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with the idea of stealing from small jeweller’s shops and recruited Whitey Johnson to act as their “stickman”. As I have already mentioned, he was a genuine cripple, having been born with a withered leg. In the past, he had acted as a “fence” for them, when they had a gold watch or tie pin to dispose of. It is most likely that it was this connection with stolen jewellery which put the idea of the robberies into their minds in the first place.
    ‘Johnson was also useful as a “stall” in obstructing anyone, in particular an irate shopkeeper, by limping out in front of him. No one would suspect him. The last person one would expect as being part of a gang ofthieves was a cripple, although I must confess the part played by the crutch in their modus operandi did not occur to me until much later.’
    He paused to raise an eyebrow at me.
    ‘Are you any nearer to deducing it yourself, my dear fellow?’
    ‘I am afraid not, Holmes,’ I replied, a little crestfallen.
    ‘Never mind. It may come to you later in a sudden flash of inspiration. To continue. The resourceful Wiggins was also able to give me the Bartletts’ address in Notting Hill, an interesting piece of information in itself, for the first robbery had occurred in that very same district and all subsequent robberies had taken place within a mile radius. They evidently preferred to operate in familiar territory where they knew which alleyways and side roads to use if they had to make a quick escape.
    ‘They were sharing a small house in a turning off Ladbroke Grove, a street in which nearly every other window contained a card advertising rooms to let, so I had no difficulty in finding lodgings which practically overlooked the Bartletts’ residence. That room was, in fact, the first of several secret addresses I acquired where I could go to change my appearance when the need arose. 6
    ‘In this case, I passed myself off as a clerk, temporarily unemployed but respectably if shabbily dressed. Mylandlady, a widow with two young children, had no reason to doubt my story. Besides, she was too grateful for the few shillings I paid a week for my board and lodgings to ask any questions.
    ‘I had insisted on having the bedroom at the front of the house from which I had a clear view of the comings and goings of the Bartletts and, within a little over a week, I had established their routine. We are all creatures of habit, Watson, and thank God for it because it made my task of keeping watch on my suspects all the easier. I knew the days and the times Rosie Bartlett went shopping or her brother left the house to visit the local public house. I also saw their visitors come and go, including Whitey Johnson, who called on them on a regular basis.
    ‘I was also able to observe all three of them at closer quarters and make myself familiar with their appearances.
    ‘Bartlett was a tall, slim man in his early thirties, with pleasant rather than handsome features, and a certain air of distinction about him. Dressed in the right clothes, he could easily pass himself off as a successful member of the lower middle classes: a head clerk in a solicitor’s office, say, or a senior cashier in a bank.
    ‘His sister Rosie was of a shorter stature but had the same upright deportment and confident demeanour, although her appearance was somewhat marred by a rather prominent nose. However, with her veil down to hide this feature, she and her brother could be takenfor a respectable married couple, comfortably off and thoroughly trustworthy.
    ‘In contrast to them, Whitey Johnson was a small, non-descript young man only in his mid-twenties and so pale and sickly in appearance that he put me in mind of a plant which had been grown in a cellar or a dark room, deprived of sunlight. It was this excessive pallor of his complexion which earned him the sobriquet “Whitey”. There were, however, two remarkable qualities about him which marked him out as someone special. The first was his