Dr. Watson If you won't, I will for you". Holmes suavely responds: "You may do what you like, Doctor". Therefore, the story is presented as "a reprint from the reminiscences of John H. Watson", and most other stories of the series share this by implication. In the first chapter of "The Sign of Four", Holmes comments on Watson's first effort as a biographer: "I glanced over it. Honestly, I cannot congratulate you upon it. Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it with romanticism...
James S. Watson was admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Watson remained at House, Grossman and Vorhaus, now as a lawyer until 1920, becoming head of their Department of Corporate and Tax Law. In 1920, Watson and two other black attorneys, S. T. Christian and J. E. Stevens founded their own law firm, where he would practice law until 1930. In 1922, he became Special Assistant Corporation Counsel to New York City in the Special Franchise Tax Division. He also represented Marcus Garvey during the 1920s. Watson ran for municipal judge in 1930