Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-08-16
THE ! |: DETECTIVE STORY
Origin and Growth of the clev..
AmateaE SIeuth.
V0LTAIRE WAS HIS CREArnp

~ VI Flcuon-Th.f
Genius of Poe and Gaboriau
Conan DoyIe's Sherlock HoIr..
Most persons who read dateo.,-
stories, and most literary critics
believe that this very popular FORM
fiction was Invented by Edgar AM
Poe. They point to his story of s. rr,il'
Purloined Letter as being the FIRST ns
Its kind-the first in which is ir+,o
duced the man of keen mind of olo..
reasoning and of constructive in,os,
nation, who is able to piece togatbon
certain facts that are known and 49,
bya brilliant deduction to pass fron.
them to other facts which arc nnt
known, but the truth of which ha Is
able to establish beyond a doubt
Poe himself had a mind precisa,r ot
this character-the mind of NAH
matician, subtle, logical and canohLo
OF searching analysis. He once gavao
remarkable Illustration of What ho
could do as an investigator of mvsto.
rious crime. A young shopgirI NAMED
Mary Rogers was found murdered
under circumstances which EXCITED
great public interest in New yorr,
The police were completely baftled
though they advanced theory which
was plausible in part Poe, taking tbo
facts that we're admitted, woye them
into a story, the scene Of which. he laid
In Paris and which he called "Tho
Mystery Of Marie Roget" Then from
what was known he passed by dednc.
tive reasoning to what was quite nm.
known and worked out solution to
the puzzle which no professional de.
tective had been able to expa,n
Years afterward the confession Of q
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 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 a young man is questioned
as to whether he had seen 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 ord
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-
hibited the striking contrast between
the working of usual mind and the
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 a professional detective but ap-
pears in that book as a novice, inexpe-
rienced, but full of intelligence and en-
thusiasm 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
background is the interesting figure
OF the real amateur detective, old Fa-
Their Tire-au-Clair C'Bring- to-lightD, 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 Oh
stories were suggested by the inven'
lions of Poe. Yet 1t is only fair to say
that Doyle has gone one step further
than his master. Poe's characters arc
distractions. They are like chessmen
on the board and excite interest only
because of the completely OF the proO-
lem which they are made to soNe-
Doyle's characters, on the other manu.
are drawn with sympathy ana
shrewd insight into human nature,
They entertain us by their whims anu
Individual traits no less than oy lne
adventures through which they pass
Thus Holmes addiction to the COCAINE
habit. his trick of smoking great quau
titles of shag tobacco when tnlnAine
out a problem. his dislike OF woneu
his skill as boxer-in fact. score y
traits all give him individuality az
make us think of him as fascinauDs
character quite apart from bis pow
as deductive reasoner. And IL
with the minor personages as we
Watson, the somewhat Obtuse cni