Show Notes
JACQUE FUTRELL'S FINAL IRONY — THE PROBLEM HE COULDN'T ESCAPE: THE TITANIC Jacques Futrelle (1875–1912) was one of America's great early mystery craftsmen. Before his untimely death, he created more than fifty stories featuring The Thinking Machine, a character designed to rival Sherlock Holmes in pure deductive brilliance. Van Dusen's creed—"Two and two always make four, not sometimes, but all the time"—became the backbone of Futrelle's tightly engineered puzzles. His stories were clever, modern, and immensely popular. Futrelle was on the rise, writing novels, touring, and enjoying international acclaim. Then came April 1912. Futrelle and his wife Lily boarded the RMS Titanic for their return to America. When the ship struck the iceberg, Futrelle reportedly insisted Lily board a lifeboat, telling her he would be fine. He stayed behind, helping others reach safety. He was last seen on the deck, smoking calmly with fellow writer John Jacob Astor as the ship went down. The man who created a character capable of escaping any prison could not escape the one fate placed before him. It remains one of literature's great ironies—and one of its great heartbreaks.
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