Discussion Topic
Mr. Wilson's experience with employment in "The Red-Headed League."
Summary:
In "The Red-Headed League," Mr. Wilson's experience with employment is a ruse. He is hired by the League to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica, a job that is actually a diversion to keep him away from his shop while thieves tunnel into a nearby bank. The League's employment is a scam orchestrated by criminals.
How does Mr. Wilson's job end in "The Red-Headed League"?
Jabez Wilson’s job suddenly ends with a note on the door of the offices where he works. When Wilson went to work one morning, the door of the office was locked. There was a piece of white cardboard in the window saying “ THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890.”
There was no reason given. As we read the rest of the story, we find out why Wilson’s job ended. It ended because the job was just a ruse to get him out of his pawnshop. Criminals wanted Wilson out of the pawnshop because they were using its basement to tunnel into and rob a bank. When their preparations were complete, they no longer needed to pay Wilson to keep him out of the way.
How does Mr. Wilson secure a job in the Red-Headed League?
Jabez Wilson is the victim of an elaborate scheme to get him out of his shop during the...
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day so that his new employee John Clay, who calls himself Spaulding, can work on a long tunnel from Wilson's basement to the bank where a large amount of gold coins are being stored. Clay and his henchmen run a newspaper ad seeking a replacement for an opening in the Red-headed League, and Clay calls Wilson's attention to it. When Wilson gets to the office of this bogus Red-headed League, there are many red-headed men waiting to be interviewed; but of course Clay and his confederates have predetermined that only Wilson will get the job, which involves copying articles out of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Wilson is characterized as a gullible and simple-minded man, as he would have to be in order to fall for such a hoax. He is told that the job is his because of the exceptional color and quality of his red hair. His job is abruptly terminated when the burglars are finished with the tunnel and ready to break into the storage vault of the bank. Wilson is an amusing character who has made this one ofSir Arthur Conan Doyle's most popular Sherlock Holmes stories.