Talk:The Five Orange Pips

the breaking of the KKK
"In fact, at the time, the Ku Klux Klan was already decisively broken by the U.S. authorities, with its revival in 1915 still long in the future"

I think this should be reworded. After all the short story itself offers an explanation of why the KKK lost power: "the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of Openshaw from America" as Sherlock Holmes says himself. As written, this implies an oversight which simply isn't there. 85.227.226.168 18:26, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

incomprehensible
I removed the following passage:

"In Sept 1887 John Openshaw receives a letter postmarked from London's Eastern division and the same message his father received. The only clue John can furnish is a diary page marked March 1869 in which "pips" are sent to three men of whom two have "cleared" and one was "Visited" which he had found in a fireplace among the burned papers."

Feel free to put it back again if you can untangle the grammar 85.227.226.168 18:28, 24 May 2007 (UTC)


 * It seems perfectly clear to me! 2A00:23C8:8F8A:B700:F:3360:E1C5:FDA5 (talk) 15:29, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

A Good Story but....

 * What proof can Holmes furnish a Jury that the Lone Star Captain and Mates committed three murders?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.53.145.63 (talk) 17:05, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Is there a tradition of 5 pips meaning death in America?
In today's episode of Sherlock (on Masterpiece Theater), Sherlock's Victorian persona (it's complicated) says that receiving 5 pips is a known American symbol/tradition that means the recipient is going to die. Is there any historical basis for him saying this or did Conan Doyle make this up out of whole cloth? Ileanadu (talk) 05:36, 2 January 2016 (UTC)


 * I came here wondering the same thing.
 * —DIV (120.17.224.18 (talk) 13:03, 27 November 2016 (UTC))