The short, but merry, history of the Montague Street Incorrigibles

A lot of Sherlock Holmes societies meet in member's homes. A lot meet in restaurants. But very few Sherlockian societies composed of real people have ever met in fiction. How did this happen? Members were sent a variety of questions and topics which they wrote responses to, then sent those responses back to the club secretary. The club secretary then wove those responses into a fictional tale where every word the members spoke was something they had written. The fictional gatherings took place at the Dangling Prussian, and members were originally encouraged to read the resulting issues at the same moment on the same day, gathering in spirit. Sometimes fiction bled into reality, as when the meeting/issue had a Victorian haypenny in with the packet, a coin that played a vital part to the meeting's events. (This perhaps was taken too far when the group's second annual banquet came complete with "instant gruel.")

The Montague Street Incorrigibles was, perhaps, a concept slightly ahead of its time, as the cut-and-paste world of personal computers and e-mail had not yet begun . . . modern conveniences that might have extended the club's run. The amount of retyping involved eventually caused the club secretary to call it quits, and the Montague Street Incorrigibles gave way to the Dangling Prussian Amateur Press Association.

February 21, 1985. The Montague Street Incorrigibles gather fictionally in the upstairs clubrooms at the Prussian for the first time, to speak in their own words. Present are Pattie and Terry Brunner, Kathy Carter, Bill Cochran, Arminius Detweiller, Pj Doyle, Jim Duval, Brad Keefauver, and Gordon Speck.

June 20, 1985. Finding a half-penny on the floor, one of the members bends over to pick it up and avoids being shot in the head by Sebastian Moran, compliments of Wally Conger. The Moran/Conger literary dispute was never completely resolved.

October 24, 1985. Mrs. Hudson cooks dinner for the assembled Incorrigibles.

February 21, 1986. I must have had a tad too much to drink, because my memory of this particular night is foggy, and I seem to have given away my copy of the minutes. Something about more broken windows and a blonde wig come to mind.

June 19, 1986. The sign falls down. The future part-time bartender dons a noose and fills in until it can be replaced, his first job at the pub.

October 23, 1986. The second MSI banquet takes place, with prison gruel as the main course and gorillas at the table. Chef Sebastian Moran takes credit for the meal , but starts taking shots at the gorillas, who turn out to be Philip Shreffler and Karen Johnson.

February 21, 1987. Pj Doyle shows the assembled Incorrigibles her checkbook. (What do you want me to do, make something up? It was a slow night.).

An evening in late June, 1987. Montague Street Incorrigible trading cards, with portraits of the membership by Sidney Paget, are unveiled to an awe-struck gathering.

Hallowe’en ‘87. One of my favorite nights at the Dangling Prussian. The Halloween costume party is besieged by roaches, thuggish trick-or-treaters, health inspectors, and Professor Moriarty, whom we learned was the former owner of the joint.The Aimless Hansom, February 21, 1988. As the Prussian is closed for Arminius Detweiller’s European hiatus, the Incorrigibles try to hold a meeting in a moving hansom cab.

An Evening Somewhere in 1989 or 1991, and Eventually 1895. The Montague Street Incorrigibles return to the Prussian. Jim Duval tries to turn the building next door into a health club. Tina Rhea brings up the idea of an amateur press association.

For more history of the Dangling Prussian, see the history page of the Dangling Prussian Amateur Press Association.