Discussion Topic
Motivations behind Wilson joining the Red-Headed League and "Spaulding's" influence
Summary:
Wilson joins the Red-Headed League because of the promise of easy money for minimal work, influenced by his assistant "Spaulding" who suggests the opportunity. "Spaulding" manipulates Wilson to join as part of a larger scheme, using the League as a distraction to facilitate a bank robbery.
Why does "Spaulding" want Wilson to join the Red-Headed League?
John Clay, who uses the name Vincent Spaulding, went to work for Jabez Wilson because Wilson's pawn shop was well situated for tunneling about one block to the bank where the gold French napoleon coins were stored. Wilson tells Holmes that he was advertising for an assistant. Clay pretends to have the hobby of photography and to be developing his pictures down in the dark cellar. But Wilson's presence must be a huge hindrance. Clay is thinking of some way of getting rid of his employer for part of the day. If Clay had the shop to himself he could not only spend full-time digging the tunnel, but he could bring in his accomplice, the man who pretends to be the manager of the Red-Headed League and who calls himself Duncan Ross.
The fact that Jabez Wilson has blazing red hair gives Clay the idea of inventing a totally fictitious...
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"Red-Headed League" and getting Wilson to apply for an advertised vacancy. Wilson works at the office of the League for eight weeks and gets four pounds a week in gold sovereigns on Saturday. Everybody worked six days a week in those times. In those eight weeks Clay and his partner manage to dig all the way to the bank and are ready to break into the bank's underground strong-room where the gold is stored. They post a notice on the office door of the League on Saturday morning stating that the League has been dissolved. That is what brings Wilson to see Sherlock Holmes. The detective deduces that Clay must be digging a tunnel and is about ready to burglarize the bank, which would explain why he no longer needs to keep Wilson away from his pawn shop. Holmes deduces that they plan to raid the strong-room that weekend, so he is waiting for them with Watson, the bank's director Mr. Merryweather (who has to admit them through several locked doors and gates), and a officer from Scotland Yard.
Wilson comes to work on Saturday morning and finds the notice that the League has been dissolved. He goes to see Sherlock Holmes that same day. Holmes recognizes the notorious John Clay from Wilson's description of him, including the fact that he has his earlobes pierced. The four men wait in the dark for Clay that night and capture him. So the whole case is cracked in one day.
Late that same night, Holmes explains his thinking to Watson over a couple of whiskies at Baker Street.
“You see, Watson,” he explained in the early hours of the morning as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, “it was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League, and the copying of the Encyclopaedia, must be to get this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better.
Why is Wilson interested in joining the Red-Headed League?
Mr. Wilson wants to join the Red-Headed League simply because he wants the money. The job is a ridiculously easy one, copying the encyclopedia, and the pay is good.
The strange story begins when Mr. Wilson gets a new assistant who does good work for little money. This young man shows him a newspaper advertisement for a strange group called The Red-Headed League.
The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says:
“ ‘I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.’ ”(p. 5)
This sparks Mr. Wilson’s interest. He finds out more about the job, and applies for it.
For £4 a week, all Mr. Wilson has to do is copy the Encyclopaedia Britannica and not leave the room.
‘No excuse will avail,’ said Mr. Duncan Ross; ‘neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your billet.' (p. 9)
Of course, the League turns out to be a front for the bank robbery, and when it closes up one day Mr. Wilson hires Mr. Holmes, who figures out what is going on and makes sure the criminal is arrested.