Page Title

Hound of Baskervilles

The Hound of the Baskervilles

             Sherlock Holmes deduced what was really going on by noting the failure of a dog to bark - thus identifying his master and therefore the murderer in The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle.  Deductive reasoning involves reasoning in which you go from general to specific instances, by using known facts and eliminating improbable situations, and unlikely suspects.

            By sending Dr. Watson separately from himself, and going to Baskerville Hall in secret, Holmes is able to get two different viewpoints of the situation there, and then later exchange opinions and information with his partner.  Watson is at first suspicious of Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore.  He hears Mrs. Barrymore sobbing at nights, which puzzles him.  One night while Watson and Sir Henry were in the Hall, they observed Mr. Barrymore sending signals through a window using a candle.  After extensive questioning Mr. Barrymore and his wife reveal that recently escaped “Notting Hill Criminal” is really Mrs. Barrymore’s brother, Seldon, who has been living out in the moor since he escaped from prison, and Mr. Barrymore has been taking him food during the night. 

            Watson discovers the burned remnants of a letter written to Sir Charles Baskerville, the uncle of Sir Henry, prior to his death; written by Miss Laura Lyons, from Coombe Tracey.  She knew Sir Charles through Stapleton, and had written the letter asking Sir Charles to finance her divorce from her husband because she thought Sir Charles would be willing to help her since he was a nice person.  Their meeting was to be at Yew Alley in front of the gate at around 2am, which of course never occurred, as this was the time of the death of Sir Charles.  Holmes and Watson begin following Stapleton’s trail after they speak with Mrs. Laura Lyons and get the truth about her relationship with him.  Stapleton had lied to Mrs. Lyons about being single, and after Holmes proves to Lyons that Stapleton is in fact a married man, she was of course more willing to cooperate.

        Holmes and Watson also become more suspicious about the true intentions of Mr. Stapleton after they follow Sir Henry Baskerville out at night.  They see him meet Miss Stapleton in secret; from which they are able to deduce that the two have a close level of intimacy, and that Miss Stapleton is not the sister of Mr. Stapleton, but is actually his wife, which is why Mr. Stapleton guarded her so closely.  Holmes is able to reason about Mr. Stapleton’s wife because he had said once that he had been a school master in the north of England, and Holmes had done some investigation on him, and found a man with a different name to have disappeared with his wife, and that mans description fit that of Mr. Stapleton’s.  Holmes and Watson go back to Baskerville Hall, and while looking at family portraits on the wall, realizes that Stapleton himself was a Baskerville, and so he secretly stood to inherit the estate should Sir Henry, the last Baskerville, be murdered.

        Finally, Holmes sets a trap for Stapleton, and Holmes and Watson end up killing Stapleton's immense hound, which he had painted in phosphorescent paint to make it glow, as it chased Sir Henry.  However, Stapleton himself is never found; Holmes guesses that he sunk into the muck of the Grimpen Mire as he tried to escape in the fog, after realizing that Holmes and Watson had solved the mystery.