Saw: Writer reveals how to notorious whodunnit
That fascinated creator of iconic sleuth Sherlock Holmes
of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Slater’s other supporters there is now a Court of Appeal in Scotland.”
It took nearly 20 years for Slater’s conviction to be quashed, though.
And, despite seeming like his foray into becoming a real-life detective was a success, the affair ended on a sour note for Conan Doyle, who had invested considerable time and money in clearing Slater’s name.
“In the end, Slater got £6,000 compensation which was quite a lot of money. He was a threadbare immigrant and he wasn’t prepared to reimburse anyone for any expenses. Conan Doyle was a Victorian man of honour, and insisted Slater reimburse people – including himself.
“Sir Arthur was very rich, this was about principle and honour. He and Slater had a vitriolic exchange of letters, first between themselves and then played out in open letters and articles in newspapers. “The most shocking and painful thing I found in my research was a headline ‘Conan Doyle v Slater’ – eventually he had to take Slater, the man he had fought to free, to court.” The case kept Conan Doyle captivated for decades, and Margalit can relate.
For three decades she pondered the murder of the Glasgow spinster after first reading about it on the New York subway.
“I was in my twenties and working in an uninspiring job in publishing,” she said. “It was on the subway one day when I was reading a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from 1949.
“Towards the end of the book, almost as an aside, there was a casual mention of how Conan Doyle investigated the wrongful murder conviction of an immigrant man, Oscar Slater.
“I was stunned, the creator of the foremost literary detective in the world played detective in a murder case? Why isn’t this better known? I hadn’t gone to journalism school so I put it in the recesses of my brain where it stayed for 30 years.”
As part of her investigations, Margalit visited Scotland twice, visiting the National Archives in Edinburgh, Glasgow’s Mitchell Library, and Peterhead Prison, where Slater was held for 19 years.
“I came back to Scotland last year,” she added. “I took a trip to Peterhead. The prison was once the most notorious in the UK and is now a museum.
“It was fascinating and I got to stand in the cell Oscar Slater occupied for nearly 19 years.
“In terms of atmosphere that gave me something you can’t get from visiting libraries and archives in Edinburgh or Glasgow.”
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Conan Doyle was a man of honour