Arthur Desmond - Emigration To The United States

Emigration To The United States

With Justice Minister Thomas Slattery breathing fire, in the summer of 1894 Desmond folded The Standard Bearer and its successor, Hard Kash, after only three issues, and decided to take a permanent vacation. Desmond’s friend, John Andrews, writes: " quitted Australia in disgust, and, according to one report, went to South Africa to enlist under Cecil Rhodes, who was then intent on founding a new Republic."

Whether or not Desmond actually went to South Africa to fight with Rhodes is unknown. However, his attitude towards Rhodes was something akin to hero-worship and is a notable feature of Might Is Right. What is certain is that Desmond left Australia one step ahead of the law—a warrant for his arrest for sedition and treasonable utterances already having been issued. Eventually Desmond turned up in England where he turned out numerous revolutionary poetic pieces, most notably his "The Flames of Freedom", which he signed "Catiline". Like the historic Catiline, Desmond advocated purifying the world by fire, which explains why he dared not put his name to the piece. From England Desmond traveled to New York, as his friend Julian Stuart recalled: "Soon after I got a letter from New York saying he was taking another name just for luck".

Desmond had several Australian friends who had anarchist contacts in Chicago, which likely explains why he chose Chicago as his new home. He appears in the 1896 Chicago city directory where his occupation is listed as a "reporter". What we do know from the preface to the 1896 Chicago edition of Might Is Right, which Desmond re-titled The Survival of the Fittest, or the Philosophy of Power, is that he spent much of 1895 looking for a publisher. When The Survival of the Fittest was finally published in 1896, Desmond used the pseudonym Arthur Uing, which was a spelling variation of his mother’s maiden name, Ewing. It was under Arthur Uing that Desmond registered his copyright in 1896.

One of the first persons to receive a copy of The Survival of the Fittest was Desmond’s Sydney friend, John Dwyer. His personal copy of The Survival of the Fittest is now preserved in the Dwyer Papers at the Mitchell Collection of State Library of New South Wales, and in that original one finds that Dwyer had written on the title page under "Ragnar Redbeard" the name "Arthur Desmond".

In 1897 a business called the Adolph Mueller Company was established at 108 South Clark Street, Chicago, whose sole interest seems to have been promoting and selling Ragnar Redbeard’s books and writings. It was about this time that Desmond began promoting his doctorate of law (LL.D.) from the University of Chicago. Aided by staff members, Desmond biographer Darrell Conder extensively researched the records of the University of Chicago and found no such doctorate had ever been awarded. In fact, the U of C’s first LL.D. was awarded to President William McKinley in 1897, a year after Desmond was claiming his doctorate.

In 1898 Arthur Desmond traveled to London where he published an English edition of The Survival of the Fittest, which was "Printed and published by Arthur Uing, 19 Henrietta St., Covent Garden, London; and at Rose St., Darlington, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1897." While in London he joined with John Basil Barnhill, who used the pseudonym John Erwin McCall, to produce yet another journal, The Eagle and the Serpent, which was founded to promote Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy. While there Desmond also released a booklet titled Women and War printed by Holbrook & Daniels, London, 1898. The booklet was, in fact, simply a reprint of chapter six of The Survival of the Fittest. Desmond also printed a series of pamphlets he titled Redbeard’s Review, which were meant to draw attention to his book.

About this time Arthur Desmond would later claim that he took time off to involve himself in South Africa’s Second Boer War, that he was in fact "a member of Gen. ‘Bob’s’ light horse at Cape Town and Pretoria…" Arthur Desmond also claims to have been in the largest and bloodiest single battle of the Boer War — the Battle of Baardeberg fought near Paardeberg Drift on the banks of the Modderrivier (or "Mud River") in the Orange Free State. As heroic as this information is, as with everything about Arthur Desmond’s life, there are a few complications—most notable one being that the dates of the Boer War and Desmond’s personal life don’t fit. Nevertheless, when Desmond was arrested and put on trial in Chicago in 1904 he made newspaper headlines by claiming to be a Boer War vet, and by claiming that the rifle he used to hold off a troop of Chicago police officers was one he had captured in the Battle of Baardeberg.

By 1902 Desmond was living in Chicago using the alias of Richard Thurland and publishing another edition of The Survival of the Fittest, which he re-titled Might Is Right, or the Survival of the Fittest and released in 1903 through Adolph Mueller Publishers. It was during this time Desmond set up an advertising partnership with prominent Chicagoan Will H. Dilg called Thurland & Thurland, of which Arthur Desmond is listed as manager in the 1903 Chicago City Directory. Dilg and Desmond were involved in more than a commercial venture. They also co-wrote a book titled Rival Caesars A Romance of Ambition, Love and War. Being the tale of a Vice-President, a Major-General and three brilliant and beautiful women, using the pseudonym 'Desmond Dilg.' The book was released in 1903 by Desmond’s own Thurland & Thurland Publishers, Chicago, which actually was the only book ever printed by the company.

Desmond biographer Darrell W. Conder uses persuasive argument, including quotes from Rival Caesars' blatant 'might is right' philosophy, to show that Desmond’s latest book was actually book II of Might Is Right, which "Ragnar Redbeard" had promised would be released when "circumstances demanded it".Rival Caesars wasn’t a big success, making surviving copies of the book very rare. In fact, shortly after its release the partnership between Desmond and Dilg ceased.

By 1904 Thurland & Thurland and Desmond Commercial Advertising Bureau were located in the single office of the general manager of the Ser-Vis Ice Cream and Candy Company located at 155 Michigan Street. The reason for the shared address was that Arthur Desmond was the general manager of the Ser-Vis Ice Cream and Candy Company and was using his company office for an advertising sideline. These facts came out on 18 March 1904 when Desmond was arrested in his office—an arrest that made the pages of the Chicago Daily Tribune.

The trouble arose when a telephone inspector wanted to enter the factory for some routine maintenance, and Desmond refused. The man returned with police, and Desmond responded by holding them off with his rifle that, he claimed, he had captured in the Boer War. In the end, Desmond was overpowered and thrown in the Cook County Jail to await trail. However, Desmond’s oratory skills convinced a judge and jury that he was the victim and he was set free.