Jabez Wilson was talked into going down to the office of the fictitious Red-Headed League because he had such brilliant red hair. He tells Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson:
“Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met."
His assistant John Clay, who calls himself Vincent Spaulding, goes with him. This is vital to the plot because Clay's accomplice, who is masquerading as Duncan Ross, has never met Wilson and might not be able to identify him among all the red-headed men who are responding to the newspaper ad. Wilson describes the strange spectacle when they arrive.
“I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought there were so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they were—straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves in the office.”
Wilson loses his confidence when he sees how many red-headed men are waiting to be interviewed for the single opening in the Red-Headed League. He would have turned around and gone back to his shop if he hadn't been accompanied by the very aggressive John Clay, who gets him through the entire mob, up the stairs, and into the office, where Duncan Ross is waiting for him. Ross is clever enough not to make Wilson's acceptance look too easy. Poor Wilson suffers ups and downs of self-confidence. At first, he thinks he has a good chance of getting the position because of his exceptionally bright and flourishing red hair. However, he becomes disheartened when he sees how many other red-headed men he has to compete against. He is elated when Duncan Ross reacts so positively to his interview, actually going to the window and shouting that the vacancy has been filled. But Wilson becomes alarmed when Ross asks him if he has a family. This question has a triple purpose. It shows that the Red-Headed League might have a genuine mission in encouraging propagation of redheads. But at the same time it makes Wilson feel very fortunate to get a position despite being unmarried with no children. Its main objective is to ensure the two crooks that Wilson doesn't have any relatives who might drop in at his pawnshop unexpectedly.
Wilson is not completely confident in his unusual good fortune, despite shaking hands with Duncan Ross and agreeing to report to work the next morning. But he becomes reassured when he finally sits down and starts copying out of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The best part of his initiation into the League comes that Saturday.
...on Saturday the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week's work.
This is four times what the typical London clerk receives for the kind of copy work Wilson is doing. And Wilson is works about twenty-four hours a week, while the typical clerk would work around ten hours a day, six days a week.
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