Evening star., 1922-11-05
"Our American Adventure"
Poe's Far-Reaching Inspiration to World Would
Build Monument to Him Greater Than
Pyramids Says Author of ''Sherlock
Holiness" Acknowledging Own
Debt
BY SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

hdo Rdlned certain pSychi" pow"rS.
| recorded by Jack London. in hiH
Jacket or Star Rover ha,"
seen more Of him now. and he is Ger
ta1nly one of the strangest u.rSrn-
alities / have encountered ia Ibis
country. He is snappy. with Il ci9, X
to all he does and says like rlic e.. rl1
of pistol: but behind il all * a VII
poised brain and steady purpo>...
as his clear eyes and firm mouth c;.n
testify. Picture him the ,.le..n-rri,-
deadly earnest man. leanias forward
eagerly in his chair, and then r. All
thu. our dialogue:
How came you into prison. ""
Morell?"
1T was really a small civil war.
sir--a feud between squatiers and 4
great railroad company that tried 1"
do them out of their holdings. They
had the whole force of the state.
police, judges and everything AT thcir
! back. They could do what they liked.
We had only our guns. So they pro
claimed us bandits and treated us AS
such when taken. If they killed us.
no more said-if we killed them il
was sure murder"
$50 they jailed you
Tortured in Prison.
Yes, sir. and was little more
than a boy. And ] could not stand
for the way they treated us. and ;"
7 got it the harder. At last they had
me in the black cell. and there werr
five years of my life during which
tain hours in the day when "A ray Of
light came through a hole. FIy"
years, sir. and i never left that ell
except the day i was tortured. Nj
beard was over my chest in fr"n.
and my hair was down to my wal
behind"
Tell me about the torture
1T was mostly the jacket. Tn,
lace it up until they squeeze the yer.
heart out of you. And there | came
upon this way of getting your sou!
out of your body. 1t was Self-hypn"-
tizing, / suppose | could not haNr
done it if I had not been so weat
anyhow. I used to lie there and watch
light over the door. Then ] fell
il coming on. l cursed the Keepers 1"
| make them strap tighter. ] knew u
| was either death that time. or else J
would get my result. 1 got their goa.
i 1t didn't take much to do that. Ther"
| were three of them with their knee
! in the small of my back pulling OH =
half-inch rope. Then they left M"
, And it came just as ! expected. | feii
great coat. and then it vanished. and
| / was out of the body. ! had forty
eight hours on end and / laughed
when they came for me ana GO;
| forty-eight more hours for that. But
| it was worth it.
What were these visions va
saw"
"They were bits out of my ow'
previous lives
How do you know they were no
bits of your reading?
| you've read them, have you not:
f, well. how could they be things
! had read when was only a boy th"'
knew nothing and had read n"thin=
when ! was jailed
Told Jack London.
| 1t was true ! recalled the wonder
! full series of pictures of the life "t
a primitive man. of Morse pirate. OF
! a medieval knight. Of all sorts o
people which are given in Jack Lon
don's Jacket and which / recoc
niZed when | read them as being ia
a different. a finer and more liter
airy style than his own.
i Yes. sir. | dictated them to Jack
with a stenographer taking every
/ l
once. It was all branded in my brain
| Every word was as l had II WA
like man possessed. When | GOT
waving a stick Jack cried stop l"H
| put fear into me.
Then you think that under self
JhypnotiSm YOU went back along IN -
lime of your vanished lives, and thai
! when these hrutes thought that you
! were under torture YOU were really
tliving the outstanding scenes over
aSain?'
"YeS. sir. that was so.
"If the prisoners were mlSuSed, "a
you say. how came it that there wer'
no inouests and inquiries?
I There was at that time no law
for prisoners. 1t WAS just hole ia
the hillside and no more said.
1t SOUNDS a pretty grim story hu''
thanks largely to Morell's own work.
When, through the humanity of Il
good reforming governor. he got his
release he devoted himself to this
work. and he still travels the cour
try with a van. lecturinE on III"
matter. San Quentin is reformed. but
he holds that the greater number of
institutions are very backward. TheN
vary. of course. with the cul
ture of the state, but one would think
that matter of such importanc"
should be taken away from local fads
or politics and made part of the gen
eral federal law of the land. ] haVr
| at different times inspected both tn"
Tombs and Sing Sing. SO ! know a,
6rst hand something OF American
prison conditions. In some cases
they seem to err upon the side of Sc
verify and in others of extreme in
dulgence so that the whole system
is without method or principle. i,
will be a fine thing. however. If Morel,
should from his own terrible eXpe-
rience be able to bring relief to other
, sufferers.
! Copyright by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 1872:
| for United States and Great Britain.'
! To be Continued in Tomorrow's Star.