The Duke of Connaught died on 16th January, 1942. His son had already died two years before, and his grandson Alastair Arthur succeeded his title. However, Alastair lived only for a while. He died on 26th April, 1943, in Canada. He had no issue.
(Canadian Holmes vol.26, No.4, 2003 & The Shoso-in Bulletin vol.14, 2004)
Book review
Title: KONAN DOIRU SATSUJIN-JIKEN
(The House of the Baskervilles)
By Rodger Garrick-Steele
Translated by Saga, Fuyumi
Afterword by Shimada, Soji
Nan-un-do, Tokyo
October 4, 2002, ISBN4-523-26412-0
In recent years, there have been newspaper articles about the accusations by Rodger Garrick-Steele claiming that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stole the idea of The Hound Of The Baskervilles, one of the most famous Sherlock Holmes stories, from his friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson. Further, Garrick-Steele has charged that Conan Doyle had an affair with Mrs. Robinson and murdered Fletcher Robinson.
Garrick-Steele contacted many publishers trying to publish his book, The House Of The Baskervilles in England and America, but failed. Even now (May 2003), the original English version has not been published. However, to our great surprise in Japan, the Japanese version was published in October 2002 by Nan-undo, Tokyo. This publisher has a close relationship with the famous Japanese mystery writer, SHIMADA Soji, who wrote the afterwards for this book. It is thought that SHIMADA’s interest in Garrick-Steele’s book set the stage for publication. Though English and American Sherlockians and Doyleans can accurately determine its contents from newspaper articles, only Japanese Sherlockians can read all the details of Garrick-Steele’s opinion. I think it is my duty to outline and review this book for my foreign friends.
This book review is based on the Japanese edition, and so all the quotations from this book are “double-translations” by the reviewer.
This book starts in March 13 1989, the day Garrick-Steele and his family moved to an old house named Parkhill in Dartmoor, where the Robinson family lived about 80 years ago. In the Introductory Chapter, he insisted he had the psychic ability to see ghosts, and soon after his move, many spiritual phenomena occurred. He learned that this house was owned by the Robinson family and Harry Baskerville, the model for the Baskerville family. One day he found a portrait left at the entrance of his house. It was of Arthur Conan Doyle at six years old and his father Charles, and was painted in 1865 in Edinburgh. He did not know who left it there, or why. A Sherlockian in the costume of Sherlock Holmes calling himself “Mr. North” suddenly visited Parkhill and promised to help Garrick-Steele to investigate the history of Parkhill House. He sent old photographs of the house, and Garrick-Steele was surprised to find his own face in one of these photographs taken thirty-one years ago. Garrick-Steele’s psychic friends visited his house and pointed out that the ghost who wandered over his house was the ghost of a maid. This is the introduction to this book. These psychic events have no direct relationship with The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Fletcher Robinson did not die in this house, and the ghost was not him. The questions about the Doyle portrait were never solved, and actually, it was not a painting, but a photograph. This might be interesting for spiritualists, but is of no help to serious scholars of Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle.
From Chapter three, Fletcher Robinson’s biography starts. It is not a large matter whether his biography is right or not, but it seems there are no points to discuss especially. Harry Baskerville, coachman of the Robinson family, also appeared as a close friend of Fletcher.
According to Green8, Robinson “was soon engaged to write a book on Rugby (1896)...was a contributor to Cassell’s Magazine...and wrote a series of articles on ‘Capitals at Play’ (1898), ‘London Night by Night’ (1899), and ‘Famous Regiments’ (1899-1900). In 1900 he joined the staff of the Daily Express (which C.A. Pearson had just founded) and was sent out to South Africa to establish its new service.” (p85-86).
Garrick-Steele says in his book that after graduation from college, he met his uncle John Robinson, the editor of the Daily News at his home and became a staff member of the Daily News. He also mentions Doyle’s “Lot No. 249” which was published two years before. That short story was published in 1892 in Harper’s Monthly Magazine vol.85 (American edition), 24 (European edition). (Green and Gibson2 p82). It is a great surprise that Garrick-Steele considered this short story with its cold-blooded ending the last Holmes story, (p66). As you know, it is not a Sherlockian story, but a mystery included in Round The Red Lamp (1894). It is a story of a living mummy who chased a college student. It is incredible to commit such an elementary mistake, if anyone is interested in Holmes or Doyle.
That is not the only example of Garrick-Steele’s inaccurate knowledge of Doyle. He writes that Doyle’s first book was King Of Tolus in 1890, and that some years later he published a mystery situated in Egypt, where a mummy attacked adventurers who sought treasure in huge pyramids (p81).
In this book, Conan Doyle visited John Robinson’s house before going to the Reform Club and John introduced him to Fletcher. I do not know if this was their real first meeting or not. Green8 says that Doyle and Robinson shared a table on their return from South Africa and “become firm friends” (p86). And Mr Green told me in our private communication that it was not their first meeting.
Garrick-Steele also mentioned that upon the knighthood of John Robinson, Doyle advised Fletcher Robinson to be a European correspondent for Pearson’s Weekly (Mr. Green told me in our private communication that Robinson was employed by Max Pemberton at Cassell’s Magazine.) when he had his first meeting with Gladys Hill Morris, his future wife. Robinson attended the wedding of Harry Baskerville and Alice on 17th November 1894, as a groomsman. It is curious for me that an employer’s son acted as a groomsman for a coachman.
Robinson went to South Africa to report on the Boer War. Garrick-Steele wrote that Robinson’s friend told him that Doyle was a cruel and violent man on the ship to South Africa. Several of Robinson’s newspaper reports are reprinted here. On the return trip from South Africa to England, Robinson again met Conan Doyle on board. This is a well known fact. However, I do not know if it is fact or not that Doyle bought the NORW trick of making a false finger print with wax and blood for fifty pounds. He insists they took a photograph just after that purchase which was reprinted in the Sherlock Holmes Journal8 (p87).
Garrick-Steele says Conan Doyle’s pamphlet supporting the British army, The War In South Africa - Its Cause And Conduct, was a complete failure; though he does not mention the title, he says it was published by Smith, Elder & Co. Thus it is clear that he refers to this pamphlet. He says Doyle prepared 500,000 copies in several languages, but failed because of the illness of Queen Victoria. However, this is also incorrect. According to Green and Gibson2, this pamphlet was printed as follows:
first English edition - 250,000 copies
first English edition Colonial issue - 22,000
first American edition50,000
first American edition Canadian issue - 25,000
Welsh edition - 10,000
French edition - 20,000
German edition - 20,000
Dutch edition - 5,000
Italian edition - 5,000
Portuguese edition - 3,500
Norwegian edition - 3,500
Swiss edition - 1,000
Spanish edition - 10,000
Russian edition - 5,000
Hungarian edition - 8,000
Furthermore, there were second issues of the first English edition (50,000 copies), and the first Continental edition as well as a second French edition, Tamil edition, Kanarese edition, Rumanian edition, and Braille edition whose amounts of copies are unknown. Green and Gibson says that “As a result of an extensive publicity campaign, which included the use of wall posters, the
pamphlet was a notable success in many countries, and was partly responsible for the offer of a knighthood, which the author accepted” (p261). A very important point is that this pamphlet was published on 16 January 1902, just one year AFTER the death of Queen Victoria.
In addition, Garrick-Steele says that Doyle was discouraged to hear of the news of the death of Queen Victoria, and decided to retire from politics and writing. Queen Victoria died on January 16, 1901. Actually he did not write fiction for magazines in the spring of 1901, but he contributed to newspapers and magazines seven times in January, once in February, twice in March and April, and three times in May.
Garrick-Steele suggested that Robinson’s invitation to his country house brought back Doyle from his retirement (p154). Robinson showed his unpublished short stories to Doyle, and he advised Robinson to send them to the publisher Smith, Elder & Co. This publisher proposed that Robinson publish his stories, but change them to Holmes stories under Doyle’s name. Robinson met Doyle in March 1901 (sic), at the Royal Links Hotel, Cromer, Norfolk (p191). Doyle decided also sell their new novel to the Strand Magazine (p193), and proposed to treat Robinson as a co-author. Doyle again visited Dartmoor on April 1901 to stay at Parkhill for eight days. Robinson and Doyle stayed at the Duchy Hotel of Princeton one night during that visit. Returning to Robinson’s house, Parkhill, they took a photograph, but there was a psychic phenomenon, during which only the Robinson family and Doyle’s heads were shown in a tree branch (p200). Garrick-Steele claimed that at least the first three chapters were written by Robinson alone (p200). However, there are many wrong points in this theory.
First, the publisher which published the first edition of HOUN was not Smith, Elder & Co., but George Newnes, Ltd, who also published the Strand Magazine. Garrick-Steele reprinted in his book a letter from Reginald Smith of Smith, Elder & Co. to Robinson, suggesting that Robinson change his story to a Holmes story and change the author’s name, but as there is no relationship of this company to HOUN, the authenticity of this letter is very suspicious.
Second, according to Green8, in March 1901, “Doyle spent several days with his mother at the Ashdown Forest Hotel ... and over the weekend of 23-25 March he was in Edinburgh to give the toast to ‘The Immortal Memory’ at the Edinburgh Burns Club - an occasion which had been deferred in January because of the Queen’s death. Fletcher Robinson was also fully occupied. In his role as a reporter for the Daily Express, he covered the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on 30 March and visited Scotland in mid-April to cover the opening of the Glasgow Exhibition.” (p86). It would be impossible for both of them to stay at Parkhill for holidays in March and April. The letter from Reginald Smith reprinted in this book is dated February 1901, which is a reply on the publication of HOUN, but February in Dartmoor is far from spring. It is bitterly cold.
Third, Garrick-Steele mentions in two different ways Robinson’s unpublished story, as “The Adventure of Dartmoor” (p166) and “The Tragedy of Thomas Hearne, A Tale of Dartmoor” (p188). He also writes that Doyle read Robinson’s manuscript on Harry Baskerville’s ancestor who was so evil that villagers made a fence around his grave, but his ghost still appeared in the moor (p184). I do not know if this refers to “The Tragedy of Thomas Hearne,” but in any event “The Tragedy of Thomas Hearne” has no relationship to HOUN. Green9 says it “appeared in Pearson’s Magazine (published by C. Arthur Pearson) in May 1905” (p127). Mr. Green also told me in our private communication that “A Tale of Dartmoor’ does not feature Addington Peace, but Inspector Harbord. It was then changed to an Addington Peace story for the book.” The “Addington Peace” series was published as The Chronicles Of Addington Peace in 1905 by Harper, London. It was not from Pearson.
This book was reprinted by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box (Canada), and one can easily purchase a copy from the publisher. It is an episode told by a detective, Peace, but he is not the main character. That is Henderson, a street gang member in London. He was asked to help in the jailbreak of Julius Craig, who was in Dartmoor Prison. In accordance with their plan, Craig escaped during hard labour on the moor in the fog, and Henderson brought him to Torquay on the coast. He was disguised as “Mr. Abel Kingsley” (an American scholar) and stayed at the Princetown Arms. There was also an old guest named Thomas Hearne at the hotel. When Henderson initially investigated the moor at night, he met Hearne. Hearne told him he also wanted to rescue Craig, and suggested cooperation. Henderson accepted, and they prepared for the escape for weeks. At last, Craig escaped with the help of Henderson’s cart. Their plan seemed to be a success, but Hearne then revealed his identity, Mortimer, to Craig. Craig tried to run away, but Hearne stabbed him to death. Years before, Hearne/Mortimer and his daughter had lived in Spain, and Craig had kidnapped Craig’s daughter by taking her away in his yacht. She died in London. Hearne had helped him escape in order to kill him.
As you see, there are no connections to HOUN other than an escaped prisoner and Dartmoor. There are no hounds, no detectives, no mansions, and for that matter, no detection. Garrick-Steele himself writes that this story is “a story of an escaped prisoner”(p178), “a story of granite, forest and horses, escaped prisoners, watches with guns, cold mist and rain of Dartmoor”(p183). This is true, but his claim that the prisoner was chased by a black, horrible ghost which howled for blood, is wrong. It was an old man thirsting for revenge on the prisoner, not a ghost hound.
Actually, there is one reference to a hound in “The Tragedy of Thomas Hearne”. That is, “You should take a walk one night when the moon is full, as it is now. Then you would understand how the stories of ghost hounds and headless riders and devils in the mires first started.” (p90). It is a piece of advice given to Craig by the landlord of the hotel. That is all.
I cannot find any stories Robinson wrote about Baskerville’s ancestors. This might refer to the legend of Sir Richard Cabell (1622-1672), which is frequently mentioned as the original of the legend of the hound. However, Green8 points out that “there were no family legends known to contemporary historians...It was only after The Hound of the Baskervilles was published that people began to suggest that there was a connection” (p88) between Cabel and Hugo Baskerville.
However, it is true Robinson helped Doyle to create HOUN. Garrick-Steele distinctly mentioned Archibald Marshall. There is a reference by Marshall that “he gave Conan Doyle the idea and plot of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and wrote most of its first installment for the Strand Magazine. Conan Doyle wanted it to appear under their joint names, but his name alone was wanted, because it was worth so much more. They were paid £100 a thousand words, in the proportion of three to one. As I put it to Bobbles at that time, “Then if you write ‘How do you do?’ Doyle gets six shillings and you get two.” He said he had never been good at vulgar fractions, but it sounded right, and anyhow what he wrote was worth it. (p5)
As Archibald Marshall was a close friend to Robinson, it would be correct that Robinson received one-third of payment of HOUN. There is a variety of discussion about whether Robinson actually wrote the first part of HOUN or not.
According to Green8, Doyle and Robinson met at the Royal Links Hotel, Cromer on 30 April 1901, when Robinson told Doyle the idea of ghost dog.(p87) It was not yet a Holmes story, and Doyle suggested the double payment to Greenhough Smith of the Strand Magazine for changing it to a Holmes story. Doyle had not yet visited Dartmoor, and the two visited there from the end of May to June 2nd 1901. They also stayed at the Duchy Hotel of Princetown one night on June 1st. Green9 says,
“...there is no complete manuscript. Only about 26 pages out of about 200 are known to have survived. These are entirely in Doyle’s handwriting and include: the third page of Chapter One; the opening of Chapter Two; the second page of Chapter Six; the opening of Chapter Seven; the opening of Chapter Nine; the whole of Chapter Eleven, and four pages from Chapter Twelve. It is therefore impossible to prove absolutely that the entire manuscript was the work of Co
nan Doyle.” (p128).
Marshall suggested the first installment for the Strand Magazine was written by Robinson. Garrick-Steele writes that there is a record of Robinson’s stating that he himself wrote the first three chapters of HOUN alone (p200). But as you see above, the manuscript pages of Chapter One and Two which remain are in Doyle’s hand. As they are random portions, it is not probable the other pages were in other hands. The first draft of this novel, in which Sherlock Holmes does not appear, might be written by Robinson, to help Doyle, but the truth is not known.
Garrick-Steele’s incredible assertions continue. He claims that Doyle’s mother Mary accused his son of breaking his promise, and that there was too much money in his bank account (p204). This would mean Doyle stole Robinson’s money. I do not know if such a letter exists.
The most extraordinary claim is that the Sherlock Holmes story after HOUN was SOLI, which was ordered by Collins Co. of America. Even a small child knows that after HOUN, Doyle wrote EMPT in 1903, one year later. SOLI was written in 1904 as the fourth episode of RETURN. Furthermore, these short stories were published in the Strand Magazine (UK) and in Collier’s Weekly (USA), not by Collins.
Garrick-Steele made Robinson angry in his book when Doyle received a knighthood. I do not know which newspaper article he referred to, but Garrick-Steele writes that the reason for Doyle’s knighthood was his dedication to the Boer War and for writing HOUN. For Sherlockians, it is well known that the Canon was not the reason for his knighthood. Garrick-Steele’s Robinson was frustrated with this news, and it is said his friends asked him why he could not also get a knighthood (p215). His wife Gladys supposedly even proposed beginning legal proceedings! (p216) As well, Robinson’s friend Nevinson said that Doyle’s affair was seen by his sister and her husband, Hornung, who blamed Doyle, and they got into a fistfight (p218). He also said Doyle was a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” who deceived the British people about atrocities in South Africa. Nevinson told Robinson that if he commenced legal proceedings, the atrocities would be revealed, and the crown’s very existence would be threatened. He also said Doyle committed violence against his family, and that his secretary also beat Doyle’s son Gemini (p222). I have never heard of a son of Doyle’s named “Gemini” or anything like that. I wonder who he was....
East Wind Coming Page 13
