How Holmes Solved “The Case of the Coded Silver Handkerchief”

Dearest detectives,

As always, we’d like to thank those detectives who wrote in by mail and at Dearholmes.com/solve to help Holmes solve November’s mystery, "The Case of the Coded Silver Handkerchief". We’re looking at your solutions now to choose our next Featured Detective, but in the mean-time, Holmes would like to share with you a letter explaining how he unravelled the case.

Best wishes and best of luck with our latest mystery,

The Dear Holmes Team

——

July 14th, 1899

Dear Mr Tremblay,

I want to personally thank you for your part in the prosecution of Johnny Gauthier (a.k.a "The Eel"), and for helping to ensure that Mr Gauthier remains in prison for a very long time. Your investigations also contributed to the capture of Miss Emily Worthington, who will serve a sentence for her central involvement in the theft and attempted sale of the brooch. Captain Prior wrote to me commending you on your bravery. I commend you as well, and believe it is time for me to fully reveal how I was able to work with the information you provided to draw my conclusions.

When you sent me the message that was embroidered on the handkerchief, I agreed with you that it was a code. The fact that the girl told you that she was sent from the mysterious Johnny and that someone was following her implied that there was danger and secrecy around the diamond brooch. Furthermore, that the brooch was wrapped in the silk handkerchief indicated that the code was a set of directions. An expensive, stolen diamond brooch would not be delivered without some form of orders, however cryptic.

Still, I needed more information to discern the meaning of the message (which I have reproduced below):

5E . . . EAST . . . TEDS FILE

The Fourniers and The Eel would not want a code that someone could just look up in a book, or that someone unintended could recognize. Solving this code requires several pieces of knowledge. As the criminals knew well, a code is always the most secure when it cannot be solved by knowing just one fact. 

First of all, you were correct in your figuring out that 5E means 5th in French. As you have discovered, both Johnny Gaulthier and the Fourniers are of French Canadian origin, and as such they are all speakers of French. However, newcomers to any country tend to employ a mixture of their native and newly adopted languages. It is not surprising, then, that although the first part of the clue is in French, the next part is English. This blending of languages would also have been intended to mix up anyone outside of the crime ring that got their hands on the clue. 

Once I became aware that we were in search of the 5th of some place or destination, the next step was to figure out the rest of the clue, "EAST . . . TEDS FILE", and to determine how it was intended to be used.

You did very well, Mr Tremblay, to investigate the storage crates left behind by the Fourniers. Based on your detailed description of the hymn books that were contained therein, I suspected that these hymn books were being used to transport stolen goods. You were correct in your instinct that the pages had been ripped out intentionally. The empty books could be used to conceal, in this case, a stolen brooch. 

Now you are likely asking yourself why these books that were intended for transporting stolen goods were located in the Fournier's basement? Despite your customer Mr Harold Moore's flattering description of the Fourniers, I had immediately suspected their involvement in a crime ring with Johnny "The Eel". I based this first of all on the fact that the brooch was brought to their former shop, and also from Mr Moore's suggestion that they all frequent the same church, which has an active community attached to it.

Soon thereafter, I became more confident with my hypothesis when you informed me that "Anguilla", a code for Johnny Gaultier's nickname ("The Eel"), was printed on the wooden crates in the basement. This clue pointed quite clearly to a tie between the Fourniers and "The Eel".

Now, returning to the code itself, to solve "EAST . . . TEDS FILE" required a classic rearranging of letters. As far as this type of code goes, its creators did well to conceal the code as a phrase that appears to be a set of directions. One might assume at first glance that the directions lead in an eastward direction toward the file of some Ted. Furthermore, I am not surprised that you wondered whether "Ted" from the clue could be Theodore Worthington, the father of Miss Worthington.

However, after years of experience in interpreting codes, I always assume that messages cannot be taken at their face value. Given that "TEDS FILE" seemed suspiciously specific and revealing for a set of surreptitious directions, I quickly considered how else these words could be read. Before long, I realized that "TEDS FILE" is an anagram for "LEFT SIDE". 

In that line of thinking, I wondered if "EAST" could be in reference to the east side of the church. However, considering that the code begins with "5E" or "5th" it seemed possible that "EAST" meant something else, something concrete that could be qualified by the descriptor "5th". That set me to look again at all of the evidence you reported to me.

Since the Catholic hymn books had come from the Sainte Marie church, as was printed clearly on their covers, and given the fact that some of them were hollowed out, I ascertained that the books, as well as the stolen goods they conceal, were intended to be brought to Sainte Marie for delivery to the next step in the crime ring.

Given that the intended destination for the hymn books was a church, I began to consider the various parts of a church and all of the places where a hymn book could be placed discretely. Even though you are not a man of the church, Mr Tremblay, you are probably familiar with the fact that hymn books are typically located at the church pews for people in attendance to read and sing from. 

With this fact in mind while staring at the code, I realized that "east" is an anagram for "seat". In this case, "5E EAST" would mean "5th seat" and the entire code would be directing us to the "5th seat left side", where a stolen brooch could indeed be placed inside a hymn book.

However, it would be highly risky to leave a brooch of such value inside a church that is opened to the public. In order to ensure that the brooch was not picked up by a lucky church goer, the criminals would need to specify when to make the exchange. I poured over your letters looking for any indication of a date or time. The hint that jumped out to me was the bible verse that the disguised street woman recited to you, which you finally discovered comes from Matthew 6:18. This verse, read as the date 6/18 or June the 18th, falls approximately 3 weeks after the day that your customer Mr Moore correctly told you that Johnny "The Eel" would be released from prison in the same amount of time.

This discovery leads me to the crucial subject of identifying the players involved in this crime. Your investigations helped me immensely in uncovering all of the criminals involved. We know that Johnny "The Eel" was set to be released from prison sometime around the middle of June. From the bible verse, Matthew 6:18, we learned that the diamond was set to be delivered to the church on June 18th. It follows that Johnny "The Eel" had intended to pick up the stolen diamond brooch in church on that day and in that place. This was probably a common transfer spot between "The Eel" and the Fourniers. It was away from the Fournier's shop so they would not be implicated in any crime.

As for the matter of the party intended to deliver the brooch, I ascertained from the fact that the stolen brooch was brought to the Fournier's former shop, and from their association with Johnny "The Eel" (as evidenced by the hymn books and their common place of worship) that they would, if they had not absconded to Canada, have delivered the brooch to Johnny "The Eel" during church services on June the 18th, in the 5th seat on the left side of the church.

Indeed, Mr Gaultier has since informed authorities in his confession that the Fourniers often used hymn books from their church, Sainte Marie, to deliver stolen goods to him. This was doubtless an effective way for a couple such as themselves to conceal their crimes, using religious observance as a veneer of morality.

That still leaves the matter of the beggar women who brought the brooch to your shop. You were correct in your finding that this young woman was Miss Emily Worthington. Furthermore, the rumour you heard from the Worthington's gardener, that Miss Worthington's mother had accused her of stealing, pointed to the likelihood that Miss Worthington stole the brooch from her family. This indeed turned out to the case, which was confirmed by Mr and Mrs Worthington, who were so exasperated by their daughter's illicit behavior that they refused to defend her in court.

Now, how did you get mixed up in this? I surmise that when Johnny Gauthier was arrested, the Fourniers panicked and moved back to Quebec where they would be in another country and away from  U.S. law. Miss Worthington, having already stolen the brooch from her family, needed to get it to Johnny as soon as he was out of prison, so that he could sell it. Miss Worthington delivered the brooch to your address thinking she was handing it over to Mr Fournier. Since the couple had left town as quietly as possible it is not surprising that Miss Worthington would have been unaware that they left.

Unfortunately, the Fourniers have successfully hidden themselves in Canada and have yet to be brought under the law.

Why was Miss Worthington involved with Mr Gauthier? The circumstances here illustrate the sad fact that those who have been provided with everything sometimes turn sour. I'm sure Miss Worthington saw galivanting with a known criminal as an exciting caper. Her fickle romances with other upper-class youth demonstrate that she was looking for something more than her comfortable life. She disguised herself as a beggar woman to try to throw him off of her tail when she delivered the brooch. 

Now let me commend you for your part in capturing Gauthier. Once I solved your puzzle, I immediately wired the Manchester police and was put in touch with Captain Prior. As you know, he then went to your shop and took the diamond brooch from you. The Captain told me how you agreed to help him apprehend "The Eel." 

Prior left a note in a hymn book at the specified date and location in Sainte Marie church saying to meet you in an alley and you would hand over the brooch for a cut of the profits. The Captain and his men hid while you met with "The Eel," and they overheard him confess to the crime. Once he paid you for the brooch, they apprehended him. This time the police have enough evidence to put him in prison for some years to come. 

I also know that you put yourself in great danger by assisting the police in this work. Captain Prior told me that you had to move your business once again, this time to another state. He would not share your location with me and I agreed that it was best not to put that information in a wire or a letter. He did assure me that he would get this message to you.

Thank you for all your work on this case.

Sincerely,