Today in History: Arthur Conan Doyle first Sherlock Holmes's story "A Study in Scarlet" was accepted by a publisher (Ward and Lock) on this day in 1886. The name comes from Holmes' words: "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
The story did come under attack because of its portrayal or Mormons (Latter Day Saints). According to a Salt Lake City newspaper article, when Conan Doyle was asked about his depiction of the Latter-day Saints' organisation as being steeped in kidnapping, murder and enslavement, he said: 'all I said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot withdraw that, though it is likely that in a work of fiction it is stated more luridly than in a work of history. It's best to let the matter rest'. Conan Doyle's daughter has stated: 'You know, father would be the first to admit that his first Sherlock Holmes novel was full of errors about the Mormons.' Historians speculate that Conan Doyle, a voracious reader, would have access to books by Fannie Stenhouse, William A. Hickman, William Jarman, John Hyde and Ann Eliza Young, among others,' in explaining the author's early perspective on Mormonism.
Years after Conan Doyle's death, Levi Edgar Young, a descendant of Brigham Young and a Mormon general authority, claimed that Conan Doyle had privately apologised, saying that 'He [Conan Doyle] said he had been misled by writings of the time about the Church' and had 'written a scurrilous book about the Mormons.'
In August 2011, the Albemarle County, Virginia, School Board removed A Study in Scarlet from the district's sixth-grade required reading list following complaints from students and parents that the book was derogatory toward Mormons. It was moved to the reading lists for the tenth-graders, and remains in use in the school media centres for all grades." Wikipedia
In Arthur Conan Doyle's defense, there were many writings critical of Mormonisn at the time, including those from Mark Twain.
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