Conan Doyle Brings Cheer to Pilgrims

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Conan Doyle Brings Cheer to Pilgrims is an article published in The New-York Times on 29 may 1914.


Conan Doyle Brings Cheer to Pilgrims

The New-York Times (29 may 1914, p. 6)

Tells Luncheon Hosts of Hap-pier Atmosphere Between England and America.

RESENTS BOYCOTT OF FAIR

Says Mr. Asquith Alone Is to Blame for Britain's Attitude — Visits and Admires Tombs.

When the Pilgrims of the United States came together at luncheon at the Whitehall Club yesterday to welcome Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, half a dozen or more members were present who remembered that Sir Arthur was one of the first members of the English society of that name and that he was one of the speakers at what was called the first annual dinner of the Pilgrims of London, given at Prince's Restaurant on June 19, 1903.

According to George T. Wilson, one of the founders of the society, Joseph H. Choate, President of the American organization, who was in the chair yesterday, was at the first formal gathering of the Pilgrims of London, Mr. Choate at that time being American Ambassador at the Court of St. James's Others who were present yesterday and who attended the first dinner in London were Mr. Wilson, Dock Commissioner R. A. C. Smith, Louis C. Hay, and Milton V. Snyder. George G. Gray, who was present yesterday, attended one of the early dinners in London.

It was a large and enthusiastic gathering that turned out to greet Sir Arthur, about two hundred being present. Sir Arthur sat between Mr. Choate and Admiral Peary. At the same table were John Hays Hammond, who was honored with a big dinner by the Pilgrims of London when he went over as Special Ambassador to the coronation of King George; Gen. Nelson A. Miles, Sir Courtenay Bennett, the British Consul General; Marcus M. Marks, President of the Borough of Manhattan; John D. Crimmins, A. Barton Hepburn; G. B. Knapp, Frank S. Witherbee, Henry Clews, Brig. Gen. R. K. Evans, commanding the Department of the East; Capt. Albert Gleaves, Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and F. Cunliffe-Owen.

Mr. Choate, who seemed to have entirely recovered from his recent illness, was in that happy humor that has always characterized him as a toast-master. Before the speechmaking, however, the customary toasts to the President and the King were drunk, and cheers given. Then Mr. Wilson read a cablegram from Harry V. Brittain, Hon. Sec. of the London Pilgrims, who is with Sir Ernest Shackleton in Norway, sending greetings to the guest of the occasion.

Mr. Choate congratulated everybody on looking so well. He said it was only the third square meal the Pilgrims had had since Christmas, owing partly to the illness of their Chairman, and partly to the fact that the British Ambassador hadn't been able to be with them when they had "stretched legs under this Long Island mahogany."

"Today we have come together for the purpose of meeting the Englishman who, on the whole, is better known than any other Englishman living," said Mr. Choate, and there was a chorus of appreciation.

"In the first place," went on the Chairman to Sir Arthur, "we know you as a Pilgrim, which is a title of the highest distinction," and then when the applause had subsided—" we know that you and Lord Roberts, or Lord Roberts and you, have kept the Pilgrims Society afoot in London.

"It sometimes happens in this country that men are railroaded to prison for crimes they did not commit, and it is extremely difficult to secure their release. If they are released there is no reparation for their ignominious imprisonment and for the shame and mortification that they undergo. It is as the great credit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that he has been active in securing the liberation of the innocent. His services have always been at the command of the oppressed.

"Most of those you see about you are hard-working men, who, when they get home at night, like nothing so much as to put on their slippers and cock up their heels and read the 'Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,' or some other great hero you have created. Some one I know has enjoyed reading your books for the last fifteen years more than those of any other author. Personally I wish you would create some more characters like Sherlock, and let us have them. We need a lot of that kind over here. I believe the history of America and of New York would be very different if we could get a ship-lead of Sherlocks over here." At this apparent reference to current criminology and railroad developments, there were shouts of laughter.

"If we had had them in the last ten years," continued Mr. Choate, "and were to have them in the ten years to come, we would be a better and wiser people.

"Sir Arthur," he explained to the gathering, "above all things and before he became a novelist, was a surgeon, and he enlisted in the South African war and rendered valuable ambulance and surgical aid to the British Army, Sir, I greet you as Pilgrim, novelist, surgeon, and friend of humanity."

Cheers greeted Sir Arthur when he arose.

"Mr. Choate and Brother Pilgrims," he said, "I say to you first that I was overwhelmed when the Marconi message of invitation reached me many miles out. It was like the grasp of warm hands. I have been enjoying listening to Mr. Choate. In London, I would remind you his memory is very green." Sir Arthur referred to the recent death of Consul General Griffiths and the esteem in which he was held in London, who, he said. had "used the great gifts God gave him for the furtherance of international entity and good-will."

"I stand here as a Pilgrim," he continued. "In the old days, the kit of a Wandering Pilgrim consisted mainly of a staff and an empty wallet. In my case, I have a good substitute for a staff in the shape of a good, stout English umbrella. As to my wallet, Mr. Lloyd George has taken, care to see that it is empty. 'England expects every man to do his duty' was a slogan of other times. In this day, England expects every man to pay his duty."

Sir Arthur said that on his trip over here twenty years ago he had been nearly worked to death by his impresario, Major Pond, who, with his loosely hung body and other characteristics of physique and personality, he had always regarded as the typical American more nearly than anybody he had ever met.

"At that time international affairs were in rather an inimical condition," recalled Sir Arthur. "The international yacht race had occasioned some friction, and my reception was a little clouded by that feeling. But a happier atmosphere characterizes the general feeling now. From 1894 to 1914 one could feel that there has been a slow, steady spiritual growth of confidence and friendship. Whatever temporary friction appeared on the surface, we have always been spiritually close.

"So far as the Anglo-American matters go I was a Pilgrim before I was a member of an Anglo-American society, and I have never written or said anything that was not true to that idea.

"No one can account for the refusal of Mr. Asquith to take part in the Pan-American exposition. We have worked earnestly to get the decision changed. I can tell you that in whatever way he came to his conclusion, it does not reflect the feeling of the country. The artists were unanimous I myself sent out some fifty notices to literary men, and some argued earnestly and many passionately for our participation. In the House of Commons, 350 members, a big majority, signed the petition. The whale nation wishes to show its admiration for the glorious work America has done, a work such as has been achieved by no other nation in history. It is a strong Government we have perhaps, but it cannot rise to the greatest sign of strength when a man can't admit he makes a mistake."

Sir Arthur said he had been misquoted in one of the afternoon papers after his arrival on Wednesday.

"A representative of that paper made me utter sentiments which are so foolish and so false to everything I should desire to say that I must protest." said Sir Arthur. "As for the suffragettes, I am opposed to their view and in favor of the law dealing finally with these — er — ladies, but I was made to say that I desired lynching parties for them and that I would he one of such a party. I don't think I need tell anybody here that this is a most unmitigated lie. I am not thinking only of my own honor when I make this protest, but of the, effect such an unwarranted statement as that may have.

"The rudest remark I ever heard made on the subject of Sherlock Holmes was delivered to me by a Cornish fisherman. 'Well, Sir,' he said, 'Sherlock Holmes may not have killed himself by falling over that cliff, but he did injure himself. He has never been the same man since.'

"However," added Sir Arthur, when the laughter had subsided, "I have just been writing another small volume of his experiences, and I hope you will find that he has recuperated."

Before he went to the Pilgrims' luncheon Sir Arthur paid a visit to the Tombs prison yesterday. He was accompanied by William J. Burns, Sherman and J. Burns, and the Rev. George Sanderson, Episcopal chaplain of the prison. Escorted by Warden J. J. Basely, the novelist was shown almost everything from the boiler room to the eighth floor.

"I have not seen many English prisons," he said at the end of the tour, "but this is an improvement on anything I have seen in England or elsewhere. The discipline is excellent, and I did not hear a murmur of dissatisfaction from a prisoner. This would be just the place for suffragettes, if you could hold on to them. We cannot keep them in our prisons on account of hunger striking. I don't suppose you would allow a hunger strike here."

Warden Hanley recalled the experience of Rebeka Edelson with the hunger strike and how she had been sent to another institution, where, he said, persuasive methods weaned her away from her design."

Sir Arthur expressed a desire to see Becker, but was told that it was against the rules to single out any individual for inspection. However, "Paper Collar Joe," or "Sir John Gray," a member of the international gang of wire tappers, interested him. The visitor expressed surprise at the number of prisoners in "Dope Fiends' Row," and remarked that the drug habit was not on prevalent in England as here.