The Execution of Sherlock Holmes by Donald Thomas Page A

and manoeuvre. It is a truth that the most consummate villain, or the most widespread yet tightly controlled criminal conspiracy, is helpless against one thing—the will of the people. In our case it was not only the prospect of half a sovereign for work well done that attracted these little brigands but the adventure of working with the most famous detective in London.
    I opened the paper again, no longer wondering who had sent it or how it had got here. But there was no message, nothing written on any page except the address of our rooms on the first. I stood up and shook the pages, one by one. Nothing fell out. I sat down again, went through it more carefully, and noticed that there was a page missing. It would scarcely have been noticed by anyone checking to see if a message had been written in the margin or hidden between the pages. Nowadays a single page of newsprint is sometimes added to supplement the folded double pages and this was how the mutilated one appeared.
    Without stopping to finish my breakfast or even my coffee, I called a cab from the rank at Regents Park and went straight to my club—the East India in St. James’s Square. The East India takes in every morning and evening paper from the capital with quite a few of the better-class provincials. I turned to the missing page of yesterday’s Times . The major item, a continuation of Home News under the Cricket columns, was not in doubt.
THE ELECTRIC STORM
Another Electric Explosion In The City
Fresh details have emerged from the City of London concerning the electric explosion which occurred early in the morning of Thursday last. It is the latest in a series of such accidents to the electric supply affecting the Newgate Street area. On the last occasion, our readers will recall from our report of 6 January, a series of the electric conduit boxes opposite St. Sepulchre’s and in Newgate Street itself were seen to issue smoke and shortly afterwards exploded with a burst of flame. In the present case, it is reported that a far larger explosion occurred within the disused buildings of Newgate prison.
    Contrary to first reports, there was no injury or loss of life. We are grateful to know that this misunderstanding has been clarified. The contractors’ men had not yet arrived for their day’s work. It is thanks to this, rather than to any vigilance on the part of the electric supply company, that serious injuries, indeed fatalities, were avoided. Several windows in Newgate Street were cracked by the blast and one window display in the direct path was wrecked. A column of smoke was seen to rise above the high walls of the exercise yard of the deserted prison. Any person at the centre of the explosion, where happily there were none at this hour, must infallibly have perished.
    It had been supposed that the supply of electricity, an amenity which reached only certain wards of the prison, had been disconnected some time ago. This was evidently not the case. A supply of commercial water-gas was also continued by the Aldgate Coal and Coke Company. An electric spark appears to have been the cause of the explosion. Disconnection of their supply has now been undertaken by the Charing Cross and City Electric Light Company from the company’s Newgate Street conduit box.
    It is stated on behalf of agents to the subcontractors that no serious damage was sustained beyond a small area within the prison which had in any event been prepared for demolition in a few weeks’ time. A small fire which had begun was brought quickly under control without requiring the attendance of the London Brigade. There is nonetheless a cause of severe misgiving as to the safety of the Charing Cross Electric Light Company’s mode of supply and the wisdom of allowing a flow of highly volatile water-gas to continue in such ancient and ill-ventilated premises as these. A report of the Cripplegate Ward Fire Committee is to be presented to the next meeting of the ratepayers. The matter is also to