Why, Bartitsu, My Dear Watson

A little interesting martial arts-related something for Holmes fans and history buffs:

Bartitsu: The Sherlock Holmes Way of Self-Defense

"Is this a good weapon?" Mr. Donnelly, clutching the umbrella, asked a crowd of several dozen here last weekend at the Steampunk World's Fair, an annual steam-age science-fiction festival. "It is if it's in my hands at the time of attack."

Other items in the Bartitsu arsenal include walking sticks, top hats, snuffboxes, handkerchiefs or "any item a gentleman would have at his disposal," says Mr. Donnelly.

The system was long thought to be part of the fictional world of Sherlock Holmes. But in the past decade, a handful of martial-arts enthusiasts, historians and Holmes scholars have rediscovered Bartitsu by piecing together archival newspaper and magazine clippings from turn-of-the-century London, among other sources. These include such articles as a "Defense Against Hooligans," tips on "Conducting a Person Out of the Room," or methods for overcoming an "assailant who seizes you by the waistbelt."

 Hat tip to the Vodkapundit.