The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-04-26
CONAN DoYLEs NEW BOOK.
The Hound of Baskervilles is
Ready.

LsCdUT
Conan Doyle's new novel, 1.-THE Hound
of the Baskervilles, - which has been ap-
pearing serially in McClures magazine
has been published in book form BY
Mcclure, Phillips & Co., of New York.
The whole plot of DR.. Doyle's novel,
1.-THE Hound of the Baskervilles, was
conceived and worked out in the auth
ors mind in one day.
1t happened at CFomers a pretty Eng
lish seaside resort, where the doctor
had gone for golf. On Saturday there
was sharply contested game between
himself and Mr.. 3. Fletcher Robinson,
a prominent young London editor and
journalist. Both were anxious to re-
sumo play on the following morning,
but they had figured without the law.
In Cromer Sunday golf is a social
crime.
Disappointed and angry, the two men
looked about for someone to annihilate;
and they. said things Then, like true
Britishers. they filed their pipes, calm
ed their souls. and proceeded to a phil
osOphical discussion on the unfitness OF
things in general and the folly of their
own customs in particular. By easy
stages the talk led through national
bigOtry and provincial peculiarities to
family prejudice. and eventually TO
family ghosts.
1.-The funniest thing about our nation
al superstitiOns, d." said Mr.. Robinson, lis
that although an Englishnan almost in
EclIlaDly 46SDlSNS I4S n6lSnDOIS 6HOSlSs
he still believes in his own with child
like simplicity. and is deeply hurt by
the doubts and slurs of others"
Whereupon Mr. Doyle dilated on the
deep human interest of ghosts in general,
and upon the charm of his own pet
ghost particular. at the same time
laughing somewhat at the credulity of
such as found it quite within their phil
osophy to buy other mems castles. live
in them for a generation, and gradual
lxr a al
tral dogmas. legends and uneasy spir-
its
which reminds me- said his COM
panion, that 1 have intimate acquaint-
ance with a ghost-the strangest one on
record; none of your white hrouded,
hoilow-eyed, arm waving spectres-but
a dog-a great, fierce, phosp horescent
dog, that roams over the moors O'nights,
soaring decent folk half out Of their
senses and striking terror to the hearts
of self-respecting dogs in the flesh.
THAT sounds interesting; who stands
sponsor for the beast ,"
1.-The Baskervilles. My fathers groom
down in Devon is supposed to be de-
scended from the original owner. The
name of Baskerville was fam Gus in the
days of Drake. There were wild spirits
in those days, you know, and they seem
to have bred wild ghosts.
Awhile the elder man listened as his
companion drew at length from a wealth
of folk lore, accumulated during boy
hood and early manhood whose holiday
delight had been to tramp the lonely
moor nd gossip with conhding rustics
who thought they saw and heard things.
IT'S a real good mystery" said Rob
inson refiectiyely as he finished his tale
It's a pity your Sherlock Holmes is
dead"
rs hep said the doctor
You don't mean to say"
s'Wen, no coroner's jury has said so"
Gould you revive him and let him
To- this fe7. 7''
I rather fancy the thing happened
before he disappeared from the public
view
Then ne did examine the case2"
I imagine there are some records of
it in the tin box that Watson cherishes-
With your help I daresay we could get
at the details" And then and there
was born the scheme of DR.. Doyles last
fascinating account of the exploits of
his wonderful detective By tea time
he had the plot worked out, and ere
many days the author, occasionally ac-
companied by Mr. Robinson, was scour-
ing Dartmoor in Devonshire with all the
enthusiasm of boy, following strange
clues over a wild tract Of land soma fifty
by three miles.
Amid all the virgin solitude of the
huge moor, unchanged and untitled by
hand of man, there is one central point
which most attracts the student Of
crime. It is the huge prison of Prince
town an enormous barrack of criminals.
escape more difficult. The two novelists
wandered round the gaunt building.
looking wistfully at the high brick walls,
and knowing well that whatever type Of
villain might be essential to their mar
rative his double would certainly be
found within that grim enclosure. The
yellow CARRIED gangs who work at re-
claiming the moor, the hard-faced ward
ers with their loaded rifles, the dark,
melancholy houses, and the sad waste
stretching around them. all left an i'm
preston upon their minds, some ref1ec-
ton of which is to be found in the pages
of THE Hound of the Baskervilles.''
One day the two were wandering to-
getker over the moor when they came
upon a spot where it seemed that only
thin film covered some frightfuI abyss
into which the careless Wayfarer might
easily be preci~itated. Only by step
ping from cIump to clump Of rushes
could they keep up. and at each move
the whole surrounding ground quivered
and shook like some vast unwholesome
jelly. It was not a place to venture on
alone Doyle paused, and pointing to a
particularly dangerous hole out of which
the green-scummed water was yelling,
said:
That is where we will put him"
sszVho2s
The nillain-''
reached. For several DAYS the two friends
tramped the moor. listening to weird local
stories-tales Of escaping eonvicts who had