The Great Journey: From Meiringen to Milan
by Enrico Solito
The quest about the times, the ways and the itinerary of the great journey, during which at the beginning of may 1891 Sherlock Holmes came in Italy, has always been of the utmost interest for italian holmesians. This quest, however, is of course a speculative one, for it is founded on the few canonical references and the few period sources.
This presentation, however it continues to be a probabilistic speculation, wants to offer a someway new contribution on the argument.
"Data, give me data" Holmes implored, and so we will begin listing the few certain points we dispose.
In the afternoon of May, 4th, 1891, after they wandered about Switzerland, leaving the Rhode Valley in Leuk, crossed the Gemmi Pass, arrived in Interlaken and then in Meiringen, Watson and Holmes make for Rosenlaui, where they decided to spend the night. They arrived at the Reichenbach Falls, Watson is attracted forward with a trap and Holmes duels against Moriarty (FINA).
Holmes survives and climbs the mountain over the path: he assists at Watson’s despaired searches, and decides to pretend to be dead. On the nightfall Watson goes away and Holmes is alone: Moran is still around and tries to kill Holmes hurling a rock: Holmes reaches the path and " I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence, with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me." (EMPT)
The first point in the sentence is: why Florence? Why doesn’t he say, more generically, Italy, or for example, Bologna (a city he surely crossed to arrive in the boarding ports for India) ? We shall return on this point in the second part of this presentation, but one must note here that this sign is an explicit one and implies several meanings. According to Haynes- and I agree- Florence is the point where Holmes direct because he needs help, ragged, bloody and alone.
But we are now on the swiss montains, in the night of the 4th of May. Which was the way Holmes chose? In an interesting article on Shoso-In Bullettin, 1999, Meers concluded that Holmes, after the Reichenbach adventure, choosed not to go in Canton Ticino (crossing the Grimsel and Nufenen-Pass) but the route to Rosenlaui, Grindelwald, Interlaken and then Geneve.
I take the liberty to summarise his ideas.
The shortest way for Italy would be to go in Canton Ticino crossing Grimsel pass and the Furka Pass. But it is incredible Holmes crossed two alpine passes in only a night, in such conditions and before the summer. So he continued toward Grindewald , then arrived in Interlaken, and directed to Geneve.
Meers discovered an advertisment in the "agony column" of The Journal of Geneve, 6-5-1891, in which a stranger looked for an accomodation in town, and the opportunity to learn French.: contacts should be got with N.V, Chemin des Tranchees 5: Un etranger d’une grande famille cherche chambre et pension a la campagne ou en ville, dans une bonne famille ou, il aurait l’occasion d’apprendre le francais. S’addresser N.V., Chemin des Tranchčes, 5 au 2° ;
Then Holmes could direct to Florence , crossing France, then Torino and Bologna.
The analysis of the times proves all this is possible. But in my opinion many thinks contrast against this recontruction.
The road for Rosenlaui was probably the most dangerous choice for Holmes. Everybody knew that Watson and Holmes wanted to go to Rosenlaui., and go to France (where he was some months before) would be the most reasonable thing to do for Holmes, from Moran’s point of view. If Moran was still around (and he was!) the most likely point in which he could wait Holmes would be on the road for Rosenlaui.
If the Reichenbach struggle occurs on 4th, Holmes could hardly arrive in Geneve , find an address and put an advertisment on the newspaper within the evening of the 5th.
If Holmes was in Geneve, the last of his ideas would be to call attention on himself. Moran is finding for him, he tries to hid himself : to put an advertisment on the newspaper saying he is a stranger should be the same to say "here I am".
Holmes knew French. Not only he quotes French sentences (STUD,SIGN, STOC,MUSG,) but he reads in SIGN the letters by Francois Villard, written in French, as Watson says.
Anyway , if the Master decided to deepen his French, why now? He was in Geneve few days ( "a week later I was in Florence") : it is not a good moment to study a language. Maybe Holmes changed his mind , leaving precipitately Geneve (Moran was on his footsteps?) : but we have no clue for this.
I suspect the advertisment was made by another british gentleman in that period in Switzerland, who wanted to deepen his French to renew his contacts with his local parties: he was Sebastian Moran.
Let me a little digression, whose importance is fundamental to explain my ideas about the whole affair. According to my friend and fellow Dr Giovanni Cappellini I deeply doubt Moriarty was a simple english criminal, even utmost clever. The demoniac web described by Holmes was extended on the whole Europe, as proved by the pusuit of Holmes. Moriarty knows any move of Holmes: he is at Gemmi Pass and at Reichenbach Falls anticipating Holmes. This implies a large web, informants between the guides, the employees of the hotels and restaurants...Holmes fought for a large part of his life against the Chancellery of Berlin , that continuously tried to penetrate England and Ireland. I think there was a sort of overlapping of the webs of Kaiser and Moriarty. We can’t explain in other ways the decision of Holmes to fly and disappear for 3 years : if the question would be only Moran he surely should face him (as he in fact did in EMPT). Many clues in the Canon bring us in such a direction, above all the analysis of the places visited by Holmes during the Great Hiatus 1891-1894: Tibet, Persia, Sudan, and the reports he continuously gave to Foreign Office through Mycroft (EMPT): all critical points in the foreign british politics, frictions between Powers (France, Russia) who, after the clever work of Sherlock (and Mycroft) Holmes will be partners in the Entente Cordiale in order to contrast the Central Empires. Now the importance of Florence becomes clear: non only a sure refuge, agreed with Mycroft in case of crisis, but an english basis in Italy not too much defilated from Italian Government...but we will return on this point.
We return now at the 4th of May, on the swiss mountains.
I casually discovered a 1891 Baedeker about Switzerland in Florence (it’s the truth, on my word), and so we can have informations and plants. Moreover we know that in May the new moon was the 8th: only a little part of the moon was visible, and the darkness total.
First possibility. Holmes could return in Meiringen in order to go to Intelaken, repeating the way of the day before. The village had surely been in utter confusion for the new of the tragedy, and surely there would be preparations for the quest of the day after of the bodies: but the master could easily avoid the village trough a path in the woods. But Holmes says he walked "over the mountains", not in the valley, toward the lake. So we can discard this ipothesis.
We have then the idea of Meers: to Interlaken, crossing Grindewald, on the mountains over Interlaken. We said it was the most dangerous choice for Holmes, for Moran and his parties knew the path to Rosenlaui was the original plan. Moreover we can study this path on our Baedeker. Holmes says he walked for ten miles: this is he would arrive in Grindewald: not only he had to walk for 8 hours (the time expected by our guide for that path, during the day) but he had to climb the Great (6434 f., Rosenlaui is 4363 and Grindewald 3400) : and all this in the night, in a deep darkness, on an unknown path, in precarious phisical and psychical conditions ...we can see that the same initial arguments used by Meers condamn his ipothesis. We can’t agree this was the way Holmes chose.
The path towards the falls and that one who goes to Rosenlaui and Grindewald intersects the great road to the Grimsel Pass, a mile from Meiringen, near the village of Willigen : this is the way Meers considers the most logical, and he denies it only for Holmes couldn’t face the Pass in the night.
But Holmes doesn’t says at all he did it. In the night he did only "ten miles" : and on the great and comfortable road, that he could cover without the danger to lose his way, as was possible on a simple path in the darkness, there was the village of Guttanen, at 9,5 miles from Meiringen, near before the final slope toward the Pass: we can easily think this is the right way, over the mountains but well practicable in the night. The day after Holmes, reassured and rest could arrive at Grimsel Pass and then choose between two possibilities. He could turn into the great Furka Road (builted for military purpose, comfortable and covered in the summer even by the carriages for tourist service), cross the Furka Pass (7990 f.) and then go down quietly to Goshenen, an important railway junction of the Gothard line : on the whole 23 miles from Meiringen. But when he was on the Grimsel pass he could go down in Cantone Vallese, travelling until the region of Sempione Pass (the tunnel was not until opened) and cross the frontier between Macugnaga and Domodossola.
But there is another possibility for our fugitive, according to our Baedeker. On the road that goes to Grimsel Pass, at only 3,5 miles from Meiringen, near Innertkirchen, there is a fork, where one can turn into the Susten Road: another great road, builted in 1811 and so large that one could go by carriage for a long tract. The Susten Pass (7420 f.) is at 9 hours by feet: then the road goes down to Wassen , another important railway station on the Gothard line: on the whole 42 miles from Meiringen. Our Baedeker says this journey was easy and without necessity of Swiss guides . At 10 miles and only 4 hours by walking from Meiringen one could find the villages of Furen (formed by Untere Furen and Ubere Furen) and Gadmen (three parts: Buhl, Muhleschlucht and Obermatt).
This possibility toward Ticino and the Gothard railway was too opened and possible for Holmes.
If one objects at the beginning of May the Susten, Furka, Grimsel Pass could be closed for the snow we must remember Dr Watson says they crossed the Gemmi, a little higher . Moreover Dr Watson speaks about " a charming week... wandering up the valley of the Rhone" and " lovely trip", so implying a good weather: and when they arrive on the Gemmi pass he notes " the dainty green of the spring below, the virgin white of the winter above". When they arrive at the Gemmi Pass, " still deep in snow ", but practicable, the rock destinated to Holmes " roared into the lake behind us ": our Baedeker advise us the Dauben lake is frozen seven months a year. If the rock "roars" and not "snaps" on the ice, we can deduce the lake is not frozen. So, all our dta confirm the passes were practicable.
The railway line that leaved Lucern, crossed Wassen and Goshenen, slipped into the Gothard Tunnel (opened in 1882) arrived in Bellinzona in three hours , Lugano in 4-6 (according to the trains) and Milano in 6-10 hours.
Now we have to examine a fundamental question about the journey: the documents and the money.
In London Holmes planned a long stay in Europe, and the loss of Watson’s and his baggage: he surely foresaw a good sum of money. In a great part this had been credits in several banks, but he had to bring a good supply of money. Holmes took this sum with him during the trip to the Falls (he couldn’t trust on a innkeeper just known, and moreover was a custom of british gentlemen travelling out of England to keep one’s money in a secret bag weared under the cloths), but he couldn’t trust on the banks if he wanted to continue to be incognito: only the fresh money was spendable. British coins and banknotes were normally used in Switzerland and Italy , and Holmes had french and swiss francs. On the whole it was probably a good amount, that was quietly enough for the journey until Florence and the purchase of new clothes, as well as the cost of the telegrams he surely sended to advise Mycroft in London. Concerning this one can note that in Switzerland it was possible to send a telegram from any lonely postal office, the ones too without telegraph: you only had to write a letter and write "Telegramma restante" (for foreign countries), then put normal stamps for the value of the telegram. The letter was sended to the nearest postal office with telegraph, and there opened: the letter was sended as telegram. So Holmes could send a telegram to Mycroft, probably under a code, from anyone of the villages he crossed, without documents to send it, no fear someone could go back to him from the telegram.
The documents. In Italy Holmes had surely to present false documents to prove his new identity. We will see our country was in those days in a great confusion, with the wathcful police of Crispi hunting anarchists and socialists in all the country, after the manifestations for the First May : there were continue controls , and it is impossible that a foreign person should not be noted. The question is: where and when Holmes obtained false documents?
Some students propose still in London Mycroft gave it to his brother,when they planned the whole operation. Even not thinking the missing of Holmes three years long was totally programmed, one can think the detective armed himself with false documents in order to disguise himself against Moriarty: but when he invites Watson to return in London, for the situation is too much critical, he showes no sign of this idea. Surely in Meiringen they are not in disguise: the innkeeper talks at Watson as "Doctor".
Even if he had no false documents when he was at the Falls, it was not dfficult to have it in Switzerland, expecially near the boundary. Smuggling was common, and many mountain men, in both the sides of the boundary, used to carry goods and men over the fronter.
Again, the analisys of the times helps us. We know not later the evening of the 6th Holmes was near the boundary: in the region of Sempione if he turned on Grimsel and Canton Vallese, in Bellizona if he crossed-as I think- the Canton Ticino. On the 12th he is in Florence, so he arrives in Milano on the 10th or 11th: if he stopped for a long time in Milano he would say "I found myself in Milano", not in Florence. So, what he does for 4 days?
It is the time he needed - I believe- to obtain false documents and cross the boundary. He crossed it quietly on a train of the Gothard line, if he had it in Switzerland, or by smugglers trough the Sempione or the lakes if he obtained them in Italy. If I must choose an ipothesys my propension is for Switzerland: not in a sordid smuggler lair, but in an efficient office of some specialized holding. From there he could advise his brother he was directed to Florence, and to the person he had to contact in case of crisis, according to the plan arranged in London. Now I should say who was that person, but any thing has its time.
We found Holmes ragged and flying over the swiss mountains: we leave him today arriving in the Milanese town, and we know he will restart tomorrow to the Tuscany. We shall find him in Florence and we shall speak about him next week: a week later, that it is. Thank you.