The Five Orange Pips

A young man named John Openshaw seeks Holmes’s help after a series of mysterious deaths in his family. His uncle and his father each received an envelope containing five dried orange pips (seeds) along with the letters "K.K.K." on the outside. Shortly after receiving these ominous warnings, both died in apparent accidents. Now John himself has received the same deadly pips. Holmes realizes that the letters stand for the Ku Klux Klan, a secret American society that used orange pips as a death threat. The killers were sending the warning before carrying out murders from afar. Holmes deduces the criminals are on a ship, but tragically, John is murdered before Holmes can fully save him. Holmes eventually turns the tables by sending the same warning to the killers aboard their schooner, The Lone Star, ensuring that justice catches up with them.