Arthur Desmond - Personal Life, Last Years and Death

Personal Life, Last Years and Death

On 1 September 1904 the 45-year-old Arthur Desmond married 22-year-old Fredericke "von" Woldt in the parish house of St. James Episcopal Church (now St. James Cathedral, Chicago). Presumably the notoriously atheistic Desmond made the conciliation of marrying inside a church because Fredericke’s family was staunchly religious. It is the marriage record of St. James Episcopal Church that provides the names of Desmond’s parents, although as with everything in Desmond’s clandestine career, one must wonder if he supplied the right information.

To this union was born a son, Arthur Konar Walther Desmond, often found listed in records as Arthur Desmond, Jr., and Arthur Thurland, Jr. By the time the 1910 U.S. census for Illinois was conducted, Desmond was living alone with his young son at 2647 Reese Avenue in Evanston, Illinois and telling the census taker that he was a widower, although Fredericke was very much alive and living with her family in Gary, Indiana. On 4 May 1913, Fredericke Desmond, age 31, died of pulmonary tuberculosis in a Logansport, Indiana sanatarium. She was buried in the Waldheim Cemetery in Gary, Indiana beside her parents.

In Evanston, Desmond opened a book selling business he called Thurland & Thurland Booksellers, and produced another journal titled The Lion’s Paw. This latest journal was anti-government, anti-religion and heavily promoted the philosophy of 'might is right'. At this time Desmond contracted with W. J. Robbins & Co., Ltd., 20 Midhope Abbey Cromer St., Gray’s Inn Road, London to reprint a new edition of Might Is Right. Under the Thurland & Thurland imprint, Desmond also produce other books, which he did by removing publishing information and pasting his own labels on the title page. Some of the books have survived and will be found marked "THURLAND & THURLAND, EAGLE & SERPENT BOOK DEPARTMENT, EVANSTON (Suburb of Chicago) ILLINOIS." This includes a 1910 edition of Might Is Right with the Thurland & Thurland label pasted over W. J. Robbins & Co., Ltd.

At some point after 1911 Arthur Desmond dissolved Thurland & Thurland and left Evanston for his old neighborhood in Chicago’s Near North Side where he rented an apartment at 1615 Granville Avenue near the Newberry Library. Just a few blocks from his apartment Desmond opened a used bookstore at 364 Wendell Street calling it the House O’ Gowrie, Importers — Publishers — Printers — Booksellers. Despite the lofty name, the House O’ Gowrie was a one-man show run by "Richard Thurland", a.k.a., Arthur Desmond.

In the 1920s Arthur Desmond made the acquaintance of Jack Jones, the proprietor of Chicago’s notorious Dil Pickle Club in Tooker Alley — which was located in Desmond’s own Near North Side neighborhood. In 1927 Jones’ Dil Pickle Press used the original, although reworked, Might Is Right printers plates to produce the last Redbeard era edition of Might Is Right. These were sold from Desmond’s House ‘O Gowrie and from Jones’ Dil Pickle Club.

Although during the 1920s Redbeard fans had circulated a number of rumors about his death — that he was really Ambrose Bierce, and that he, having traveled down to Mexico to join the infamous Pancho Villa, was stood against a wall and shot during the Madero revolt. Another rumor said that he had died in 1918 fighting with Field Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby’s troops in Palestine. But the truth of Desmond’s death is a little less glorious. On the morning of 23 January 1929 Arthur Desmond suffered a stroke in his apartment at 1353 North Clark Street, just a few blocks north of the Newberry Library. He was taken to Cook County Hospital on West Harrison Street where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed by Dr. E. L. Benjamin and found that Desmond had died of a "spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage". Desmond’s Illinois death certificate definitely establishes the link between the deceased individual and "Ragnar Redbeard", as the name of deceased is listed as "Arthur Desmond, alias Richard Thurland".

Arthur Desmond’s remains were taken to Shute Funeral Directors at 716 North State Street, Chicago. After embalming, his body was removed to Gary, Indiana where it was presumably laid to rest in an unmarked grave near his estranged wife, Fredericke Desmond, in the Waldheim Cemetery.

Lawyer J. Kendall S. Mitchell was hired to handle Desmond’s estate. Desmond’s bookstore, which was the only tangible asset left behind, included "15,000 miscellaneous second hand books @ 5¢ each $750.00 4,000 miscellaneous second hand books @ 10¢ each $400.00 $1150.00."