HISTORY OF THE HANSOM WHEELS

The Hansom Wheels was created by the late Rev. E. Wayne Wall, BSI, aka “Holy Peters”, in the early 1970’s. Initially there were no regular members other than the good Reverend himself, but in early 1977 he joined with Dr. G. B. Lane of the USC music department to form a more structured organization. Using the pseudonym Dr. John H Watson, Rev. Wall took on the scionic title of The Hub. G.B. became Col. Sebastian Moran with the title of Commissionaire. Together they organized a first meeting, which was held in the Music Building of the University of South Carolina on the Sunday afternoon of April 14, 1977. An announcement in the State newspaper resulted in an attendance of some twenty or so Sherlockians from about the area.

The initial program consisted of (1) the call to order, “The game is afoot!”, (2) the responsive reading of The Musgrave Ritual, (3) the playing of an audio tape of the Rathbone-Bruce A Scandal in Bohemia, and (4) the presentation of an original scholarly paper, Moriarty Was a Woman, by Hub Wall.

Subsequent convocations have consisted of dinner meetings following this same general format. At the first such, which was held May 19, 1977 at the Celebrity Club, Don Mankowski was appointed Official Quizmaster and Bob Robinson Program Chairman. With occasional venue changes, the organization then met each month for the next six years. Since then it has met six times a year, generally on the third Thursday of each even-numbered month.

The organization’s newsletter, The Pink ’Un, named for the racing form mentioned in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, initially was written and distributed by The Hub. After a few years, Phil Dematteis took over this job, which he performs yet today. Bill Brown, who had become Quizmaster when Prof. Mankowski moved to Florida, retired some years ago and was replaced by the sister-and-sister team of Marcia Rowen and Kathy Trice. Kathy had attended the initial meeting at USC and for many years had handled the finances of the organization.

Many of the original scholarly papers which were presented before The Hansom Wheels subsequently have appeared in such prestigious Sherlockian publications as The Baker Street Journal, The Baker Street Miscellany, The Serpentine Muse, The Sherlock Holmes Journal, and The Holmes and Watson Report. For each of the past twenty-one years, the December meeting has featured the production of one of Dr. Watson’s accounts as adapted for the stage by Bob Robinson. In addition, it has become a tradition at mid-summer to feature an original Sherlockian parody written for the radio by Bill Brown.

Today the bi-monthly The Pink ’Un enjoys a circulation of eighty. The scionic meetings are attended by anywhere from fifteen to forty-five harmless eccentrics. We believe The Hansom Wheels to be one of the most successful and active Sherlock Holmes societies in all the world.