The Case of the Coachman's Cough

It was the second Thursday of January 1894 when Lady Penrose of Eaton Place sent a footman to Baker Street with a letter and a small enclosed sum.

"Our second footman, Mr Holmes - James Carstairs, a steady young man of two-and-twenty - was taken ill at our family Christmas dinner on the evening of December the twenty-seventh and died that night. The doctor pronounced a poisoning. Suspicion has fallen upon the cook, whose mince-pies were blamed; she has been with the family fourteen years and is greatly distressed. The household requires a quiet inquiry before the police court is troubled."

We took a hansom to Eaton Place. At the area gate of the Belgravia townhouse a flower-seller's barrow had been set up, the woman with a missing front upper-left tooth and a black wool shawl, calling violets in her tuneful sing-song; she gave us the smallest of nods as we descended. The dinner-room was as it had been left on the night, the table cleared but the silver still on the sideboard, the cook in tearful attendance.

The Scene

Hand-drawn floor plan of the Penrose townhouse, marking the dining-room, kitchen, footman's passage, and sick-room bell route. — The ground in question.

Setting: The Penrose townhouse, Eaton Place, Belgravia
Time: Thursday afternoon, second Thursday of January 1894
Weather: Clear; a hard frost; the streets quiet after the season's bustle
Atmosphere: A grand London dining-room kept in mourning order; the silver on the sideboard; a small fire low in the hearth; a smell of beeswax and cold soup.

The Suspects

Mrs Halloran

Cook, fourteen years in the household

A heavy, motherly woman of fifty-six, much loved below stairs. Her mince-pies were the family's tradition; she had baked them on the morning of the twenty-seventh and had served them at dinner that night.
Mr Stiles

Butler, eighteen years

A spare, competent man of fifty, who had access to the dining-room and the kitchen and had served at the table on the evening. He had no quarrel with the second footman that any of the household could name.
Master Penrose

The family's youngest son, sixteen

A clever, mischievous boy of sixteen, home from school for the season. He had been at the table; he had a small chemistry-set in the morning-room and a winter cold he had nursed since Boxing Day.
Dr Beale

Family physician, called late on the night of the death

A grave, hurried gentleman of forty-five, whose practice had grown heavier than his time these last two seasons. He had attended the footman's mother three years before the family's engagement, and had not since revisited the household's general health.

The Evidence

The cook's mince-pies

The remaining pies were on the kitchen-shelf and were tested by Holmes by the afternoon's chemist. The pies contained nothing but suet, currants, mince-meat, and a respectable measure of brandy. None of the household who had eaten of them had been ill.
The footman's persistent cough

Mrs Halloran, on Holmes's careful questioning, recalled that James Carstairs had been coughing in the kitchen these three weeks past - a slow, deepening cough that had given her concern; she had spoken of it to her sister and had wished the young man would see the family physician. He had not been seen.
Master Penrose's chemistry-set

The boy had a small chemistry-set in the morning-room - a present from his father at Christmas. The set contained no compound stronger than dilute acid for blue-ink-making and no substance that any chemist could distinguish in a dish of mince-meat.
Dr Beale's certificate

Dr Beale had pronounced poisoning on the strength of the symptoms - a sudden collapse, a rapid pulse, a face flushed and then bloodless. The certificate had been written at one o'clock in the morning, the doctor in haste to a confinement two streets distant, and had named no specific agent.
The footman's mother and the bedside-bell

James Carstairs's mother, sent for from the Borough on Boxing Day, had arrived in time to hear her son speak of a tightness in his chest that had been with him for some weeks; she had wished a doctor sent for. The bedside-bell had been rung by Mr Stiles at half past midnight, and Dr Beale had come at quarter past one.

Statements & Testimony

Mrs Halloran Reliable

Cook

“"James had a cough this three weeks, sir, and a tightness in his chest at his evenings. I told my sister of it on Sunday at chapel. He would not see Dr Beale; he said the master's doctor was for the master, not for footmen. I would have given a sovereign to have him seen."”
Mr Stiles Reliable

Butler

“"Carstairs was at his post on the evening, sir. He served the second course. After the cheese he was taken with a sudden pallor and stepped into the corridor; he came back to the dining-room ten minutes later, sat down upon a chair by the door, and was not himself again. I rang for Dr Beale at midnight when his pulse was fast. The doctor came at quarter past one."”

The Scene

The Suspects

The Evidence

The cook's mince-pies

The footman's persistent cough

Master Penrose's chemistry-set

Dr Beale's certificate

The footman's mother and the bedside-bell

Statements & Testimony

Your Verdict