The Adventure of the Bludgeoning Bobby

Three strangely similar murders, one each night, have occurred in London during the past three nights. In each case, the victim was a large, well-built man in his early twenties. Each victim had been bludgeoned to death--hit over the head with a blunt object. Each had apparently killed in the early morning hours around dawn. Each body was found in or near the Park. Each victim had fresh black Earth under his fingernails. And perhaps the oddest similarity of all is the fact that each of the three victims was seen in the custody of a policeman the night of his death.

The three victims were Barney Grantweather, a Locksmith's apprentice; William Beck, a porter at the Hotel; and Maclain Forrester, a docker.

Both Grantweather and Beck, on separate nights, were seen as they were stopped by a constable and apparently arrested outside the Boar's Head. Forrester was last seen talking with a policeman outside the Theatre. In each instance, witnesses were able to identify the policeman only as a man of medium height, medium build, and around forty years of age.

The constables currently on night duty in the general area of the Boar's Head and the Theatre are Barnaby Hawkins, Ross Caruthers, and Ainsley Deacon. But all of these men are well under forty; and none of them professes to have seen the victims before the murders.

Scotland Yard, extremely concerned about the possible involvement of a policeman in this shocking series of murders, is desperate to find the killer before a public panic sets in.

Inspector Lestrade, pressured by his superiors for a swift solution to the murders, has come to 221B Baker Street to review the facts with the master detective.