More than 27 million people visited the World’s Columbian Exposition (1893 Chicago World’s Fair) within the six months it ran, from May through October. One of those visitors was Mark Twain, or at least it would have been. Twain arrived in Chicago by train but immediately became ill and was bedridden in his hotel room for 11 days. He then returned back home to Connecticut without ever setting foot on the fairgrounds.
On April 20, 1841, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, written by Edgar Allan Poe, appeared in Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine, published in Philadelphia. The story is considered the first modern detective story. At the time of writing it, Poe was also the editor of Graham’s.
The story involves the murder of a mother and daughter in Paris, in which the suspect turns out to have been an orangutan with the ability to act as a human. The orangutan strangles the daughter and slices the mother’s throat with a razor as depicted in the wood engraving below from a late 19th century republishing of the story.
The story is told from the point of the detective’s friend, much like Sherlock Holmes stories are told from Watson’s point of view.
Many who read The Murders in the Rue Morgue today, who do not already know the outcome, tend to find the story disappointing, mainly because readers like to guess who the murderer is as they read. Readers would not suspect an orangutan of being a murder suspect considering the clues found throughout the story. However, as there had not been detective stories up until 1841, readers were very much impressed with The Murders in the Rue Morgue when it was first published on April 20 that year. The Pennsylvania Inquirer, upon the story’s printing, stated that “it proves Mr. Poe to be a man of genius…with an inventive power and skill, of which we know no parallel.”
Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain, at age 15. What appears to be a belt buckle containing his name is actually a typesetting composing stick he is holding, used for applying print to paper. This photograph was taken November 29, 1850. At this time, Clemens had just started working as a printer’s apprentice for a local newspaper.
