The MacGuffin Affair

The Journey

As the express departed Euston, I became re-acquainted with my oldest friend and former roommate. We both lightly complained about limits and pains of advancing age. We both suffered from bouts of Rheumatism, though to different degrees and in different areas of the body. My suffering was a near constant sore back likely from my years in the army camps in Afghanistan. This was moderated somewhat by my regular walks. Holmes suffered from knee and other joint pain but said it was only occasionally a bother and rarely stopped him from his pursuing his many interests, chiefly the study of bees.

Conversation turned to what had been keeping each of us busy. Since we both had been in regular communication there was little to add. He knew of my civil practice ending and had taken a keen interesting in reading my case submissions to medical journals. I was fascinated with his observation and analysis of the behavior of bees as documented in his recently published volume, "The Practical Handbook of Bee Culture." Though my companion showed his lively and energetic tendencies I have always enjoyed, there was a pensiveness that came over him whenever the conversation on a subject was exhausted. So much so, that I felt I needed to engage him to ensure he did not drift off into his somber contemplation of some great mystery I was not privy too.

"What is known of Sir Henry MacGuffin?" I probed, knowing Holmes had thoroughly researched in preparation for this adventure.

"Henry MacGuffin, from what I have learned is a most singular fellow. Born in poverty, raised in the tenements on the north side of the River Clyde, he and a cousin, John Clay, took jobs in the oppressive coal fields of Ayrshire. He and that same cousin with two other young lads struck out on their own converting coal bought from fields to coke as needed for the new open-hearth steel foundries. MacGuffin and Clay Coke became the most efficient producer of coke and grew to be the largest in Scotland. My sources say Henry achieved this superior performance implementing ruthless work quotas and violently suppressing any trade union activity. Yet, before he was four and twenty, he had bought out his partners and raised prices on the steel firms that had grown to depend on his firm.

"Before he was thirty, he had purchased a majority control of a steel firm that had become indebted to him due to his aggressive pricing. He sold his coke operation back to his former partners with a long-term contract giving his new venture a preferential supply position. It appears Henry could see from his position the impending transition of ship building on the River Clyde from iron to steel and well positioned himself to take advantage of it. MacGuffin employed the same harsh measures in his steel operation and gained similar efficiencies, though not without some trouble. His braking of the trade union strike in his Dundale furnace was particularly brutal leaving seven dead and many injured."

"I recall that. A very rough affair," said I. "Wasn't there a commission paneled to investigate it."

"Yes, a number of MacGuffin's security detail were brought before the Scottish Court, but other than a tarnished reputation, Henry saw nothing but gain. A year later, this would be about '03, I believe, some say to repair his brutish reputation, he married Adelaide Dashford, whose family was in shipbuilding until her father was forced to sell his shipyard to one of his competitors. It is said, Adelaide, though the very picture of Scottish high society, is actually very astute in technical and business matters particularly shipbuilding as she was said to often sit at her father's side at work as a girl.

"It was in '05 that MacGuffin purchased the majority shares of John Stephens Shipyard when it ran short on capital needed to finish several contracts for the Navy. To finance it, he sold his steel shares back to his other partners securing a long-term supply contract for steel in a similar way he had done with his prior coke operation. It was said, Henry has relied heavily on his wife's experience in her father's shipyard, as shipbuilding is much different that steel making.