The Absence of Holmes
The Absence of Holmes: The Continuation of the Mormon Subplot in Angels of Darkness is an article written by Michael W. Homer published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 4, 1993).
This study examines the Mormon subplot in A Study in Scarlet and its dramatic continuation in Angels of Darkness, arguing that Conan Doyle considered the Utah material central rather than incidental to the novel. Drawing extensively on literary, travel, anti-Mormon, Masonic, and Spiritualist sources, it reconstructs the intellectual context behind Conan Doyle's depiction of Mormonism and situates the work within late Victorian religious debates.
The Absence of Holmes
John & Lucy Ferrier rescued by the Mormons in an illustration from A Study in Scarlet (Beeton's Christmas Annual, 1887)
Preface
Although Arthur Conan Doyle was a successful twenty-six year old medical doctor when he first put pen to paper in March 1886 to write A Study in Scarlet, he had not yet found his legs as a writer. As a medical practitioner in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth, he had published a number of short stories in popular periodicals (Chambers's Journal, London Society, Temple Bar, Cornhill Magazine), (1) some of them without byline (one reviewer thought one of these stories was authored by Robert Louis Stevenson) (2), but he had not published a novel. (3) Furthermore, even though Conan Doyle had published stories in the United States at least five times prior to 1888, (4) which he later wrote were 'marketable... but not good enough to reproduce,' (5) he had not yet achieved a literary reputation, even in his own country. Although his reputation would eventually extend beyond his Sherlock Holmes stories to include other 'more serious literary works, his proselytism of Spiritualism, his war chronicles and his advocacy on behalf of the oppressed, his reputation as an author was initially based upon his creation of Sherlock Holmes in A Study in Scarlet. (6)
A Study in Scarlet
Conan Doyle began writing A Study in Scarlet in March 1886 and completed it in April of the same year. On 30 October 1886, Ward, Lock & Company accepted the manuscript for publication but informed Conan Doyle that it would not be published until the next year. Apparently Conan Doyle wished to retain some percentage of the copyright but was told in correspondence dated 2 November that this would not be possible and on 20 November 1886, he received a letter with a cheque for 25 pounds, 'In payment for copyright "A Study in Scarlet."
On 5 November 1887, in a supplement to The Bookseller, a prepublication advertisement about A Study in Scarlet was published. Among other things, the publicity noted that:
- The sketches of the 'wild west' in its former trackless and barren condition, and of the terrible position of the starving traveller, with his pretty charge, are most vivid and artistic. Indeed, the entire section of the story which deals with early events in the Mormon settlement is most stirring, and intense pathos is brought out of some of the scenes. (7)
A Study in Scarlet was later published as part of Beeton's Christmas Annual in late November 1887. (8) Although the first Sherlock Holmes novel did not make much of a splash it did receive several favourable reviews in publications, including The Hampshire Post of 2 December 1887 (9) The Flintshire County Herald, The Glasgow Herald, (11) and The Scotsman, (12) all of which are contained in Richard Lancelyn Green's The Sherlock Holmes Letters. (13)
In the review contained in The Hampshire Post, the reviewer states that the story 'is remarkably well written and intensely exciting. Much of this is because of the Mormon subject matter:
- It deals with the awe-inspiring terrorism exerted by Brigham Young and the Council of Four among the community at Salt Lake, and will probably remind the reader of the Mormon incident in Mr. R. L. Stevenson's Dynamiters. The diction is vigorous and the local colouring realistic; while the state of suspense to which the author works the mind of the reader in the chapters dealing with the escape of the father and daughter and of the pursuit of the fugitives is of the most breathless kind.
- We must, however, confess that the Mormon element in the case is somewhat inartistically introduced. It jars upon the autobiographic method which characterizes the other portions of the story. The jump from the account of the apprehended murderer being taken to the prison in his own cab, to a graphic description of Salt Lake Valley and of the miles of saints on their way to take possession of their heaven-appointed home in 1847, is sudden and startling. (14)
But even if A Study in Scarlet did not create a splash, it did merit separate editions, the first of which appeared in 1888. (15) In the publisher's preface to this true first edition, not only is the 'cool shrewdness of Mr. Sherlock Holmes' mentioned but also that the description of the deadly Mormon association of tyranny and vengeance, is as true in its features as it is enthralling in interest.' (16)
Since the first appearance of A Study in Scarlet much has been written about the first Sherlock Holmes story. Many have concentrated on Part I, 'The Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.', rather than on Part II, 'The Country of the Saints.' For obvious reasons, the Sherlock Holmes portion of the book is considered much more important than the Mormon melodrama. The detective story of A Study in Scarlet was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and Emile Gaboriau. (17) While it is widely assumed that the Mormon subplot contained in A Study in Scarlet was of secondary importance to Conan Doyle when he wrote the book and in no way accounts for its popularity, the early reviews demonstrate that the Mormon 'subplot' was as important an ingredient as the detective portion of the story. Mormonism had attracted significant attention from British politicians, ministers, newspapers and journalists during the 1870's and 1880's, some of whom had travelled to Utah to observe the sect first hand. Much of the published material about Mormonism during this period particularly that written by ex-Mormons — was sensationalist and emphasized the aspect of Mormonism certain to shock most English Victorians, plural marriage. By the time Conan Doyle wrote A Study in Scarlet, Mormonism was popular in the British 'yellow press', and Conan Doyle would have rightly assumed that a book addressing that subject would attract readers and perhaps generate income for his more serious literary pursuits. (18)
Conan Doyle also relied on literary works for his Mormon subplot. It was heavily influenced by Robert Louis and Fanny van DeGrift Stevenson's story, 'The Destroying Angel', which was published in 1885 in The Dynamiter. (19) Fanny, who later claimed she created the story, (20) was probably more familiar with stories about Mormons than her husband because she resided in California prior to marrying the Scottish author. While traveling to California in 1879 to pursue his future wife, Stevenson showed little interest in the Mormons. Although he changed cars from the Union Pacific to the Central Pacific in Ogden, Utah, (21) he chose not to visit Salt Lake City, a short thirty miles to the south, perhaps because it would have delayed his reunion with his beloved Fanny, or simply because, like the immigrants he described, he was not curious about the Mormons. In any event, his only description of Utah was: 'A little corner of Utah is soon traversed, and leaves no particular impressions on the mind.' (22) Six years later, he and Fanny recognized that Mormonism was a good topic for melodrama and concocted the story The Destroying Angel' from their imagination and perhaps newspaper articles and anti-Mormon literature.
Besides Stevenson, it also seems likely that Conan Doyle had read both Mark Twain's Roughing It (23) and Charles Ferrar Brown's Artemus Ward's Lecture, (24) both of which were published in Great Britain and which contained comic illustrations of Mormon life in Utah. Unlike Stevenson, Twain and Brown had both visited Salt Lake City. Brigham Young's reference to his wives as 'heifers' in A Study in Scarlet and Angels of Darkness is taken directly from Artemus Ward's Lecture. In that book Heber C. Kimball is quoted by Brown as referring to his wives by the 'endearing epitaph' of heifers. Conan Doyle used these exact words in A Study in Scarlet. (25)
Mark Twain also had several characters in Roughing It refer to women as heifers. Twain's influence on Arthur Conan Doyle is more subtle. Twain's reaction to the Mormons was decidedly mixed. On the one hand, he admired the neatness, thrift and industry apparent in Salt Lake City, but he was also preoccupied by polygamy and 'Destroying Angels. Twain's mixed feelings about his visit to Salt Lake City are amply demonstrated by the fact that two of the three appendices contained in Roughing It are about Mormonism. The first is a sympathetic account entitled 'A Brief Sketch of Mormon History', which recounts the persecution endured by the Mormons prior to coming to Utah. The second account, entitled "The Mountain Meadows Massacre, is taken from C.V. Waite's anti-Mormon melodrama The Mormon Prophet, which describes the negative aspects of Mormonism including polygamy and the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Arthur Conan Doyle's character John Ferrier, like Mark Twain, accepted all the religious tenets of Mormonism except polygamy. In addition Ferrier, like the victims of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, ultimately fell prey to agents of the Church who have vowed to murder obstreperous 'gentiles'. Although Twain also poked fun at the melodramatic ways in which Mormonism was portrayed in popular literature, one sees the influence of his accounts in A Study in Scarlet, particularly in the following quotation from Brigham Young:
- Once a gentleman gave one of my children a tin whistle — a veritable invention of Satan, sir, and one which I have an unspeakable horror of, and so would you if you had eighty or ninety children in your house. But the deed was done the man escaped. I knew what the result was going to be, and I thirsted for vengeance. I ordered out a flock of Destroying Angels, and they hunted for the man far into the fastnesses of the Nevada mountains. But they never caught him. (26)
While these literary sources were well known to Conan Doyle, it is also likely that he had access to other sources, including travel accounts, anti-Mormon exposés, Masonic encyclopedias and Spiritualist literature, upon which he relied to fill in the details of his story.
Travel Accounts
Arthur Conan Doyle joined the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society in November 1883 and served as its honorary secretary. He attended meetings frequently and participated actively in discussions. During one presentation on 2 April 1885, Mr J. Hay read a paper by James Charlton, entitled 'Incidents of a Journey from Chicago to Vancouver and British Columbia,' which described Charlton's trip across the United States by rail including his visit to Salt Lake City. (27) Charlton found the Mormons to be 'very thrifty' and said that 'he did not think justice had been done by outsiders to the secular and social aspects of the Mormons', (28) He also described 'the schism of the Walkers, who held that the Church had the right to interfere in spiritual matters only', (29) although no mention was made in press reports of the Charlton speech that the Walkers and other schismatics also had a fascination for Spiritualism. (30) As was usual, a spirited discussion followed Hay's presentation, and the chairman of the meeting, the Reverend H. Maxwell Egan Desmond, noted that '[a]s to the Mormon religion, he thought its wonderful success was due to the factious credulity of the human race, rather than the excellence of the religion pretended to be taught." (31) Conan Doyle mentioned that he believed that anything which tended to enable Englishmen to understand Americans was of value." (32)
Charlton's paper may well have been the event which sparked Arthur Conan Doyle's interest in Utah and the Mormons. Even if it was not it was not unique, and Conan Doyle, who later admitted to having a fascination with the Rocky Mountains ("I lived here for almost ten years of my life in all the hours of dreamland'), (33) could have located other Mormon travel accounts in British newspapers as well as in books by British subjects, some of whom were in Parliament and would later become Knights. (34) The most famous accounts are those by William Kelly, (35) William Chandless, (36) Richard Burton, (37) William Hepworth Dixon (38) and Phil Robinson, (39) but numerous other accounts were published in newspapers, magazines, books and pamphlets in the 1880's, including those by Sir Henry Vivian and Lady Vivian, (40) Ernest Ingersol, (41) James W. Barclay, (42) Hugh Weightman (43) and Emily Faithful. (44)
Perhaps the most intriguing travel account, from a Holmesian perspective, is Jules Remy's book, published in Paris in 1860 and London in 1861, in which he describes an experience which occurred while camped out in Lehi, Utah when:
- We were literally beseiged by a crowd of boys, who seemed all the more inclined to sit up the whole night... [and] evinced a singular desire to be made acquainted with everything concerning us... [and] seemed determined to get our secrets. All our movements were watched, it was impossible for us to utter a word without being overheard, or without our hearing comments on our own remarks; neither could we move a dozen paces without being followed. (45)
Concerning this experience Remy wrote:
- I recommend all governments which find the maintenance of a police force too costly, to commit its functions to the impudence of young street scamps; they will be sure to find in them very zealous if not very clear headed agents. (46)
This reference may well be the genesis of the famous Baker Street Irregulars created by Arthur Conan Doyle in A Study in Scarlet. The Irregulars were a 'division of the detective police force' who, after reporting to Sherlock Holmes, 'scampered away downstairs like so many rats, and we heard their shrill voices next moment in the street.' (47)
Snippets also appeared frequently in British newspapers, like an article in The Times (London) on 26 December 1881:
- THE MORMONS - A gentleman having written to Mr. Gladstone calling his attention to the fact that bands of Mormon missionaries visit Great Britain annually, decoying away thousands of young persons to a life of immorality in Utah, and inquiring that the government could not do something to prevent the practice, the Premier has forwarded the following reply: "10 Downing Street, Whitehall, December 20, 1881. Sir, — Mr. Gladstone desires me to acknowledge the receipt of your communication relating to the practice of the Mormons to carry off young persons to Salt Lake City, and I am sure that he fears that it is not a matter in which he can interfere. He presumes the young persons go voluntarily. He begs that you will accept his thanks for your kind wishes. — I am, sir, your obedient servant, E.W. Hamilton" (48)
A briefer note in The Times of 26 September 1882 reported the same sort of inquiry and reply from Mr. Gladstone. The Times published quite a bit about the Mormons in the 1880s, and Conan Doyle may have been interested in any number of reported details including the execution of John D. Lee, who was convicted and executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which appeared in The Times on 3 April 1877.
Anti-Mormon Sources
It has been observed that Arthur Conan Doyle may have relied on information concerning the Mormons found in the Encyclopedia Britannica, which was published in its ninth edition in 1883. (49) The article on Mormonism in that edition essentially adopts an anti-Mormon slant like most encyclopedias during this era. Most of the books listed in the bibliography at the conclusion of the article also take that perspective. Conan Doyle may have consulted this article, but the substance of it is not easily detected in A Study in Scarlet, and its value to Conan Doyle would have been its bibliography, which included John Hyde's Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs, (50) T. B. H. Stenhouse's Rocky Mountain Saints, (51) H. Mayhew's The Mormons, (52) (which was actually written by Charles MacKay), J. H. Beadle's Life in Utah, (53) as well as William Hepworth Dixon's Spiritual Wives. (54)
Jack Tracy has surveyed some of these sources, (55) as well as others which did not appear in the Encyclopedia Britannica bibliography, including Fanny Stenhouse's 'Tell it All': The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism, (56) William Jarman's U.S.A. Uncle Sam's Abscess, or Hell Upon Earth for U.S. Uncle Sam, (57) and C.P. Lyford's The Mormon Problems, (58) and argued that Conan Doyle likely utilized them in writing A Study in Scarlet. Other anti-Mormon sources not mentioned by Tracy or included in the Encyclopaedia Britannica bibliography which could have been consulted by Conan Doyle include Bill Hickman's Brigham's Destroying Angel, (59) Nelson Winch Green's Fifteen Years Among the Mormons, (60) and Ann Eliza Young's Wife No. 19. (61) These books were written by ex-Mormons who had not only been to Utah, but had lived under the system they now chose to criticize. Thus Arthur Conan Doyle's reliance on these accounts would have enabled him to sensationalize his story and have a historical basis for doing so.
Masonic Literature
Although Arthur Conan Doyle was not initiated into Phoenix Lodge in Portsmouth until 26 January 1887, approximately eight months after he had finished writing A Study in Scarlet, he may have consulted Masonic sources regarding Mormonism while writing it. It was well known in the 1880s that friction existed between Freemasonry and Mormonism. (62) Christopher Diehl, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Utah, sent a communication to all Grand Lodges in the world in 1883 in which he outlined the basis for excluding Mormons from Freemasonry in Utah. This was published in many of the Grand Lodge proceedings throughout the world. (63) To most Freemasons, Mormonism was a type of spurious or clandestine Freemasonry. This was reflected in the major British Masonic encyclopedias of the period. For example, in Kenning's Masonic Cyclopaedia and Handbook of Masonic Archeology, History and Biography published in London in 1878, 'Mormon Masonry' is defined as follows:
- The Mormons seem to have set up a sort of spurious Masonry among themselves, but which, it is needless to state, is not worthwhile debating upon here. Freemasonry can have nothing in common with Mormonism, which is a negation of all morality. (64)
Similarly, in The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia of History, Rites, Symbolism and Biography, published in London in 1872, 'Mormon Masonry' is described by noting that:
- The Latter-Day Saints, with great shrewdness, have tried to harmonize their institutions with pre-existent forms of social life, and they have, therefore, a system of Masonry. (65)
Given the availability of this literature, which was published prior to the writing of A Study in Scarlet, and Conan Doyle's later affiliation with one of the sixteen lodges in Portsmouth, it is likely that he consulted these and other Masonic books while researching Mormon history. In A Study in Scarlet Enoch Drebber, one of the sons of a Mormon official, is found dead with a gold ring with a Masonic device. The reason Conan Doyle may have included a scene in which a murdered Mormon was found with a gold ring with a Masonic device was to demonstrate the spurious nature of Mormonism itself.
Spiritualist Literature
It is well known that Arthur Conan Doyle began his investigation of Spiritualism in the early 1880s, and that by the time he wrote A Study in Scarlet, he had essentially embraced Spiritualism and considered its competing claims to be superior to Mormonism. After completing A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle wrote a letter to Light on 2 July 1887 in which he recounted his conversion to Spiritualism:
- [T]he incident ... after many months of inquiry, showed me at last that it was absolutely certain that intelligence could exist apart from the body after weighing the evidence, I could no more doubt the existence of the phenomena than I could doubt the existence of lions in Africa, though I have been to the continent and have never chanced to see one... Let me conclude by exhorting any other searcher never to despair of receiving personal testimony but to persevere through any number of failures until at last conviction comes to him, as, it will. (66)
Spiritualism and Mormonism were competing religious ideologies in the nineteenth century. Both originated in the Burned-Over District of upstate New York within twenty years of each other, both taught that mortals could speak and communicate with spirits, and both claimed to be most like primitive Christianity. (67) Authorities of the Mormon Church recognized these similarities, (68) and that there was always the danger that backsliders would abandon one for the other. Beginning in the 1850s, a few Mormon converts, such as the Collinson family, who had left England to join the Mormons in Salt Lake City, were not only attracted by, but also converted to, Spiritualism:
- Mary Anne died in Kansas, just as the family was about to start across the plains to Utah. Her spirit expressed approval of the family's decision to change its course and settle in Ohio instead of pressing on to Salt Lake. The Collinsons took the opportunity of the seance to inquire whether Joseph Smith (the founder of Mormonism) was a true prophet, or whether the Book of Mormon was a divine revelation, and whether polygamy was a correct principle. To all these questions the spirit of cousin Mary Anne rapped in the negative. (69)
In addition, backsliding Spiritualists were sometimes referred to as 'a cacophony of "mormon, Methodist, Shaker, freethinker, freelover" intolerances.' (70)
Eventually, in 1869, a mild schism occurred. Several prominent Mormons, including a former Apostle, formed a new church, The Church of Zion, with a Spiritualist foundation. (71) Because of this, J. H. Beadle, the editor of William Hickman's book Brigham's Destroying Angel, (which could have been consulted by Conan Doyle) wrote that:
- ... It was not for stealing or any other crime [that] these men were killed, but for apostasy and spiritualism! This may sound ridiculous, but it is a singular fact that there is no other form of apostasy the Mormon priesthood so fear, hate and curse, and no kind of mysticism to which apostate Mormons are so prone, as spiritualism. The whole body of the Church seems only to be kept therefrom by constantly hearing from the priesthood that it is the doings of the devil', and nothing seems to interest a young and skeptical Mormon so quick as 'circles, seances, visions, shadowy hands, and conjurations with boxes, pendulum oracles, planchette, and every other kind of forbidden and diabolical nonsense." (72)
This schism would hardly have escaped the notice of the ever observant Arthur Conan Doyle. Spiritualist observers were impressed by Mormonism's sensitivity to psychic phenomenon. Of course, most of these observers spoke of 'Mormons' even though they were probably describing Mormon apostates from the Church of Zion. Emma Hardinge Britten, the famous medium who converted Robert Owen to Spiritualism and who later helped organize the Theosophical Society with Madame Blavatsky, wrote a book in 1870 entitled Modern American Spiritualism, a Twenty Years Record of the Communion Between Earth and the World of Spirits, in which she noted that:
- Those Americans who have visited the singular dwellers of the desert, calling themselves 'Latter-day Saints' or 'Mormons' report that phenomenal gifts are abundantly poured out upon them... amongst the 'Mormons' resident in California and Nevada, many excellent spirit mediums are to be found, especially in the direction of prophecy and healing. They claim that these gifts are communicable by the apostolic mode of laying on of hands, and affirm that they have received their gifts from the imposition of hands on the part of their 'elders'. (73)
Another famous British medium, and ordained Anglican minister, William Stainton Moses, (74) whose book Spirit Teachings, (75) has been called the 'Bible of British Spiritualism', (76) also expressed his admiration for the Mormons in an 1883 editorial in Light. After reading a book by British journalist Phil Robinson, (77) who had visited Utah, Moses became convinced that Mormons were, like the Shakers, 'instinctive Spiritualists. (78) In his book, Robinson wrote that:
- The Saints have long ago formulated into accepted doctrines those mysteries of the occult world which Spiritualists outside the [Mormon] faith are still investigating. Your 'problems' are their axioms. (79)
He also maintained that Jacob Hamblin — a Mormon assigned to the far reaches of southern Utah by Brigham Young as a missionary to the Indians and whose life was filled with stories of healings, dreams, visions and prophecies was a perfect example of this doctrine because [t]he miracles and prophecies related in connection with this phenomenal old man would "stagger even Madame Blavastky herself." Moses was so impressed by Robinson's description of Hamblin that he wrote:
- If there be any Jacob Hamblins who have the power of their prototype and no sphere of action, let them come over to London. We want 'missionaries' of that type badly, and can employ a whole tribe. (81)
A later issue of Light in 1884 mentioned the Godbeite schism, and that Mr. D.F. Walker, one of the leading business men in the city, is also one of the most prominent Spiritualists. The article also observed, similar to J. H. Beadle's claim, that:
- Spiritualism is, however, gradually inoculating the Mormons, or rather spreading among them, and will, no doubt, in time make itself felt. At present the great 'know alls' of the Church of Latter-day Saints, like many of their brethren of the Protestant Church, attribute the phenomena to his Satanic Majesty. (82)
Conan Doyle himself later noted these similarities in his History of Spiritualism, (83) and in his chapter recounting his family's visit to Salt Lake City he wrote that:
- I think that if the Mormons understood the philosophy of Spiritualism, and if they considered the possibility of Smith, their founder, being a strong medium, they would be able to get a connected and reasonable explanation of all that occurred, which would in no way detract from its dignity or other-world origin. (84)
He also wrote that he believed Joseph Smith was sincere and honest in claiming to have received revelations but that 'he was not aware of the strange way in which things are done from beyond,' (85) a claim other Spiritualists from Utah had made as well. (86) Conan Doyle also observed that the message of Mormonism was essentially the same as Spiritualism:
- It was really the same which we have got ourselves, but which we have been able to interpret more fully because we have had a far wider experience, and have been able to systematize and compare many examples of what to Smith was an isolated miracle. The message was that the Christian Creeds had wandered very far away from primitive spiritual truths... [and] that ritual and forms have completely driven out that direct spirit-communion and power which are the real living core of religion. (87)
Given this literature and Conan Doyle's vast knowledge of Spiritualism it is hardly surprising that there is a subtle reference to Spiritualism in A Study in Scarlet, when Jefferson Hope confesses to Holmes that as he drove the evil Mormon, Enoch Drebber, to the location where Drebber would face death:
- I could see old John Ferrier and sweet Lucy looking at me out of the darkness and smiling at me, just as plain as I see you all in this room. All the way they were ahead of me, one on each side of the horse, until I pulled up at the house in the Brixton road. (88)
Angels of Darkness
The content of Angels of Darkness demonstrates that Conan Doyle considered the Mormon subplot, at least in 1888 and 1889, as important an element in A Study in Scarlet as the Sherlock Holmes detective story. Angels of Darkness was initially entitled A Study in Scarlet and was considered, at least in one account, a dramatization of the book. Since Sherlock Holmes is not even a character in the play, and the initial scenes are acted out in Utah rather than in London, it is clear that Conan Doyle considered Sherlock Holmes expendable and the detective portion of the book subsidiary to the Mormon 'subplot."
On 28 September, The Portsmouth Crescent noted that the 1888 edition of "The story "A Study in Scarlet" which has gained a world-wide reputation, and which we believe will shortly be dramatized, has now been republished.'89 This, the earliest mention made of the dramatization of A Study in Scarlet, was no doubt referring to what later became Angels of Darkness. Since the play itself is not dated, it is not clear without consulting other sources whether it was written before or after A Study in Scarlet. In fact, Conan Doyle's son Adrian wrote in 1945, in The True Conan Doyle, that:
- Since I began writing this article I have made a discovery that will be of interest to Holmes students the world over. In rummaging through one of my father's old chests, I unearthed a bundle of his early medical treatises and, tucked among them, a collection of five manuscripts in his writing. They prove that Dr. Watson not only came to life before Holmes, but that the original A Study in Scarlet had no Sherlock Holmes in it! Watson alone held the stage in company with Jefferson Hope, etc. The title of A Study in Scarlet has been roughly scratched out in this original M.S., which takes the form of a lengthy dramatic script, and altered to the Angels of Darkness. While it in no way detracts from Holmes, this discovery does confer a new and pleasing distinction upon Watson. (90)
Some Sherlockians have viewed Angels of Darkness from a different perspective. For example, Geoffrey Stavert notes that:
- It had some reference to the Mormon episode of the original, but was never completed, let alone published luckily for Sherlockian students, for it features Dr. Watson in some strange adventures in California which would be very difficult to reconcile with his later history. (91)
Other Doyle biographers, including Pierre Nordon (92) and John Dickson Carr, (93) also had access to Angels of Darkness but do not discuss it in detail. Although Stavert is correct that the play was never finished because Conan Doyle abandoned his attempt to write an 'alternate ending,' it is nevertheless true that the first three acts of the three act drama are complete, and that Jefferson Hope was as successful in the play as he had been in A Study in Scarlet in avenging the death of John Ferrier by killing Stangerson and Drebber. In fact, Conan Doyle himself, in his pocketbook and diary for 1890 writes in an entry dated 13 October 1890: Play "Angels of Darkness" finished.' (94) Ironically, this was the same month that the Mormon Church issued its famous Manifesto which resulted in the abandonment of polygamy. (95)
Whether finished or not, Angels of Darkness has never been published. There are several possible explanations. Conan Doyle may have been dissatisfied with the play, as evidenced by his failure to complete the alternative version to Act III. He may also have come to believe that the plot was misguided because Sherlock Holmes had become a necessary ingredient to any story involving Watson after the successful publication of The Sign of the Four in 1891. In addition, Mormonism had become less attractive as a theme for 'melodrama' after it abandoned polygamy in 1890. Furthermore, Conan Doyle may have anticipated that his growing success as a novelist and writer of short stories would far eclipse any success he might find as an author of dramatic plays.
Many of the characters from A Study in Scarlet were transferred by Conan Doyle to the 'Drama in Three Acts', including John Ferrier, his daughter Lucy, Drebber, Stangerson and Mrs. Carpenter (the Madame Carpentier in A Study in Scarlet). However, Stangerson's first name is changed from John to Lovejoy, and Drebber, who was Enoch in A Study in Scarlet, becomes John in Angels of Darkness. John Watson also reappears in the dramatization, although he becomes a San Francisco medical doctor rather than the alter ego of Sherlock Holmes. Of course, Sherlock Holmes is absent from the drama, as is Brigham Young, whose dialogue from the book is articulated by Elder Johnstone, a member of the 'Council of Four' in the play. The play also introduces characters who did not appear in A Study in Scarlet, including Ling-tchu, Ferrier's Chinese laundryman, Biddy McGee, Ferrier's Irish domestic, Elias Fortescue Smee, a travelling salesman, and Hiram Cooper, an 'unorthodox Mormon.' Another character introduced in San Francisco was Sir Montague Brown, a British aristocrat.
Despite the absence of Holmes and Young and the addition of new characters who did not previously appear in A Study in Scarlet, most of the play is a virtual reconstruction of Part 2: The Country of the Saints.
Although Act I of the play introduces new characters such as Splayfoot Dick, 'an escaped Negro from the South' whom John Ferrier has engaged as general servant and farm hand, Ling-Tchu, a Chinese laundryman and servant, and Elias Fortescue Smee, a Yankee peddler, the main action consists of dialogue between Lucy, John Ferrier and Jefferson Hope, much of which is taken from Chapters 1, 2, and 3, Part 2 of A Study in Scarlet. The Mormon backdrop is introduced, the necessity to flee, and the demand of the sacred Council of Four that Ferrier give his daughter Lucy in marriage to one of the Council's two polygamist sons.
Following this introduction, Biddy McGee, an Irish help, is also introduced and, in dialogue with Smee, injects humour into the play, which was absent in A Study in Scarlet.
Cooper, an unorthodox Mormon, is also introduced in this Act to warn the Ferriers that the 'Holy Four' are on a murdering rampage. Elder Johnstone becomes the villain in Cooper's story, whereas Brigham Young was clearly the villain in A Study in Scarlet. Elder Johnstone, during this Act, confronts John Ferrier and demands that his daughter marry a Church elder. Of course, Ferrier refuses and, together with Lucy, plans to wait for Jefferson Hope so that they can escape from Utah.
Act II also takes place in Utah and, to a large extent, is taken directly from Chapters 4 and 5, Part 2, of A Study in Scarlet. Again, as in Act 1, the new characters in the play add background and humour to the otherwise serious melodramatic story of A Study in Scarlet.
In the play it becomes apparent that Hiram Cooper, the unorthodox Mormon (or in modern parlance a 'Jack' Mormon) is not part of the monolithic and murderous activities of the Avenging Angels. For that matter, neither is Brigham Young. Yet Elders Drebber and Stangerson appear at the Ferrier farm to demand the hand of Lucy, just as they had in the book, where they appear at the beginning of the thirty day deadline. In the play they appear just prior to the conclusion of the deadline but the dialogue is essentially the same, except that in the play Lucy attempts to save her father by admitting that she loves one of her two Mormon suitors.
In the play some explanations for the strange messages received in the Ferrier home during he thirty day deadline are also given. The Chinese domestic, Ling-Tchu, is an inside mole for the Council of Four, and he is discovered as such and locked in the cellar of the Ferrier home prior to Lucy, John and Jefferson's escape. On the other hand, both Smee and Splayfoot Dick are loyal to the Ferriers and aid them in their escape. However, subsequent to their escape, Ling-Tchu himself escapes from the cellar and signals to his secret compatriots outside the home.
Act III of Angels of Darkness takes place in San Francisco. Mrs. Carpenter — who, as Mrs. Charpentier, ran a 'Boarding Establishment, Torquay Terrace' in London, where both Drebber and Stangerson briefly resided in A Study in Scarlet — and her daughter Rose (who was Alice in the book, and the object of Drebber's affections), are the proprietors of a boarding house where Lucy, Watson and Drebber reside. Carpenter and Lucy add humour and additional dimension to the play which was not present in the book. At the beginning of the Act, Splayfoot Dick arrives in San Francisco from Utah to discuss with Smee what occurred following the attempted escape of the Ferriers and Hope from Utah. Dick was sent to San Francisco to warn Smee and Lucy that the Holy Four, guided by Drebber and Stangerson, were still on the trail of Lucy to claim her as their bride. One is led to believe from the initial dialogue that both Jefferson Hope and John Ferrier were killed but that Smee was able to save Lucy and bring her to San Francisco. The events of Act III take place one and a half years after the events which occurred in Utah.
Unbeknown to Lucy or Smee, Drebber resides in the same boarding house disguised as Count DeChargny. He is disguised with blue goggles and a scarf around his chin and is seated in an invalid's chair. Drebber recognizes Splayfoot and realizes that time is short. Meanwhile, Stangerson organizes a gang of men in a different part of town who are preparing to abduct Lucy and return her to Utah.
in Act III, Dr. Watson and Sir Montague Brown, both of whom reside at the boarding house, are also introduced. Watson confides to Smee that he is attracted to Lucy and inquires about her background. He also asks Smee to intercede on his behalf with the young girl, who has previously told Watson that her 'heart was in the grave'. Both Lucy and Sir Montague are suspicious of the Count (alias Drebber). Lucy even mentions that the Count has proposed and been refused at least thirty times by Miss Carpenter. When Smee attempts to intercede with Lucy on Watson's behalf, she confides to Smee that she would have died from her illness had he not nursed her back to health but she is still not anxious to enter into a liaison with him. Meanwhile, Rose admits her attraction to Sir Montague and tells Lucy that she should return the affections of Dr. Watson.
Late in the Act, Jefferson Hope finally appears in San Francisco 'feeble and tattered, gasping for breath & leaning upon a stick.' Apparently, Hope avoided being killed despite his plunge down a precipice just as Sherlock Holmes would several years later. Watson and Hope encounter each other and Watson diagnoses Hope's ailment (an aortic aneurism) and treats him with ether. However, he does not treat Hope until after learning that he is a competitor for the affections of Lucy. Nevertheless, even with this knowledge he treats Hope and saves his life, after which Watson exclaims 'Yes I have saved his life, and I have irretrievably ruined my own.'
With his life prolonged for a short while, Hope is anxious to claim vengeance upon Drebber and Stangerson. He tells Watson that Stangerson who led the Angels' was killed by him earlier. They then discuss Lucy and Hope soon finds out that Watson is attracted by her.
Meanwhile, Sir Montague and Rose make plans for their wedding. Drebber learns that Stangerson has been murdered and is about to make one last attempt to abduct Lucy when he comes face to face with Jefferson Hope. Drebber stabs Hope but as he attempts to escape, Smee fires two shots and Drebber falls dead. Before he dies, Hope speaks briefly with Lucy, who recognizes him, and recommends to her that she remain with Watson. Thus, at least in the first ending to the play, Watson and Lucy will apparently live happily ever after.
In the second alternative ending, which was never completed, Stangerson 'is not to be found", but there is no indication that he has been killed, and Drebber is making plans to abduct Lucy when the dialogue ends.
Although much of the dialogue in Angels of Darkness is taken directly from Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes novel, there are some differences between the book and the play. The most significant difference is that Lucy Ferrier died in the book whereas she is quite alive at the end of the play and is the subject of John Watson's attentions. Another interesting twist is that Drebber, who shot old Ferrier', was Stangerson's superior, and was the first man killed in the book, is the main antagonist of Hope in the play. But to Sherlockians the main difference will always be the absence of Holmes, who left it to Watson to defend the distressed lady in the Mormon subplot.
References
1. Most of these stories have been collected in Arthur Conan Doyle, Uncollected Stories, ed John M. Gibson and Richard L. Green (London; Secker & Warburg, 1982). For the earliest published stories see Richard Lancelyn Green and John Michael Gibson A Bibliography of A. Conan Doyle (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), pp 404-5. (Hereafter 'Green and Gibson').
2. Green and Gibson, p. 30.
3. Conan Doyle probably wrote two of his novels prior to A Study in Scarlet (even though they were published subsequent to it.) The two novels are The Firm of Girdlestone (London; Chatto & Windus, 1890), which according to Gibson and Green was written in 1884-85 (Gibson and Green, p. 33), and The Mystery of Cloomber (London; Ward and Downey, 1889), which Green and Gibson state was written between April and July 1888, (Green and Gibson, p. 14), but which Owen Dudley Edwards suggests was written prior to 1885. (Owen Dudley Edwards: 'The Mystery of The Mystery of Cloomber: ACD, The Journal of the Arthur Conan Doyle Society; 2:2 (Autumn 1991), p. 114.)
4. See Green and Gibson, pp.27, 386, 404-5.
5. Arthur Conan Doyle: Memories and Adventures; (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1924), p. 72.
6. Conan Doyle believed that Micah Clarke, which was published in February 1889, was the first solid corner-stone laid for some sort of literary reputation. (Memories and Adventures, pp. 76-7.)
7. Supplement to The Bookseller, 5 November 1887, p. 1341.
8. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet in Beeton's Christmas Annual; (London; Ward, Lock & Co., 1887), pp. 1-95.
9. A Study in Scarlet: The Hampshire Post, 2 December 1887.
10. Beeton's Christmas Annual: The Flintshire County Herald, 2 December 1887.
11. Annuals and Christmas Numbers: The Glasgow Herald, 17 December 1887.
12. Christmas Numbers: The Scotsman, 19 December 1887.
13. R.L. Green, ed.: Sherlock Holmes Letters, (London; Secker & Warburg, 1986), pp. 58-64.
14. Ibid., p. 61.
15. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet; (London; Ward, Lock & Co., 1888).
16. Ibid, p. (v).
17. See, e.g., Owen Dudley Edwards: The Quest for Sherlock Holmes; (Edinburgh; Mainstream, 1983), pp. 351-3; and Richard Lancelyn Green, Comp.: The Uncollected Sherlock Holmes, (London; Penguin, 1983), Compiler's Introduction, pp. 28-34.
18. See Jack Tracy: Conan Doyle and the Latter-Day Saints; (Bloomington, Indiana; Gaslight Publications, 1979); and Michael W. Homer: 'Arthur Conan Doyle and His Views on Mormonism: From A Study in Scarlet to The Edge of the Unknown', (ACD, The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society; 2:1 (Spring 1991), pp. 66-81).
19. Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: The Dynamiter (More New Arabian Nights), (London; Longmans, Green, and Co., 1885), pp. 17-49.
20. Mrs. Stevenson wrote in the preface to an edition of The Dynamiter, published after her husband's death, that she made up the stories, beginning with the Mormon tale, during Stevenson's illness in 1883, which did not permit him to move or talk See Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: The Dynamiter (More New Arabian Nights), (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905), Preface by Mrs. Stevenson, pp. xi-xiv.
21. In fact Stevenson apparently found his fellow travellers boring. He believed the immigrants on immigrant ships to be more interesting than the immigrants on immigrant trains. Train travellers lacked sophistication and curiosity: Some of them were on nettles till they leamed your name was Dickson and you were a journeyman baker; but beyond that, whether you were Catholic or Mormon, dull or clever, fierce or friendly, was all one to them. Robert Louis Stevenson: Across the Plains; (London; Chatto & Windus, 1892), p. 56.
22. Ibid., p. 68.
23. Mark Twain: Roughing II; (Hartford, Conn.; American Publishing Company, 1872). Mark Twain was the pseudonym chosen by the Missouri native, Samuel Clemens. For Clemens' attitude toward religion see Michael W. Homer: "Mark Twain: antesignano degli anti-culti; Renovatio 27:2-3 (April-September, 1992), pp. 219-238.
24. Artemus Ward: Artemus Ward's Lecture; (London; John Camden Hotten, 1869).
25. Ibid. p. 135 n.24.
26. Twain, p. 123.
27. Accounts of the reading of Charlton's paper appeared in The Hampshire Post (3 April 1885); Hampshire Telegraph (4 April 1885); and Portsmouth Times (1 April 1885) as well as in the Minutes Book of the Portsmouth Literary and Scientific Society preserved in the Local History section of the Portsmouth Central Library.
28. The Hampshire Post, 3 April 1885.
29. Portsmouth Times, 1 April 1885.
30. Of course Conan Doyle could have been aware of this fact by reading Light. In an article published on 5 April 1884 it was noted that at Salt Lake City are many spiritualists but no society... Mr. D.F. Walker, one of the leading businessmen in the city, is also one of the most prominent Spiritualists. ('Spiritualism in Utah', Light IV:170 (5 April 1884):137.
31. Portsmouth Times, 1 April 1885.
32. Ibid
33. Memories and Adventures, pp. 305-6.
34. See generally, Edwina Jo Snow: 'British Travellers' View of the Saints'; BYU Studies 31:2 (Spring 1991): 62-81
35. William Kelly: Across the Rocky Mountains; (London; Sims and McIntyre, 1852).
36. William Chandless: A Visit to Salt Lake; being a journey across the plains and a residence in the Mormon settlements at Utah; (London; Smith, Elder and Co., 1857).
37. Richard F. Burton: The City of the Saints and Across the Rocky Mountains to California; (London; Longman, Green, Longman and Roberts, 1861).
38. William Hepworth Dixon: New America, 2 vols.; (London; Hurst and Blackett, 1867).
39. Phil Robinson: Sinners and Saints; (London; Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1883).
40. Henry Husey Vivian Swansea: Notes of a Tour in America; (London; Edward Stanford, 1878).
41. Ernest Ingersol: 'Salt Lake City': Harper's New Monthy Magazine 8:411 (August 1884): 388-404. (European Edition). A book-length account of Ingersol's visit to the Rocky Mountains was published in 1885 as The Crest of the Continent; (Chicago; R.R. Donnelley and Sons, 1885).
42. James W. Barclay: 'Mormonism Exposed, An English View of the Case'; (N.P., 1884). Barclay was a Member of the British Parliament at the time this article was republished from the London monthly magazine Nineteenth Century.
43. Hugh Weightman: 'Mormonism Exposed, From a Legal Standpoint; (N.P., 1884). Weightman was a professor of the University of Cambridge. It is unclear from this article if this is a reprint from a previous publication.
44. Emily Faithful: Three Visits to America; (Edinburgh; D. Douglas, 1884).
45. Jules Remy: Voyage aux pays des Mormons, 2 Vols.; (Paris; E. Dentu, 1860); Jules Remy and Julius Brenchley: A Journey to Great-Salt-Lake City, 2 Vols.; (London; W. Jeffs, 1861) II:318-19.
46. Ibid, p. 319.
47. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet; (London; Penguin, 1988), p. 54.
48. The Mormons': The Times, 26 December 1881.
49. Entry for 'Mormons' in Encyclopaedia Britannica; (New York; Charles Scribner's Sons, 1883), XVI:825-28.
50. John Hyde: Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs; (New York; W.P. Fetridge & Company, 1873).
51. T.B.H. Stenhouse: The Rocky Mountain Saints; (New York; D. Appleton and Company, 1873).
52. [Charles Mackay]: The Mormons or Latter-Day Saints: A Contemporary History; (London; Office of the National Illustrated Library, 1851). This appeared in many editions including [Charles Mackay): The Religious, Social, and Political History of the Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints; (New York; Hurst & Co., 1881).
53. J.H. Beadle: Life in Utah; or, the Mysteries and Crimes of Mormonism; (Philadelphia; National Publishing Company, 1870).
54. William Hepworth Dixon: Spiritual Wives, 2 vols.; (London; Hurst and Blackett, 1867).
55. Tracy, pp. 58-66.
56. Fanny Stenhouse: Tell it All: The Story of a Life's Experience in Mormonism; (Hartford, Conn.; A.D. Worthington & Co., 1874).
57. William Jarman: U.S.A. Uncle Sam's Abscess, or Hell Upon Earth for U.S. Uncle Sam; (Exeter, H. Leduc's Steam Printing Works, 1884).
58. C.P. Lyford: The Mormon Problem; (New York; Philips & Hunt, 1886).
59. Bill Hickman: Brigham's Destroying Angel; (New York; George A. Crofutt, 1872).
60. Nelson Winch Green: Fifteen Years Among the Mormons; (New York; C. Scribner, 1858).
61. Ann Eliza Young: Wife No. 19; (Hartford, Conn.; Dustin, Gilman and Co., 1875).
62. Michael W. Homer: 'Masonry and Mormonism in Utah, 1847-1984', Journal of Mormon History, 12:2 (Fall, 1992), pp. 57-96.
63. 1882-3 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Utah; (Salt Lake City; Tribune Printing and Publishing Company, 1883), pp. 18, 24-5.
64. A. Woodford, ed.: Kenning's Masonic Cyclopaedia; (London; George Kenning, 1878), p. 492.
65. Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie, ed.: The Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia (London: John Hogg, 1872), pp. 497-98. Another reference to Mormonism in a publication of a Masonic organization appeared in Robert Wentworth Little: 'Mormonism', The Rosicrucian: A Quarterly Record of the Society's Activities XIV (October 1871): 168-170.
66. A Test Message'; Light (2 July 1887), reprinted in Arthur Conan Doyle, Letters to the Press, ed. John M. Gibson and Richard L. Green: (lowa City; University of Iowa Press, 1986), pp. 25-7. Conan Doyle also wrote a letter the following month on the same subject: 'Mr Hodgson'; Light (27 August 1887): 404.
67. Conan Doyle discussed these similarities in Our Second American Adventure; (Boston; Little, Brown & Co., 1924), pp. 87-102.
68. See Ronald W. Walker: When the Spirits did Abound: Nineteenth Century Utah's Encounter with Free-Thought Radicalism'; Utah Historical Quarterly 50(1982): 317-18; Ronald W. Walker: 'The Commence- ment of the Godbeite Protest: Another View'; Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (1974): 227-28.
69. Liberator, 21 January 1853, p. 12.
70. Spiritual Magazine (1867), p. 337, 434-7.
71. Ronald W. Walker, as quoted in note 68.
72. Bill Hickman, Appendix G, pp. 209-10 (Appendices by the editor J.H. Beadle).
73. Enuma Hardinge: Modem Spiritualism: A Twenty Years Record of the Communion between Earth and the World of Spirits; (London; James Burns, 1870), p. 479. See also James Bonwick: The Mormons and the Silver Mines; (London; Hodder & Stoughton, 1872), pp. 148-9.
74. For additional information concerning William Stainton Moses see Janet Oppenheim: The Other World, Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850-1914, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 77-81; Frank Podmore: Mediums of the 19th Century, 2 vols.; (New Hyde Park, New York; University Books, Inc.), II: 275-88.
75. William Stainton Moses: Spirit Teachings, 6th ed.; (London; London Spiritualist Alliance, 1907).
76. Alan Gould: The Founders of Psychical Research: (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968), p. 78.
77. Phil Robinson: Sinners and Saints. A Tour Across the States, and Round them; With Three Months Among the Mormons; (London; Sampson, Lowe, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1883).
78. M.A. (Oxon): Notes by the Way'; Light II: 149 (10 November 1883), p. 487. Moses's comparison of Mormons with the Shakers is interesting in light of an interview which appeared in the New York Daily Graphic on 24 November 1874, between one of the editors and Frederick W. Evans, one of the chief elders of the Society of Shakers. Among other things, Evans stated that 'even the Mormons have had Spiritual revelations. After making this remark Evans was asked by the interviewer whether he meant to convey the idea that the spiritual manifestations confirm the truth of Mormonism? Evans responded by stating 'Yea, to a certain extent. At this point in the interview, the questioner expressed great surprise: 'Why, I should have thought Mormonism, the very antipodes of your belief. Evans replied: 'Mormonism is much better than your New York Christianity. Henry S. Olcott: People from the Other World; (Hartford; American Publishing Company, 1875), p. 397. In correspondence to the same editor, Evans also wrote: I consider Mormonism a revival of ancient Judaism the God- Tutelar Deity, of the Jews, is probably the controlling spirit of Mormonism. He allowed polygamy 2,000 years ago. Why not now? But the Mormons have abolished poverty and prostitution; and from children and youth the 'Social Evil'. Is not that better than New York and co-Christianity? And would it not be well for Christians (?) to stop persecuting Mormons, until there are no poor no hire of harlots - and those law suits are settled? Ibid, p. 400
79. Robinson, p. 199, quoted in Light III: 149 (10 November 1883), p. 487.
80. Ibid, quoting Robinson, p. 197. It is likely that Robinson obtained most of his information about Jacob Hamblin by reading James A. Liule: Jacob Hamblin, A Narrative of his Personal Experience, as a Frontiersman, Missionary to the Indians and Explorer; (Salt Lake City, 1881). This book has recently been republished as part of a collection edition series by Bookcraft. See Three Mormon Classics; (Bookcraft; Salt Lake City, 1988). This book includes Wilford Woodruff: Leaves from My Joumal; George Q. Cannon: My First Mission; and James A. Little: Jacob Hamblin
81. Light III: 149 (10 November 1883), p. 487.
82. Spiritualism in Utah; Light: A Journal of Psychical Occult and Mystical Research IV: 170 (5 April 1884), p. 137.
83. Arthur Conan Doyle: The History of Spiritualism, 2 vols.; (London; Cassell, 1926), 1:36.
84. Arthur Conan Doyle: Our Second American Adventure; (London; Hodder and Stoughton, 1924), pp. 87-8.
85. Ibid, p. 103.
86. E.L.T. Harrison: The Church of Zion: Or the Question, Is it Spiritualism?"; The Mormon Tribune 1:13 (26 March 1870), p. 101.
87. Our Second American Adventure, p.92. The Mormons were apparently pleased with Conan Doyle's impressions of Utah. After his death they reprinted portions of his recollections published in Our Second American Adventure in a church periodical published in Liverpool. See Arthur Conan Doyle: 'The "Mormons; The Latter-day Saints Millenial Star. 92:32 (7 August 1930): 571-3.
88. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet; (London; Penguin, 1988), p. 125.
89. Portland Crescent, 28 September 1888.
90. Adrian Conan Doyle: The True Conan Doyle; (London; John Murray, 1945), p. 17.
91. Geoffrey Stavent: A Study in Southsea: The Unrevealed Life of Doctor Arthur Conan Doyle; (Portsmouth; Milestone Publications, 1987), p. 137.
92. Pierre Nordon: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, L'Homme et L'Oeuvre; (Paris, Didier, 1964), p. 451. Nordon mentions Angels of Darkness in his elencation of the biographical archives.
93. John Dickson Carr: The Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; (London; John Murray, 1949), p. 341. Carr also mentioned Angels of Darkness in his list of the Conan Doyle archives.
94. Pocket Book and Diary, 13 October 1890. (Located in a private collection].
95. Wilford Woodruff: Wilford Woodruff's Journal, ed. Scott G. Kinney, 9 vols.; (Midvale, Utah; Signature Books, 1985). IX: 112-16.
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
