How Holmes solved "the Mystery of the Margate Museum"

Dear detectives,

Thank you to the many of you that wrote in by mail and at Dearholmes.com/solve with your questions and solutions to last month’s mystery, "the Mystery of the Margate Museum". We’re in the process of evaluating your solutions to choose our next Featured Detective, but in the mean-time, Holmes would like to share with you a letter explaining how he solved the case.

- The Dear Holmes Team

——

Sherlock Holmes

221-b Baker Street

London, England

16 April, 1898

Dear Mr. Merryweather,

I must apologize for not waiting around to meet you in person this morning after the successful resolution of your predicament, but, as my associate, Dr. Watson had informed you, I had another matter of equal importance to attend to today. You will be pleased to know, the perpetrators have been delivered to the local authorities. They are none other than your grandfather’s physician, Dr. William Wentworth, and the museum’s newest board member, an acquaintance of his from his time at sea.

I do hope you will pardon my ruse, in naming your father as the prime suspect, but I wanted to throw the real culprits off the trail. When criminals are over confident, they tend to get rather careless. Your grandfather was indeed well acquainted with his attending physician, who was a ship’s surgeon from the Merryweather fleet, but he did not realize the deep-seated jealousy the man held towards him. While Mr. Merryweather, Senior succeeded in his voyages and advanced in wealth and status, Dr. Wentworth remained a ship’s doctor, and never advanced beyond that position. He had hidden his true feelings from your grandfather, all the while anticipating that he might someday receive a just reward for his loyalty. When the doctor treated your grandfather’s injury, he expected much more than mere gratitude.

It was while he attended your grandfather during his illness and final days that the opportunity arose. While spending time alone with him, the doctor discovered the museum’s blueprints, revealing many secret passages. Realizing what they were, he came up with the plan of the threat to never remove the bust, or the treasures would vanish. The physician was the only person present to record the threat, so it was simple. Then, at some point in the future, when your father, or you did remove the bust, which he was certain would eventually happen, he could bring disgrace to your family by claiming one of you had stolen the museum’s treasures.

Your father was so devoted to your grandfather’s wishes that he never dreamed of removing the bust during his entire tenure as curator.  The doctor grew tired of waiting, so he conspired to place his accomplice on the museum board with donations from his own travels on the high seas. Once he had him in place, he used his influence to have your father retired. When you were the curator, and you did not feel so strongly about the threat of removing your grandfather’s bust, he was able to put his plan into effect, utilizing the hidden passageways.

As you had stated, Mr. Merryweather, Senior was a very peculiar fellow. What he wanted these secret passages for originally, we may never know. Your uncle had discovered them as a child. That is how he was able to disappear and reappear during those games of hide and seek. So did Lilly, the daughter of the gentleman he won his first ship from in that fateful card game.

The secret passages are how Dr. Wentworth had access to the locked foyer, as well as the storage attic to retrieve the bust and replace it on the pedestal. I was able to deduce the presence of secret passageways, and confirmed my suspicions through clandestine observation of the inside and outside of the museum. I easily determined how the thefts were taking place, and only needed to lay a trap to catch the one responsible. At that point there were still several possible suspects with strong motives.

Of course, the white haired, hunchbacked gentleman that you had noticed, was my associate, Dr. Watson. I could not allow for him to be recognized, because I did not want to let anyone know that I was already deeply involved in your case, and scare off the perpetrators. I suspected that more than one person was involved, since the threat of removing the bust of your grandfather on the one hand, and the knowledge of the secret passages on the other, had to come from a hidden source behind the newest board member, who was an unknown, unfamiliar to everyone in your family. No had thought to connect him to the doctor.

The area above the ceiling chandelier, over the pedestal, concealed a secret entryway into the foyer. It was a rope that was lowered to access the treasures, and the scuff marks that were found are an entirely different matter which I will explain momentarily. That is how he stole the treasures, and replaced them with the bust of your grandfather. The doctor, despite his age, is still quite agile and muscular from his days at sea.

I thought the newest board member was his source of information, and when you informed the board of the great treasure that was just waiting in the foyer, I knew he would inform his leader, and the thief would not be able to resist the bait. As he came again last night, he saw the label on the chest, and could not help but open it to see the priceless jewel. When he did, he was so focused on what he expected to find, he never saw me in back of him. I was hiding inside the Egyptian coffin the whole time, and witnessed the entire proceedings. Once I had him securely restrained, he confessed to everything, including leaving footprints that matched yours. Using his access, he stole a spare set of your shoes while you were distracted with everything that was going on. I had my associate Dr. Watson rendezvous with the local constables to apprehend his accomplice, and they are now both behind bars.

There are a few additional matters that I would like to elaborate on. Should you decide to pay a visit to the new museum that is opening today, you will see that the owner and manager is your long-vanished uncle. You indicated in your letter that he felt he was the more qualified curator, so he set out to prove it by collecting even greater treasures and artifacts, and opening an even better museum in your own backyard, so to speak. It is his ‘big surprise.’ While this may create a challenge to you, he had nothing to do with the robberies.

One item I do need to explain is that the disturbance to your grandfather’s grave was done on my behalf. I had to make absolutely certain that his ashes really were buried there, and that he was not perpetuating an elaborate hoax. The grave’s disturbance would have been undetected, but my associate was interrupted and had to leave rather quickly.

The final matter is a bit sadder. Using my contacts, and network of eyes and ears, I was able to track down the mysterious lady in black. While your grandfather showed Lilly every kindness he could, she grew resentful towards him, blaming him for the loss of her father.

She felt he was responsible, and had left in anger. When I spoke to her, she stated that, over the years, having witnessed numerous others destroying their lives by gambling away fortunes, she realized it was her father’s fault, and not your grandfather’s. She came back to apologize, but he had already passed on. Since that time, she had returned monthly to pay her respects to his memory, the bust in the foyer. My impression, based on the pattern you described, is that it was she who left the scuff marks next to the pedestal that day.

Now that the mystery is solved, and your position is safe, I wish you continued success in your curatorship, and I leave it up to you to determine where to place the bust of your grandfather.

Sincerely,