The Hound of the Baskervilles

Chapter 2
The Curse of the Baskerville
Read chapter 2 and answer the questions below:

1. What is in Dr. Mortimer’s pocket when he arrives that Holmes

visually analyses?

What can you infer about the Baskerville family from this heading?

2. What does the content of the manuscript summarize?

3. What does the document reveal about the character of a former

Baskerville named “Hugo”?

4. What immoral act or acts did Hugo commit with what results?
5. To whom does Holmes suggest this account might be of interest?

6. What is the next account that Dr. Mortimer produces to read to

Holmes?
5. To whom does Holmes suggest this account might be of interest?

7. How did Sir Charles Baskerville amass a fortune?

6. What is the next account that Dr. Mortimer produces to read to Holmes?

7. How did Sir Charles Baskerville amass a fortune?

 The news article suggests that Sir Charles Baskerville’s amassing of a fortune in South Africa was admirable. How do you
8. Was Sir Charles Baskerville admired in his community?
suppose or do you suppose other people today would view his success?
9. What are the circumstances of Sir Charles Baskerville’s death?

10. What is Dr. Mortimer’s feeling about the accuracy of the coroner’s
determination?

11. What was Dr. Mortimer’s motive for withholding his observations
from the coroner?

12. Three weeks prior to Sir Charles Baskerville’s death, what did Dr.
Mortimer notice when he arrived to visit in the evening?

13. What did Sir Charles share that night with Dr. Mortimer?
Complete:
1. In Mortimer’s pocket is a __________________ given to him by the late ____________________________.

2. Hugo Baskerville is described as the most________________, ______________ and ____________ man.

3. ____________________ kidnapped a young lady from a working family and _______________ her in an
upstairs room.

4. The young lady escaped, so Hugo set his ______________out to run her down. He chased her on his black
mare across the _____________________.

5. Three of Hugo’s friends found ________________ and ______________ both dead in a deep dip.

A black beast, shaped like a hound was plucking at Hugo’s ______________.

6. Sir Charles Baskerville was charitable and was admired in his community for his ___________________.

7. __________________ himself examined the scene of the death of Sir Charles Baskerville while the body was
still there. He noticed footprints of a _______________

8. __________________ is Sir Charles’ heir. He had made a good fortune in ______________.

Complete:

1. In Mortimer’s pocket is a manuscript given to him by the late Sir Charles Baskerville.

2. Hugo Baskerville is described as the most wild, profane and godless man.

3. Hugo Baskerville kidnapped a maiden from a working family and imprisoned her in an upstairs room.

4. The young lady escaped, so Hugo set his hounds out to run her down. He chased her on his black mare across
the moorland.

5. Three of Hugo’s friends found Hugo and young maiden dead in a deep dip.

A black beast, shaped like a hound was plucking at Hugo’s throat.

6. Sir Charles Baskerville was charitable and was admired in his community for his extreme generosity.

7. Dr Mortimer himself examined the scene of the death of Sir Charles Baskerville while the body was still there.
He noticed footprints of a gigantic hound.

8. Mr Henry Baskerville is Sir Charles’ heir. He had made a good fortune in America.
Qs & As
1. What is in Dr. Mortimer’s pocket when he arrives that Holmes visually analyses?
In Mortimer’s pocket is a manuscript dated 1742 given to him by the late Sir Charles Baskerville. The document is headed
“Baskerville Hall, 1742”
What can you infer about the Baskerville family from this heading?
That the family has a “hall” conveys that they have an estate.

2. What does the content of the manuscript summarize?

It is “a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family.”

3. What does the document reveal about the character of a former Baskerville named “Hugo”? Hugo was a “wild, profane,
and godless man.”

4. What immoral act or acts did Hugo commit with what results?
He kidnapped a young woman from a working family on his estate and imprisoned her in an upstairs room while he and
his friends drank and caroused. The woman escaped, climbing down a trellis of ivy. Hugo set his hounds out to run her
down. The drinking party set out on their horses across the moor to follow the woman and the hounds. Three men on
horses came upon the hounds, at the head of a “deep dip or goyal” out on the moor, whimpering with their hackles
raised. There were the bodies of the maid where she had fallen, dead of fright as well as the body of Hugo Baskerville.
Standing over Hugo “plucking at his throat” was a “great, black beast, shaped like a hound yet larger”. One of the three
died himself that night of “what he had seen” and the other two were “broken” for “the rest of their days.”
5. To whom does Holmes suggest this account might be of interest?
“To a collector of fairy- tales.”

6. What is the next account that Dr. Mortimer produces to read to Holmes?
An article from the Devon County Chronicle of June 14 of [that] year about Sir Charles Baskerville, the most recent owner
of Baskerville Hall.

7. How did Sir Charles Baskerville amass a fortune?

He “made large sums of money in South African speculation.”

8. Was Sir Charles Baskerville admired in his community?

Yes. He was charitable.

9. What are the circumstances of Sir Charles Baskerville’s death?

On June 4, 1889, he took an evening stroll on his property down what was known as Yew Alley, a walkway composed of a
path bordered by grass on either side and the grass bordered by a hedge of yew trees. He died at the far end of the walk.
A coroner determined that he died a natural death.
10. What is Dr. Mortimer’s feeling about the accuracy of the coroner’s determination?
Dr. Mortimer himself examined the scene of the death while the body was still there and noticed things that might
contradict the accuracy of the coroner’s report.

11. What was Dr. Mortimer’s motive for withholding his observations from the coroner?
As a man of science, Dr. Mortimer hesitated to bring up the legend of the hound of the Baskervilles, and he did not want
to spook the community or the next inhabitant of the house by bringing up the legend.

12. Three weeks prior to Sir Charles Baskerville’s death, what did Dr. Mortimer notice when he arrived to visit in the
evening?
Sir Charles was looking over Dr. Mortimer’s shoulder as he alighted from his gig. His “expression” was one “of the most
dreadful horror”. The doctor noticed what he assumed was a “large black calf passing at the head of the drive.”

13. What did Sir Charles share that night with Dr. Mortimer?
Sir Charles told Mortimer of the legend and as he had no children, he asked Mortimer to take charge of the written
account.
 Chapter 2 Summary
The Curse of the Baskervilles
• Dr. Mortimer hands a manuscript to Holmes.
• It's old—it dates back to 1742, at least a hundred fifty years before the events of Hound of the Baskervilles.
• Dr. Mortimer got the manuscript from his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville.
• And even though the manuscript deals with an old family legend, Dr. Mortimer is here on very current business.
• The manuscript tells the story of Hugo Baskerville and the family curse
Why the Baskerville Family Is So Afraid of Dogs
• This Hugo Baskerville, gets into some bad trouble around the time of the "Great Rebellion" (the English Civil War of 1642-1651).
• He likes to drink, curse, and rough people up.
• One night, he kidnaps a neighboring woman with thirteen of his friends and locks her up in his mansion while he parties with his buddies.
Also,
• Holmes guesses
She manages to climbfrom
downtooth
some ivymarks on his
to escape theevil
stick that Dr. Mortimer owns a smallish dog.
clutches.
According to Holmes'
• Hugo Baskerville records,
swears that he there
will sellis
hisasoul
Dr. for
James
the evilMortimer living
power to catch her.in Dartmoor, in a town called Grimpen.
• then,
Just (Why do
Dr.people
Mortimerin theseappears
stories never seem to
at their learnand
door, that it's
selling
allyour soul is never
as Holmes a good idea?)
says.
• Hugo Baskerville then has the bright idea of riding out after her with his pack of hounds.
He's
• young, he has a smallish dog, and he left Charing Cross Hospital some time ago to set up his practice in the countryside
The drunken partygoers finally realize, hey, if Hugo Baskerville succeeds in catching her, something terrible is going to happen. Really?
(because heride
• So they gotoutmarried and
after Hugo settledand
Baskerville down — that
his pack part, Holmes missed).
of hounds.
Dr.• Mortimer is here
They find his lifelessbecause heground
body on the has anear mostthe extraordinary
girl's. problem (dun-da-DUN-dun).
• The girl has died of fear and exhaustion after running from Hugo Baskerville.
• But Hugo Baskerville's death is much more gruesome: the former partygoers (now painfully sober) watch a huge, ghostly-looking black hound tear his
throat out.
• Holmes doesn't think much of this whole story—it's just a fairy tale.
• So Dr. Mortimer continues his story.
• Sir Charles Baskerville, the descendant of this nasty Hugo, has just died mysteriously.
• He had heart trouble, so it's not impossible that he died of natural causes.
• But his body was found lying at the end of his own driveway with such a grotesque expression that Dr. Mortimer had trouble recognizing him.
• Apparently, Sir Charles had become very afraid of this story of the black dog and Hugo Baskerville.
• And here's the kicker: near Sir Charles' body, Dr. Mortimer found footprints—the footprints of a giant hound.