Jabez Wilson tells Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that he came to work at the offices of the Red-Headed League that very morning, which was a Saturday. He found the door locked and a note on it reading:
THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED October 9, 1890.
He tells Sherlock Holmes:
“I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at the offices round, but none of...
Jabez Wilson tells Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson that he came to work at the offices of the Red-Headed League that very morning, which was a Saturday. He found the door locked and a note on it reading:
THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE
IS DISSOLVED
October 9, 1890.
He tells Sherlock Holmes:
“I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on the ground floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become of the Red-headed League."
The landlord is able to give Wilson a forwarding address for the man known to him as William Morris. But when Wilson gets there he finds it has nothing to do with the Red-Headed League. Wilson is portrayed as a man of limited intelligence. He does not suspect that his own assistant could have been involved in the trick that had been played on him. He wants professional advice--but he is not willing to pay for it.
"I did not wish to lose such a place without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to you.”
Holmes is interested in the case because he believes that Wilson's assistant is the notorious criminal John Clay and therefore that some serious crime must be in progress. Holmes assumes that Clay is using Wilson's cellar to tunnel into a nearby bank when he ascertains that 30,000 gold Napoleons are stored in the bank's underground strongroom. He sets a trap, along with Watson, Mr. Merryweather the bank director, and a Scotland Yard detective, and captures Clay and his accomplice that same Saturday night when they break into the bank's strongroom. In only one day Holmes succeeds in solving the mystery of the Red-Headed League and thwarting a bank burglary of spectacular proportions. Holmes deduced that Clay and his accomplice dissolved the Red-Headed League that very morning because they were ready loot the bank that night and no longer needed to keep Jabez Wilson away from his pawn shop while they were digging their tunnel.
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