The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-08-23
THE DETECTIVE STORY
Origin and Growth of the Clever
Amateur Sieuih.
vOLTAIRE WAS HIS CREATOR.
fine Great French Writer Introduces
Him to the World of Fiction-The
Genius of Poe and Gaboriau and
Conan DoyIe's Sherlock Holmes.


Most persons who read detective
stories, and most literary critics, too.
believe that this very popular form of
fiction was invented by Edgar Allan
Poe. They point to his story of THE
Purloined Letter as being the first of
fits kind-the first in which is intro
duced the man of keen mind, of close
reasoning and Of constructive imagl-
nation, who is able to piece together
certain facts that are known and then
by brilliant deduction to pass from
them to other facts which are not
known, but the truth of which he is
able to establish beyond a doubt.
Poe himself had a mind precisely of
this characteristic mind of a mathe-
matician, subtle, logical and capable
of searching analysis. He once gave
remarkable illustration Of what he
could do as an investigator of mystic
rious crime. A young shopgirl named
Mary Rogers was found murdered
under circumstances which excited
great public interest in New York.
The police were completely baffied,
though they advanced a theory which
was plausible in part. Poe, taking the
facts that were admitted, woye them
into story, the scene of which he laid
in Paris and which he called THE
Mystery of Marie Roget" Then from
what was known he passed by deduc-
tive reasoning to what was quite I'M
known and worked out a solution to
the puzzle which no professional de-
tective had been able to explain.
Years afterward the confession of a
dying man afforded proof that Poe
was right and that he had reconstruct
ed accurately the whole series Of
events which led to the death of Mary
Rogers.
This remarkable achievement fixed in
the public mind the notion that this use
of logic blended with imagination was
original with Poe. AS a matter of fact,
it is almost certain that Poe, who was
deeply versed in French literature got
the suggestion of the method from
reading certain passages in the orr
entail tale called ''Zadig," by Voltaire.
In this book young man is questioned
as to whether he had seen a stray dog
and horse that might have passed him |
on his journey. In reply he describes
very accurately the peculiarities of
both. though he had not seen them. |
He had deduced his knowledge from
observing certain indications along |
the way-the nature of the footprints |
and many other signs which the ordi-
nary person would either not have no
ticed or would have been too dull to |
understand. Here is really the germ
of the conception which Poe SO bril- |
liantly elaborated in the story of THE
Purloined Letter." where we find ex-
fDo triI- hot
the working of usual mind and the |
achievements of mind of exceptional |
power and training.
Foes central figure, the amateur de-
tective, was afterward caught up and |
elaborated with great effect by several |
French writer's. of whom the chief was
Emile Gaboriau. Gaboriau gave the
world the character of NJ. Lecoq in the
remarkable novel of that name Lecoq
is professional detective, but APP
pears in that book as novice, inexpe-
rienced, but full of intelligence and en-
thusasm and obliged to work out his /
clews against the secret opposition of /
his official chief. Gevrot, who is jeal- |
Gus of the young detective. In the t
background is the interesting figure |
of the real amateur detective. old Fa-
Their Tire-au-Clair C'Bring- to-light'J, a |
retired tradesman who studies crime |
from sheer love of the intellectual puz-
zle which it affords him and which he |
solves by purely scientific deduction.
Sir Conan Doyle in,creating Sherlock /
Holmes openly acknowledged his great |
Indebtedness to Poe. Like Poe's hero,
Holmes works apart from the official /
police and is consulted by them when /
they are wholly at a loss. Many of /
the Incidents in the Holmes cycle of |
stories were suggested by the inven-
tions of Poe. Yet it is only fair to say /
that Doyle has gone one step further
than his master Poe's characters are |
distractions. They are like chessmen
on the board and excite interest only /
because of the complexity Of the prob
lem which they are made to solve.
Doyles characters, on the other hand,
are drawn with sympathy and a
shrewd insight into human nature
They entertain us by their whims and |
individual traits no less than by the |
adventures through which they pass !
Thus Holmes addiction to the cocaine
habit. his trick of smoking great guam
titles of shag tobacco when thinking /
his skill as a boxer-in fact. score of 4
traits all give him individuality and /
make us think of him fascinating
character quite apart from his powers
as a deductive reasoner. And it is so
with the minor personages as we'll
Watson. the somewhat obtuse chron-
icler of the adventures: Lestrade ami
Gregson of the official police and
Moriarty, the arch criminal.
But. however brilliant Poe may have
been, or however ingeniously Gaboriau
may have spun tangled plots. or how
ever ably Conan Doyle may have given
life and reality to the central figure OF
his stories. they all derive their in
SEPARATION. whether consciously or not.
from the clever tale told by the IA
nous Frenchman before Poe saw the
light.-Scrap Book
cnr,atiroaQ whom f1itfue- raDffry and i