Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle

by Daniel Stashower

  Of all the many posthumous sightings, easily the most ludicrous was reported by Harry Price. Earlier, in a memorial tribute, Price had harsh words for unscrupulous mediums who had taken advantage of Conan Doyle’s ready friendship. “Too honest himself,” Price wrote, “he could not imagine his too sympathetic credulity being imposed upon.” Only three months later, however, Price published his own lengthy interview with Conan Doyle’s spirit, conducted through the medium Eileen Garrett. “I feel myself the man I was on earth,” Conan Doyle told his old adversary. “I find myself doing many of the things which I did there.” Although Price allowed for the possibility of fraud, the exercise stands as a mercenary blot on his reputation.

  Meanwhile, many of the mediums whom Conan Doyle had supported were falling from grace. Nino Pecararo, whose powers Conan Doyle had defended against the criticisms of Houdini, was soon hounded out of business by the magician Joseph Dunninger. “Spirit of Doyle’s Son Merely Nino’s Trick,” reported the New York Evening Journal; “Nino Pecararo, Who Helped Conan Doyle’s Faith in Mystic World, Admits Deceit,” announced the Herald Tribune. For the next ten years, similar headlines would appear at regular intervals as one “reformed medium” after another attempted to convert exposure into financial gain.

  Conan Doyle’s own messages from the spirit world were also held up to criticism. “Now the late Sir Arthur was an admirable writer of English,” noted one journalist. “If the post-death messages are exact copies of those messages, his knowledge of even the elementary rules of grammar must have suffered woefully since his death.” If the powers of Sherlock Holmes had seemed to dim after his death at Reichenbach, many felt that Conan Doyle, too, had “never been the same man afterwards.”

  If Jean was troubled by these expressions of doubt, she gave no sign. For the rest of her life she would carry on her husband’s work, even purchasing a special “motor van” to help spread leaflets and other psychic literature. In this way, she wrote, “I can look into my Beloved’s dear face, when he meets me at the Gateway of Death, and say, ‘I have tried to keep your Banner flying’—and we will part no more.”

  * * *

  Just a few days before his death, Conan Doyle had sat for an interview with a reporter named W. R. Titterton. Feeling weak and dizzy, Conan Doyle asked Titterton to sit beside him on the couch, so that he would not have to strain to make himself heard. “In every other way I’m the man I always was,” he said, “but my heart’s claiming some of my attention, and it is better not to tire my voice.”

  For the better part of an hour, Conan Doyle set out the foundations of his beliefs one last time, and patiently addressed the charges leveled at him by his critics. He concluded by urging his interviewer to visit a spiritualist church— “It will make you very happy,” he said.

  Afterward, Conan Doyle led his visitor to the door, pausing in the entryway to introduce him to Jean, Denis, and Adrian. There, the journalist dropped his professional reserve and admitted in gushing tones to a lifelong admiration of his host’s novels and short stories. “I told them that I had read every one of Sir Arthur’s stories,” he wrote, “and knew many of them almost by heart.” For some moments, he recalled his favorite passages for the family, and discussed some fondly remembered characters with Denis and Adrian. “I got through with honours,” he recalled, “and my host was pleased, for I remembered the stories far better than he did.” With a final word of thanks, Titterton took his leave and went back to London to file what would prove to be Conan Doyle’s last interview.

  “I am not certain,” he wrote at the end of his piece, “but I rather think that throughout the interview we did not mention the name of Sherlock Holmes.”

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Selected Works of Arthur Conan Doyle

  FICTION:

  The Adventures of Gerard; The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; Beyond the City; The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes; Danger! and Other Stories; The Doings of Raffles Haw; A Duet with an Occasional Chorus; The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard; The Firm of Girdlestone; The Great Shadow; The Green Flag and Other Stories of War and Sport; His Last Bow; The Hound of the Baskervilles; The Land of Mist; The Last Galley; The Lost World; The Man from Archangel; The Maracot Deep and Other Stories; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes; Micah Clarke; The Mystery of Cloomber; The Parasite; The Poison Belt; The Refugees: A Tale of Two Continents; The Return of Sherlock Holmes; Rodney Stone; Round the Fire Stories; Round the Red Lamp; The Sign of the Four; Sir Nigel; The Stark Munro Letters; A Study in Scarlet; The Tragedy of the Korosko; Uncle Bernac; The Valley of Fear; The White Company

  NONFICTION AND SPIRITUALISM:

  The British Campaign in France and Flanders; The Case for Spirit Photography; The Coming of the Fairies; The Edge of the Unknown; The Great Boer War; The History of Spiritualism; Memories and Adventures; The New Revelation; Our African Winter; Our American Adventure; Our Second American Adventure; Pheneas Speaks: Direct Spirit Communications in the Family Circle; Three of Them: A Reminiscence; Through The Magic Door; The Vital Message; The Wanderings of a Spiritualist

  PAMPHLETS, PLAYS, AND POETRY:

  Brigadier Gerard; “The Case of Oscar Slater”; The Crime of the Congo; The Fires of Fate; The Guards Came Through; The House of Temper-ley; Jane Annie; Songs of Action; Songs of the Road; The Speckled Band; The Story of Mr. George Edalji; A Story of Waterloo; “The War in South Africa: Its Causes and Conduct”

  Other Sources

  Baker, Michael. The Doyle Diary. London: Paddington Press, 1978.

  Baring-Gould, William S. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. London: John Murray, 1968.

  Booth, Martin. The Doctor, The Detective and Arthur Conan Doyle. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1997.

  Brown, Ivor. Conan Doyle. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1972.

  Carr, John Dickson. The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. London: John Murray, 1949.

  Conan Doyle, Adrian. The True Conan Doyle. London: John Murray, 1945.

  Cooper, Joe. The Case of the Cottingley Fairies. London: Robert Hale, 1990.

  Coren, Michael. Conan Doyle. London: Bloomsbury, 1995.

  Costello, Peter. The Real World of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Carroll & Graf, 1991.

  Cox, Don Richard. Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1985.

  De Waal, Ronald Burt. The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. New York: Bramhall House, 1974.

  Edwards, Owen Dudley. The Quest for Sherlock Holmes. Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1983.

  Ernst, Bernard M. L., and Hereward Carrington. Houdini and Conan Doyle: The Story of a Strange Friendship. New York: Albert & Charles Boni, 1932.

  Gibson, John Michael, and Richard Lancelyn Green, eds. Letters to the Press. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1986.

  ———. The Unknown Conan Doyle: Essays on Photography. London: Secker & Warburg, 1982.

  ———. The Unknown Conan Doyle: Uncollected Stories. New York: Doubleday, 1982.

  Goldfarb, Clifford S. The Great Shadow: Arthur Conan Doyle, Brigadier Gerard and Napoleon. British Columbia: Calabash Press, 1997.

  Green, Richard Lancelyn, ed. Arthur Conan Doyle on Sherlock Holmes: Speeches at the Stoll Convention Dinner. London: Favil Press, 1981.

  ———. The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes. London: Penguin Books, 1983.

  Green, Richard Lancelyn, and John Michael Gibson. A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1983.

  Hall, Trevor H. Sherlock Holmes and His Creator. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977.

  ———. Sherlock Holmes: Ten Literary Studies. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1969.

  Hardwick, Michael, and Mollie Hardwick. The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes. London: John Murray, 1964.

  Harrison, Michael, ed. Beyond Baker Street. New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976.

  Harrison, Michael. The World of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Dutton, 1975.

  Higham, Charles. The Adventures of Conan Doyle. New York: W. W. Norton, 1976.

  Holroyd, James Edward. Baker Stree
t By-ways. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1959.

  Jaffe, Jacqueline A. Arthur Conan Doyle. Boston: Twayne, G. K. Hall, 1987.

  Jann, Rosemary, ed. Detecting Social Order. New York: Twayne’s Masterwork Studies, 1995.

  Jones, Kelvin I. Conan Doyle and the Spirits. Wellingborough, England: Aquarian Press, 1989.

  Lachtman, Howard. Sherlock Slept Here. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Capra Press, 1985.

  Lamond, John. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Memoir. London: John Murray, 1931.

  Lellenberg, Jon L., ed. The Quest for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987.

  Liebow, Ely M. Dr. Joe Bell: Model for Sherlock Holmes. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1982.

  Nordon, Pierre. Conan Doyle. London: John Murray, 1966.

  Orel, Harold, ed. Critical Essays on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992.

  ———. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Interviews and Recollections. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991.

  Pearsall, Ronald. Conan Doyle: A Biographical Solution. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977.

  Pearson, Hesketh. Conan Doyle: His Life and Art. London: Methuen, 1943.

  Pointer, Michael. The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes. London: David & Charles, 1975.

  Redmond, Christopher. Welcome to America, Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Toronto: Simon & Pierre, 1987.

  Roberts, S. C. Holmes and Watson: A Miscellany. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1953.

  Rodin, Alvin E., and Jack D. Key. Medical Casebook of Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle. Malabar, Fla.: Robert E. Krieger, 1984.

  Rosenberg, Samuel. Naked Is the Best Disguise. London: Arlington Books, 1975.

  Shreffler, Philip A., ed. The Baker Street Reader. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1984.

  ———. Sherlock Holmes by Gas Lamp. New York: Fordham University Press, 1989.

  Starrett, Vincent. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1961.

  Stavert, Geoffrey. A Study in Southsea. Portsmouth, England: Milestone Publications, 1987.

  Stone, Harry. The Casebook of Sherlock Doyle. Romford, England: Ian Henry Publications, 1991.

  Symons, Julian. Conan Doyle: Portrait of an Artist. New York: Mysterious Press, 1987.

  Tracy, Jack. The Encyclopaedia Sherlockiana. New York: Doubleday, 1977.

  Tracy, Jack, with Jim Berkey. Subcutaneously, My Dear Watson. Bloomington, Ind.: James A. Rock, 1978.

  Weller, Philip, with Christopher Roden. The Life and Times of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Crescent Books, 1992.

  Weller, Philip, ed. Recollections of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Collected by Malcolm Payne. Hampshire, England: Sherlock Publications, 1993.

  Related Materials

  Barbanell, Sylvia. Some Discern Spirits: The Mediumship of Estelle Roberts. London: Psychic Press, 1944.

  Barrie, James. The Greenwood Hat. London: Peter Davies, 1937.

  Binyon, T. J. Murder Will Out: The Detective in Fiction. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1990.

  Brandon, Ruth. The Spiritualists. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983.

  Carrington, Hereward. Modern Psychical Phenomena. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1919.

  Christie, Agatha. Partners in Crime. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929.

  Christopher, Milbourne. Houdini: A Pictorial Life. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976.

  ———. Houdini: The Untold Story. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969.

  Cooke, Ivan, ed. The Return of Arthur Conan Doyle. Hampshire, England: White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1961.

  Crookes, William. Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism. London: Psychic Book Club, 1953.

  Ellman, Richard. Oscar Wilde. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988.

  Ford, Arthur. Unknown But Known. New York: Harper & Row, 1968.

  Gardner, Edward L. Fairies: The Cottingley Photographs and Their Sequel. London: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1957.

  Gill, Gillian. Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries. New York: The Free Press, 1990.

  Gresham, William Lindsay. Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls. New York: Holt Rinehart Winston, 1959.

  Hall, Trevor H. The Strange Case of Edmund Gurney. London: Duckworth, 1964.

  Hill, C. W. Edwardian Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1976.

  Holroyd, Michael. Bernard Shaw, vol. 2. New York: Random House, 1989.

  Home, Mme. Dunglas. D. D. Home: His Life and Mission. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1921.

  Houdini, Harry. A Magician Among the Spirits. New York: Harper & Bros., 1924.

  ———. The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin. New York: Publishers Printing, 1908.

  Inglis, Brian. Roger Casement. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973.

  Jerome, Jerome K. My Life and Times. New York: Harper and Bros., 1926.

  Kee, Robert. The Green Flag: The Turbulent History of the Irish National Movement. New York: Delacorte Press, 1972.

  Kellock, Harold. Houdini: His Life Story. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1928.

  King, W. D. Henry Irving’s Waterloo. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

  Laurence, Dan H. Bernard Shaw: Collected Letters 1911–1925. New York: Viking, 1985.

  Lodge, Sir Oliver. Raymond: Or Life and Death. New York: George H. Doran, 1916.

  ———. Why I Believed in Personal Immortality. London: Cassell, 1928.

  McCabe, Joseph. Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud? London: Watts, 1920.

  McClure, Samuel S. My Autobiography. London: John Murray, 1914.

  Park, William. The Truth About Oscar Slater. London: The Psychic Press, 1927.

  Pearsall, Ronald. The Table-Rappers. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1972.

  Price, Harry. Fifty Years of Psychical Research. London: Longmans, Green, 1939.

  ———. Leaves from a Psychist’s Case-Book. London: Victor Gollancz, 1933.

  ———. Search for Truth: My Life in Psychical Research. London: Collins, 1942.

  Prince, Walter Franklin. The Enchanted Boundary. Boston: Boston Society for Psychic Research, 1930.

  Randi, James. Flim-Flam! Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1987.

  Roberts, Estelle. Forty Years a Medium. New York: Avon Books, 1972.

  Robyns, Gwen. The Mystery of Agatha Christie. New York: Doubleday, 1978.

  Roughead, William. Trial of Oscar Slater. Edinburgh: William Hodge, 1929.

  Sanders, Dennis, and Len Lovallo. The Agatha Christie Companion. New York: Delacorte Press, 1984.

  Sidgwick, Henry et al. Presidential Addresses to the Society for Psychical Research: 1882–1911. Glasgow: Robert Maclehose, 1912.

  Silverman, Kenneth. Houdini: The Career of Ehrich Weiss. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

  Stoker, Bram. Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving. London: William Heinemann, 1907.

  Symons, Julian. Bloody Murder: From the Detective Story to the Crime Novel. London: Faber and Faber, 1972.

  Taylor, A. J. P., ed. Lloyd George: A Diary by Frances Stevenson. New York: Harper & Row, 1971.

  Thurston, Fr. Herbert. Modern Spiritualism. London: Sheen & Ward, 1928.

  Tietze, Thomas R. Margery. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

  Toughill, Thomas. Oscar Slater: The Mystery Solved. Edinburgh: Canongate Press, 1993.

  Tweedale, Violet. Phantoms of the Dawn. London: John Long, 1938.

  Watt, Francis. The Book of Edinburgh Anecdote. London: Foulis, 1913.

  Whittington-Egan, Richard, and Molly Whittington-Egan, eds. The Story of Mr. George Edalji. London: Grey House Books, 1985.

  Winks, Robin. Modus Operandi: An Excursion into Detective Fiction. Boston: David R. Godine, 1982.

  Journals, Magazines, and Newspapers Consulted

  ACD: The Journal of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society; The American Weekly; The Baker Street Journal; Boy’s Own Paper; The Bristol Times & Mirror; The British Journal of Photography; Chambers’s Journal; The Chronicle; Cornhill Magazine; The Edinburgh Evening Dispatch; The Express; The Glasg
ow Herald; The Hampshire Telegraph; The Idler; The Illustrated London News; John O’London’s Weekly; The Ladies’ Home Journal; Light; London Society; McClure’s Magazine; The New York American; The New York Evening Journal; The New York Times; The New York Tribune; The New York World; The Observer; Pearson’s Weekly; The Pharos; The Evening News (Portsmouth); Quarterly Transactions of the British College of Psychic Science; Review of Reviews; The Saturday Evening Post; The Scotsman; The Sherlock Holmes Journal; The Journal of the Society for Psychical Research; The Spectator; The Spiritualist; The Strand; The Telegraph; Temple Bar; The Times; Two Worlds; The Yorkshire Evening News.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  The author wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the U.S.–U.K. Fulbright Commission and Mr. Graham Greene of the Raymond Chandler estate.

  I am also deeply indebted to the following people and institutions: Chrys Ray, Ben “Bullet Boy” Robinson, P. M. Meadows of the Cambridge University Manuscripts Department, Catherine Cooke of the Marylebone Library Sherlock Holmes Collection, Julian Symons, Alan Wesencraft of the Harry Price Collection, Julia Walworth of the Senate House Library, The British Society for Psychical Research, Joanne McMahon of the Eileen J. Garrett Library, The American Society for Psychical Research, Dr. John Corbett of Glasgow University, The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, Selwyn Tillett of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society, Sonny Wareham, Michael Ruhlman, Toby Linden, Mrs. Maurine Christopher and the Milbourne Christopher Collection, Eleanor and Frances, The Toronto Reference Library, Bob Loomis of The Association of International Magical Spectators, The Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas, The University of Edinburgh, The Oxford University Library, T. J. Binyon and the ever hospitable Senior Common Room of Wadham College, The Portsmouth City Council, The Library of Congress, Donald Maass, and Cynthia Vartan.

  Thanks also for the gracious encouragement of Jon Lellenberg, Richard Lancelyn Green, Christopher and Barbara Roden, Peter Blau, R. Dixon Smith, Andrew Solberg, and John Baesch.

  INDEX