Mortimer Tregennis is the main antagonist of the short story The Adventure of the Devil's Foot by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He hires Sherlock Holmes to investigate the mysterious death of his sister, but is revealed later on to be the culprit behind the murder.
Biography[]
Mr. Mortimer Tregennis was the brother of Brenda Tregennis, George Tregennis and Owen Tregennis. While on the surface they seemed to have a good relationship, in fact Mortimer was a greedy man who decided that he wanted to inherit their estates. His chance came when Dr. Leon Sterndale, an explorer and cousin of the Tregennis family, showed him a rare plant called the "Devil's Foot" which, if burned, released poisonous gases. Mortimer stole a sample and then went round to visit his siblings and play cards with them. At some point, he made an excuse to leave and threw the sample into the fire on his way out. On returning, he found Brenda dead and his two brothers driven insane.
Pretending that he had nothing to do with Brenda's death, Mortimer asked a visiting detective named Sherlock Holmes to investigate, confident that he would not solve the crime. However, what he didn't realise was that Dr. Sterndale was still in the country, as he believed that Sterndale was going to Africa, but didn't know he was delayed. Sterndale immediately knew what has happened and that Mortimer had to be responsible. To get revenge, he forced his way into Mortimer's room and threw a sample of Devil's Foot into his lantern before pulling a gun on him to stop him from escaping. Trapped in his room, Mortimer died in the same way as his late sister.
