[转载]福尔摩斯原型揭秘

Has the Real Sherlock Holmes Been Deduced？

福尔摩斯原型揭秘

（选自《英语世界》2015年第7期）

文/贾斯珀·科平   译/玛达红茵

By Jasper Copping

He enthralled Victorian England with his unrivalled skill at cracking cases, based on astute logical reasoning and grasp of forensic science, not to mention a mastery of disguises and encyclopedic knowledge of the criminal underclass.

他超群的破案能力令维多利亚时期的英国人着迷不已，他破案依据的是严密的逻辑推理和对法医学的谙熟，更别提他还精通乔装改扮，对下层社会罪犯了如指掌。

[2] But this detective was not Sherlock Holmes but a real life investigator, Jerome Caminada, who, new research suggests, helped inspire Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated hero.

〔2〕但这位侦探不是夏洛克·福尔摩斯，而是一名真实的侦探杰尔姆·卡米纳达。新研究表明，正是卡米纳达启发阿瑟·柯南道尔爵士塑造了广为人知的大侦探福尔摩斯。

[3] A biography of Caminada reveals a series of striking similarities between him and the fictional character, in terms of their unorthodox methods and character. It also establishes strong echoes between the real detective’s cases and plot lines used by Doyle.

〔3〕卡米纳达的一本传记揭示出，在另类的破案方法和个性上，他和虚构的福尔摩斯之间有着一系列惊人的相似之处。传记还证实，卡米纳达所经手的案件和柯南道尔小说的情节线索很类似。

[4] The author, Angela Buckley, has even established that Caminada’s casework involved tackling an alluring and talented criminal, similar to Irene Adler[1], and that the detective even had a Moriarty[2]-like nemesis who plagued him over the course of several cases until a final, dramatic confrontation.

〔4〕传记作者安杰拉·巴克利甚至证实，卡米纳达处理的案件中涉及一名类似艾琳·阿德勒那样迷人的天才罪犯；卡米纳达也有一个像莫里亚蒂那样的强大对手——在两人戏剧性的最后交锋前，他曾在多起案件中给卡米纳达制造麻烦。

[1] 福尔摩斯系列小说《波西米亚丑闻》中的人物，是福尔摩斯最尊敬的女性之一。

[2] 福尔摩斯的主要对手，柯南道尔笔下的超级大反派。

[5] Mrs Buckley said: “Caminada became a national figure at just the time that Sherlock Holmes was being created. There are so many parallels that it is clear Doyle was using parts of this real character for his.”

〔5〕巴克利夫人说：“正是在柯南道尔塑造夏洛克·福尔摩斯的时候，卡米纳达成为了英国家喻户晓的人物。两人的相似之处比比皆是，柯南道尔显然借用了这个真实人物的一些特点。”

[6] The son of an Italian father and Irish mother, Caminada was based in Manchester, but was involved in cases which took him across the country, and he enjoyed a nationwide profile in the press, where accounts of his exploits were widely reported.

〔6〕卡米纳达的父亲来自意大利，母亲来自爱尔兰。他居住在曼彻斯特，但为处理案件而遍游英国。媒体广泛报道了其英勇行为，卡米纳达享誉全国。

[7] Most of his career was spent with Manchester City Police Force although he later operated, like Holmes, as a “consulting detective”.

〔7〕他职业生涯中的多数时间是在曼彻斯特市警察局度过的，但后来他也和福尔摩斯一样，当了一名“顾问侦探”。

[8] As the fictional character relied on an network of underworld contacts—the Baker Street Irregulars—so Caminada was known for his extensive web of informers, whom he would often meet in the back pew of a church.

〔8〕正如福尔摩斯要借助“贝克街小分队”那样的地下联系网，众所周知，卡米纳达也有庞大的线人网络，他常常在教堂的后排座椅与他们见面。

[9] These characters helped him build up an encyclopedic knowledge of the criminal fraternity, among whom he would often move in disguise—another tactic in common with Holmes.

〔9〕这些线人帮助他熟悉了犯罪团伙的方方面面，他常常乔装改扮穿梭其中——这也是福尔摩斯常用的手段。

[10] Like his fictional counterpart, Caminada was particularly noted for his tendency to prowl the streets of the roughest neighbourhoods alone at night, fearlessly intervening in any crimes he encountered.

〔10〕同虚构的福尔摩斯一样，卡米纳达也有一个广为人知的特点，他常常在最危险的街区独自夜行，毫无畏惧地介入所有遇到的案件。

[11] His skill with disguises was so renowned that on one occasion, while tracking a group of thieves at the Grand National dressed as a labourer, his own chief constable was unable to recognise him.

〔11〕他的化装技巧极为高超——有一次，在全国越野障碍赛马比赛上追踪一群小偷时，他装扮成一名苦力，甚至连他的警察局长都没认出他来。

[12] Dubbed the “terror to evil doers” and, later “the Garibaldi[3] of Detectives”, he was reputed to be able to spot a thief by the way he walked—apparently as a result of visits he undertook to prisons, to watch inmates walking around the yard to familiarise himself with their appearance and gait.

〔12〕他先后被誉为“作恶者的克星”和“侦探中的加里波第”，而且据说他还能通过人走路的方式发现小偷——很显然这是他常去监狱观察、了解犯人体貌和步态的结果。

[3] 即朱塞普·加里波第，意大利将领、爱国者与政治家，被视为意大利国父。

[13] Over the course of his career, he was reportedly responsible for the imprisonment of 1,225 criminals. His most famous case—and perhaps the one which most closely resembles a Holmes story—was the apparently baffling “Mystery of the Four-Wheeled Cab”. Two men had taken a horse drawn cab. On the journey, one leapt out and the other was found dying inside.

〔13〕据报道，卡米纳达在他的职业生涯中曾将1225名罪犯投入监狱。他处理的最有名的案子——也许是和福尔摩斯故事最相像的一个——便是匪夷所思的“四轮马车之谜”。两名男子一同搭乘了出租马车，一人中途跳车，另一人在车内身亡。

[14] There was no obvious cause of death and few obvious clues to go on, but through a series of deductions of which Holmes himself would be proud, Caminada eventually identified the culprit as Charles Parton, who had drugged the other man before getting into the cab, in an attempt to rob him.

〔14〕当时人们没有发现明显的死因，也没有什么明显的线索，但是通过连福尔摩斯本人都会自豪不已的一系列推理，卡米纳达最终断定罪犯是查尔斯·帕顿，他在另一人上车前下了迷药，试图进行抢劫。

[15] Mrs Buckley identifies Caminada’s “Moriarty” figure as Bob Horridge, a violent, intelligent career criminal, with whom he had a 20-year feud, which began when Caminada arrested him for stealing a watch, landing him with a sentence of seven years’ penal servitude because of his previous convictions.

〔15〕巴克利夫人认为，卡米纳达的“莫里亚蒂”是鲍勃·霍里奇。霍里奇是一个暴虐而狡诈的职业罪犯。两人20年的积怨始于卡米纳达因霍里奇偷表而将其抓获，与此前数罪并罚，霍里奇被判处7年监禁。

[16] This harsh sentence for a relatively small crime angered Horridge so much that, as he was sent down, he swore revenge on the detective.

〔16〕偷表本算不得什么大罪，却遭到这样的重判，这令霍里奇非常恼火，因而从入狱时他便发誓要报复这位侦探。

[17] On his release, Horridge’s criminal enterprises grew in size and scope, but he was usually able to stay one step ahead of the authorities, often effecting dramatic escapes.

〔17〕霍里奇获释后，他的犯罪集团规模进一步扩大，但是他常常能在警方来到前先行一步，巧妙脱身。

[18] His spree finally ended after he shot two police officers. Caminada tracked him to Liverpool where the detective, disguised once more, eventually apprehended him, after pulling out his revolver a fraction faster than the criminal. Horridge was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

〔18〕在枪击两名警察后，霍里奇为非作歹的日子走到了尽头。卡米纳达又一次乔装，一路追踪霍里奇到利物浦，并比霍里奇抢先拔出枪来，最终把他缉拿归案。霍里奇被控谋杀未遂，判处终身监禁。

△ 杰尔姆·卡米纳达和死敌鲍勃·霍里奇
 

[19] Caminada’s “Irene Adler” was Alicia Ormonde, an apparently well-educated woman with an aristocratic background and expensive tastes, who was actually a consummate forger and experienced crook who was wanted across the country for a string of frauds and thefts. Caminada tracked her down and arrested her, but—in an echo of Holmes’ fascination with Adler—the detective apparently became captivated by her.

〔19〕卡米纳达的“艾琳·阿德勒”名叫艾丽西亚·奥蒙德。奥蒙德显然受过良好的教育，出身名门，品味不俗，但她实际上干着造假行骗的勾当，骗术娴熟，经验丰富，因为一系列诈骗和偷盗案件而遭到全国通缉。卡米纳达跟踪并逮捕了奥蒙德，但是，和迷恋阿德勒的福尔摩斯一样，卡米纳达也显然为奥蒙德所倾倒。

[20] The case took place in 1890, a year before Adler appeared in A Scandal in Bohemia.

〔20〕这一案件发生于1890年，比阿德勒在《波西米亚丑闻》中出现早一年。

[21] Caminada—who published his memoirs on retiring—died in 1914, the year the last Holmes book was set.

〔21〕卡米纳达退休后出版了自己的回忆录。他于1914年离世，同年福尔摩斯系列的最后一本书出版。

[22] Other individuals have previously been put forward as the basis for Holmes, who first appeared in publication in 1887 and featured in four novels and 56 short stories.

〔22〕此前，人们还发掘了福尔摩斯的其他原型人物。福尔摩斯的探案故事于1887年首次出版，共有4部长篇小说和56部短篇小说以他为主人公。

[23] Doyle himself said he had taken inspiration from Dr Joseph Bell, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh for whom Doyle had worked as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing large conclusions from the smallest observations. Sir Henry Littlejohn, a former police surgeon, is also cited as an inspiration for the detective.

〔23〕柯南道尔曾表示，他写作时受到过爱丁堡皇家医院外科医生约瑟夫·贝尔的启发，柯南道尔曾是他的手下。与福尔摩斯相似，贝尔也以从最微小的观察中得到重大的结论而知名。曾是法医的亨利·利特尔约翰爵士也是柯南道尔的灵感来源。

[24] However, Mrs Buckley, whose book is called The Real Sherlock Holmes, believes that Caminada was used to give Holmes a better grounding in actual casework among the criminal fraternity, inspiring his detecting styles and some of the baffling cases he encountered. ■

〔24〕然而，《真正的夏洛克·福尔摩斯》的作者巴克利夫人认为，卡米纳达接触到犯罪团伙的实际生活环境为福尔摩斯的故事提供了更好的资料，促成了福尔摩斯的破案风格，为他接手的一些离奇案件提供了素材。□