, gentlemen.
And it's very, very kind of you
and thank you so much.
Now gentlemen,
if you will give me your undivided attention.
Gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to one of
the most precious objects in the world.
The famous black pearl of Borgias!
Bravo, Holmes, bravo!
Oh you're a legend to man.
Rivals that [unintelligible]
This surpasses it.
The Borgias pearl's been missing
since it disappeared
from the Prince of Colonna's bedroom
in that Dacre Hotel,
over a year ago.
As you may remember, Lestrade,
I was consulted upon the case at the time.
Observe and learn.
The moment the name Venucci
surfaced to this case
I immediately became intrigued.
The Princess of Colonna's maid, for some time,
had been one, Lucrezia Venucci.
Suspicion fell on her
and it was proved that she had a brother in London
but we failed to trace
any connection between them.
Beppo was the connection.
He had been courting Lucrezia Venucci
for some time.
Where did you get that.
Pietro Venucci.
Oh, I see.
When the Venucci family
planned to steal the black pearl,
they used Beppo as a go between
for Lucrezia and her brother.
Beppo gleaned enough information
to e xecute the robber himself
and make off with the pearl.
Pietro Venucci, the brother,
caught up with him outside Gelder's workshop,
Beppo stabbed him,
he then fled into the warehouse
and took refuge in the drying room.
He knew he only had moments
in which to conceal the pearl,
which would otherwise be found on him
when he was searched.
Among all the plaster casts drying that day,
he made for the batch of six
that had been ear marked for Morse Hudson
and the base of one of them
was still soft.
It was an admirable hiding place.
As soon as Beppo got out of prison
he managed to find employment
with Mr. Morse Hudson
and set about tracking
the six Napoleons down.
He found and destroyed three of them
but the night he located Harker's,
Pietro Venucci, intent on vengeance,
accosted him and this time
Beppo slit his throat.
With only two busts left
it was likely he would
try the London one first.
Hence our visit to Chiswick.
Exactly, Watson.
That left only the Reading bust.
I bought it in your presence from the owner
and there it lies.
Well, Mr. Holmes.
I 've seen you handle a good many cases in my time
but I don't know that I ever knew
a more workman like one than this.
We're not jealous of you, you know,
at S cotland Yard.
We're proud of you.
And if you come down tomorrow
there's not a man
from the oldest inspector
to the youngest constable,
who wouldn't be glad
to shake you by the hand.
Thank you.
Would you get down the
Conk-Singleton forgery case,
please Watson?
Goodbye, Lestrade
and if any little problem comes your way
I shall be happ y, if I can,
to give you a hint or two as to its solution.