The New York herald., 1922-03-05
By ARTHUR B. REEVE,
Creator of Craig Kennedy"

began. Then their son, who tracked
and found who stole the stone ak,
Dragged about it around the fire in
the cave. He began mystery. After
creation the first story is Adam and
Eve-and LIith. But hard on its
heels comes Cain and Abel. Am i
my brothers keeper?" was the orisi-
nal lame evasion when the First Of
ficer OF the Law confronted the sus-
pect.
The prehistoric Semitic mystery
story was theological. The first Nor
die detective began by following
footprints, He was the first hunter
of beasts-of men. So Calico be-
came an astronomical detective and
Columbus fathered race of geo.
graphical detectives. "The Origin of
Species is . great biological detec-
tive story. Champollion wrote an
archaeological detective story around
the Rosetta stone. Wells is writing
the detective story of history, with
the finger prints. the Bertillon meas
urements, the pedigrees and pictures
OF mankind. All science is q detec-
live story. Never read detective
stories? As well say you don't read
twentieth century science.
Crime is the most tremendous up
heaval OF human nature. Ifmascu-
late romance and crime and you de-
stroy drama. Only BY portrayipg
the warfare against crime can you
point up the Indo-Nordic rule OF
KIpling:
Now this Is the Law of the Jungle
-as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may
prosper, but the Wolf that shall
break it must die"
Let our so-called censors ponder II.
L may as well confess that my first
inspiration came from Poe's AThe
Murders in the Rue Morgue,n fol-
lowed by impressionable reading of
Conan Doyle's "The Sign of the
Four and Anna Katherine Green's
Tho Leavenworth Case" After
that. for years would not read a
detective story. i felt that If / did
not read them I certainly could not
plagiarize them. But then 1 found
that we are all unconscious, SUBJ
conscious plagiarists, and some time
ago / began the collection OF mys-
terry fiction after undergoing this
cycle.
Poe invented the detective story.
We exported him as so much raw
material and reirnported him in the
manufactured goods of Gaboriau and
Doyle. But already we had awak-
ened to the fact that the detective
story. after all. was really our own.
We created Nick Carter, Old Sleuth,
the whole tribe of dime novel heroes
who were counterparts of the "shill-
ing shockers" and penny dreadfuls"
abroad.
Caboriau and Doyle rescued the
idea from the dime novel paper cover
and put 1t into cloth at anything
from 80 cents to So. The Bowery
and Morningside Heights had met
together; science and melodrama
had kissed each other.
''rhe Murders in the Rue Morgue"
must remain the patriarch OF the
elan. for il gave us Auguste Dupin
and his analytical reasoning. But /
also admire "The Mystery of Marie
Roget" because in Poe's handling OF
the murder of Cecilia Rogers in 1912
Inc showed how we might handle the
Eiwen case or the Taylor case I'm 1929
for the purposes OF literature. COM
piete my trilogy Of Poe with "The
Purloined Letter" the triumph Of
the obvious. II may be that Dupin
was more clever than convincing, but
he started something.
Poe's genius was Mt once rceos-
f.xf IfyanaT,
Saboriau created -Pcre Tabaret," a