The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-11
DETECTIVE BURNS IS
THE GUEST OF DOYLE
Gives Impression of Creator
of Great Fiction Sleuth
VERY MUCH PLEASED
At His Friendly Attitude Toward
Exorvtl,;nu marican nan,Or
VERY MUCH PLEASED
At His Friendly Attitude Toward
Everything observation-disclosures
stration of Workings of the
Dictaphone Given
II, HAYDEN cnilRcH

London, May TO- (Special) )-There was
an American "detectophone7 working foi
a few minutes in Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's study at eNindlesham,9 his home
near Crowborough, in Sussex. last
weekend and one wishes that it had
been kept going straight on from Sat
urday afternoons till Monday morning.
as popular dttv SAYS. and that the
record thus made was available for pub
lication, for one of Sir Arthur's two
Weekend guests was William J. Burns
the famous American detective, and the
other NJ. Stefansson, the Arctic explorer
who now has left for the United States
en- route for Canada.
No detectophone or other record of the
great talk that must have been exchanged
however, did the next best thing by
catching w j. Burns within couple OF
hours after his return from Windlesham
to Athe Savoy hotel, which he is making
his Headquarters while here. and garner
ing all that he would say about his visit
to the creator of Sherlock Holiness
which, it seems, was the fufillment of
desire of long standing on the American
sleuth's part
Impressions of Doyle
II always have been one of the keenest
admirers of the Sherlock Holmes stories,
said Burns, "and | was anxious to meet
Sir Arthur when l first came over here
two years ago. but he then was in Ger
many on visit to Prince Henry of Prus-
sla, the kaiser's brother. This time how
ever on hearing that | was here, Sir
Arthur called on me and we had fine
talk, lasting a couple of hours, at the
end of which he invited be to spend the
week-end with him. which. of course, l
was delighted to do.
'I hardly know which impressed me
the more about Sir Arthur" the detec-
tive went on. his astonishing store of
information upon every possible subject.
or his quiet modesty. Most men who had
created a character like Sherlock Holmes,
whom | consider the greatest detective
in fiction det alone the other things
Doyle has donel, would be swelled upl
that you couldn't hand them a peach on
the end of a fish-pole, but there isn't the
slightest indica tion in Sir Arthur's man
ner that he realizes that he is a big
man. Nevertheless. without knowing
who or what he was. ! could have picked
him out in many surroundings whatever
for exactly the man he is, and i'm Lady
Doyle he has charming WIFE who
makes a delightful hostess. 'Windlesham
is fine house, cram full of interesting
things. and standing in the midst of the
most beautiful country | ever saw. 1t Is
several miles from the railway station
at Croborough and Sir Arthur drove Nj
Stefansson. another remarka BILE man, and
myself both ways in his big automobile
He is only few miles, by the way, from
Burwash, the home of Rudyard Kipling
whom | met on my former visit over
here
IT otter have been asked Burns went
on, 'if the principles outlined by Conan
Doyle in the Sherlock Holmes stories
could be applied in real detective work
and my reply to this question is decided
ly yes. The two great qualities necessa-
ry in successful seuthng are imagina.
ton and resourcefulness, added to an ex-
pert knowledge of human nature. and ex
actly those three qualities characterize
Sir Arthur.
Talked of sherlock Holmes"
I'VE talked quite a lot about Sherlock |
Holmes-as a matter of fact | did most |
of the talking-and I was surprised to
discover that the person who apparently |
is least impressed with those wonderful
stories is the man who wrote them
Did he say anything about writing any |
more?' | asked hoping that Sir Arthur |
might have had change of heart since |
he wrote to me on the subject a couple |
of months ago.
no" said Burns "he didn't. unfor- |
tunately. He was intensely Interested, !
by the bye, in the working of the detec-
tophone. a specimen of which / took !
down to 'Windesham' and when we re-
turned to London he went with me to see
the moving pictures which were made in |
America and are to be shown over here |
of The Exposure of the Land Swindlers |
in which | play a modest part. Of
course. too, he made me tell him the
stories of all my biggest cases, and his