Sherlock Holmes: The Complicated Poisoning At Eel Pie Island (EP0669)

Sherlock Holmes Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio

In this classic radio drama, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate a sudden death on Eel Pie Island that initially appears to be strych

Key takeaways

• The victim, Minnie Weatherby, died from symptoms resembling strychnine but were actually caused by tetanus.
• Dr. Robert Weatherby used contaminated hypodermic needles to murder his sisters under the guise of insulin treatments for diabetes.

Main topics

• Sherlock Holmes mystery
• Eel Pie Island poisoning

Notable quotes

The rhesus sardonicus, Watson. Chronic spasms.

Conclusion

A gripping mystery that demonstrates how Holmes's scientific observati

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) The Speaker 3 (0:28) Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio. From Boise, Idaho, this is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, email it to me, box13 at greatdetectives.net. Give us a call. The number is 208-991-4783. And become one of our friends on Facebook, facebook.com slash radiodetectives. Well, today's episode of Sherlock Holmes is brought to you by the support of our listeners. And I want to thank Susan for her support. And we've sent along access to the premium site, as we do with all donations of $7 or more. All right. Well, now it is time for today's episode of Sherlock Holmes. This one is called The Complicated Poisoning at Eel Pie Island. Speaker 8 (1:25) From New York City, the makers of clipper craft clothes for men and 1036 leading retail stores from coast to coast present the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. This week's adventure, the case of the complicated poisoning at Eel Pie Island. Speaker 8 (1:58) Well, here it is, time for our weekly visit to Dr. Watson. But, hello, his study's empty. Say, don't tell us the good doctor has forgotten his appointment. Speaker 2 (2:07) Certainly not. I'm out here on the terrace. Oh, Speaker 8 (2:10) yes, now we see him on the other side of the French door, stretched out in that deck chair. Speaker 2 (2:14) Come on out. Speaker 8 (2:15) Thank you. Speaker 2 (2:16) There's another for you, Mr. Harris. Make yourself comfortable, and I'll divide a very superior sunset with you. Speaker 8 (2:22) Fair enough, doctor. Hello, what's this you've got on? Joseph's coat of many colors certainly couldn't rival that one, Doctor. Don't tell me that's one of Clippercraft's new sport jackets. Speaker 2 (2:32) Oh, no. This is what we called a blazer in my younger days. Speaker 8 (2:36) Oh, yes. Speaker 2 (2:36) The sort of outfit Holmes and I used to wear punting on the Thames. As a matter of fact, my wife was going through an old trunk and ran across it the other day. Puts me in mind of the adventure of the poisoning at Eel Pie Island. A case at once violent and... diabolically complicated. Yes, having decided to tell that story this afternoon, I appropriately donned the old blazer for the occasion, Speaker 8 (3:01) don't you know? Well, what does Mrs. Watson think of it? Speaker 2 (3:04) Oh, she's threatened to leave me if I step off the premises in it. Speaker 8 (3:08) I see what she means, Doctor. It is a bit, shall we say, spectacular? Speaker 2 (3:13) Oh, that's the trouble with the rising generation, Mr. Harris. No individuality. No dash, no style. How do you expect to impress the young ladies of your acquaintance on summer picnics or beach parties and boating expeditions? Speaker 8 (3:27) Well, by wearing clipper-craft sport coats, of course, Dr. Watson. Speaker 2 (3:30) Yes, I seem to have led with my chin that time. Speaker 8 (3:34) Oh, not at all. Just you take Mrs. Watson along when you go down to look at the new clipper-craft tropical suits and sport jackets. She'll be pleased to take you anywhere in any of them, I'll bet you. And she'll be doubly pleased because they won't knock holes in the family budget either. The man who insists on clipper craft clothes says goodbye to high prices, insofar as his clothing budget is concerned, for clipper craft clothes have never been anything but high in quality and low in price. And that goes for today, too, despite rising costs of materials and manufacturing. But great values like clipper crafts would not be possible without the famous clipper craft plan. The plan's the reason you can buy high-quality Clipper Craft suits for only $40 to $47.50, fine tropicals for summer wear for only $33.75 to $40, and smart sport jackets for only $26.50. Yes, the great Clipper Craft plan that concentrates the buying power of 1036 of the nation's finest stores from coast to coast, provides steady year-round operation, reduces manufacturing and distribution costs, and delivers the savings to you. Now, for your own sake, we urge that you compare Clipper Craft with clothes selling for many dollars more. See your Clipper Craft dealer tomorrow. Speaker 8 (4:59) Now, back to the fatal poisoning on Eel Pie Island. The title sounds indigestible to begin with, Dr. Watson. Eel Pie Island. Look, is there really such a place? Speaker 2 (5:10) Oh, the ignorance of the man. If you'd ever been boating on the Thames, you'd know it well. Yes, Eel Pie Island lies in the prettiest stretch of the river between Richmond and Hampton Court. Furthermore, it has a very popular inn which is famous for its ale and its eel pie. Oh, naturally. A cold, refreshing mug of ale after a pull up the river in the hot sun and a delicious slice of cold eel pie. Speaker 8 (5:35) I could certainly go for the first item, Dr. Watson, but I'm not quite so sure about the second. Speaker 2 (5:41) You know, Mr. Harris, that's exactly what Holmes said some 20 or so years ago. It was Sunday afternoon and Mary was expecting some relatives for tea. Noticing my agonized expression, she handed me this blazer and... suggested Holmes and I go for our annual June boating expedition up the Thames. Consequently, four o'clock found us in a four-oared skip, briskly skimming past Ham House, the Jacobean seat of the Earl of Dysart, back in 1610, Speaker 8 (6:10) of course. Oh, obviously. Speaker 2 (6:12) Yes, we were skimming. Holmes was as fresh as a daisy after a mile's pull up from Richmond. I'm afraid I had begun to melt. Speaker 4 (6:46) Get your back into it, Watson. Stroke. Stroke. Speaker 4 (6:53) Watson, that's the third time you've missed count. Speaker 2 (6:56) Stroke. Sorry, Holmes. My stomach keeps Speaker 4 (7:00) getting in the way. That's what comes of being a married man. Meals at regular hours. Nothing to jolt you out of your rut. Speaker 2 (7:08) Oh, I was jolted out of it four years when I rejoined during the late war. I enjoy my rut, thank you. I don't wish Speaker 4 (7:15) to be jolted out of it again. You mean you don't ever miss the old Baker Street days? The excitement. Speaker 2 (7:23) The suspense? The danger? I enjoy it all in retrospect. I say, Holmes, that's Ede Pie Island up ahead. What do you say we pull under those willows for a bit of a breather, eh? I don't need a breather. I wonder if the ale at the inn is as cool as I remember it. Speaker 6 (7:44) Brown, Speaker 2 (7:45) tangy, I can just feel it trickling down my throat. And the eel pie, Speaker 4 (7:52) crust all flaky and tender. I have no interest whatever in eel, Watson. Nasty, slimy fish. Besides, we're in duty bound to demolish the contents of the hamper Mrs. Watson prepared for us with such loving care. From the contents, I suspect she hoped we'd be gone a week. No, Watson. No eel pie. Stroke. Speaker 2 (8:14) Holmes, you unfeeling... Speaker 4 (8:16) However, I do think I could be interested in a mug of ale. Yes? Yes, Watson. Bear right. Speaker 2 (8:24) Stroke. Thank God you have some human weaknesses. Speaker 4 (8:43) Ah, there we are, all tied up and ship-shaped. Watson, you unpack the hamper while I go for the ale. Speaker 2 (8:47) Oh, no, no, don't bother. I go. I want to stretch my leg. Speaker 4 (8:50) No, Watson, I'll go. I thought of it first. Speaker 2 (8:52) Oh, so you can have an extra mug while you're waiting. No, you don't. We both go Speaker 4 (8:56) for the ale. Come along, then. Speaker 4 (9:00) Oh, careful. You nearly landed in the river. Speaker 2 (9:01) Oh, it's these white trousers. They must have shrunk since last summer. Can't go bounding about like a mountain chamois the way you do. Speaker 4 (9:10) That's a perfect day. What is more charming than the Thames on a Sunday in June? The little boats filled with the flower of the countryside. The dainty parasols. The airy dresses. The lacy petticoats so coquettishly displayed. I thought you were supposed to be a woman hater. I was admiring the scene quite impersonally, Watson, from the