"SHERLOCK HOLMES" BANNED.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 9

"SHERLOCK HOLMES" BANNED.

■ Sir 'Arthur Conan. Doyle is the latest author to. come -.under the ban of., the book censors.. It is reported that, "owing to a murder committed recently by two Swiss' farm'- hands,' .who nearly exterminated tho wliolo farm household, it >has been decided by the: Swiss railway as' a '.beginning, that,no literature of a tragic sort, especially of that kind dealing with detective'stories, shall be on .public sale. Among others, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes' books are on the Swiss index, and.cannot.henceforth be bought at Swiss railway stations." It appears that- the farm lads declared that thoy were led to commit their crime through fascinating stories of how murders' were committed.

/'lf.Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's books are going to incite the Swiss peoplo to murder, then the Swiss will not be without another ready excuse for their actions, even though they arc unable to read 'Sherlock Holmes.'" This was the comment made upon the action of the Swiss railways by Sir Robert Anderson, once head of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard, and himself author, of the book, "Criminals and Crime." Sir Robert added: "There is 'not'the slightest doubt that a certain sort of. literature has a thoroughly evil affect upon growing lads. . Wo have dealt with this in London in many ways. Tho books I am speaking of,arc, of course,, those of the 'penny.dreadful', type. At one-time I issued orders that the police should call my attention specially to cases in which literature of this kind was found upon youthful offenders. Our work in this direction was tho outcome of our'attention being drawn to the subject by certain public bodies and public men, though it is impossible to estimate the 'good effect of our efforts towards stopping the circulation of the 'penny dreadful' literature, But works of the type of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's, which always points out how the cleverest criminals are brought to justice, would, of course, not be included in tho same category}" "It is too early to say whether this order of the Swiss railways will have any effect upon our sales of 'Sherlock Holmes,' " said the publication manager of Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co., tho publishers of "Sherlock Holmes." "As yet wo have had no notification of anything of the'kind. AVedo not publish Swiss translations; they would bo produced in Switzerland by Swiss publishers, who have paid a round sum down for the privilege. Wo sell thousands of' 'Sherlock Holmes,' but can hardly bo expected to give a fair estimate of the number sold weekly at a moment's notice. Conan Doyle is always with us. • "With regard to the- censorship of crime stories, tbero has often been a lot of talk about tho necessity of such a practice. And-we occasionally, hear police court stories of how a youngster who did something terrible was fouild with-a book of the 'Burglar Bill' typo upon him. Rut 'Sherlock Holmes' is regarded everywhere as of tho virtuous type." Messrs. W. H. Smith and Son havo always carefully scrutinised books of all types beforo .allowing them •to bo circulated broadcast by their bookstall clerk::. Publications of the "penny dreadful" typo find no place in their cubicles. "Wo do not anticipate that tho railway companies m England will adopt any such attitude as appears to have been taken by the Swiss railways," said the manager of this department of Messrs. Smith and Son. "They would not think of interfering in'such a way. Detective- stories have.a good vogue in this country, though, of course, they have to, give plaeo to those of the love and marriage type, the sales of which are greater evcr.vvhero." J