Western Historical Manuscript Collection: Text in the manuscript cut from the published edition explains that Doc Savage was politically connected with the governor. Doc was able to obtain pardons for the men he had surgically rehabilitated.
This story shares some common elements with an earlier story involving teleportation. The Disintegration Machine by A. Conan Doyle was first published in the January 1929 issue of The Strand Magazine. It is the last of the Professor Challenger stories. A machine that disintegrates and then reintegrates is the central plot device. Lester Dent’s later story, The Vanisher, has a couple of interesting items that would tend to indicate he was familiar with Doyle’s story.
The inventor in Doyle’s story is Theodore Nemor. His physical appearance is one that suggests deformity with the actual appearance of such. Doyle says he is a “hunchback without the hump.” Dent chooses a humpback in his story as the main character associated with the teleportation device.
The puzzle of reassembling the vigintillions of atoms into the proper sequence is explained away in similar fashion. Dent lets Doc Savage explain the theory behind the solving of such a complex puzzle: "The nucleus of these atoms have a homing-pigeon instinct, apparently," Doc said.
Doyle passes off
the problem in the same way: The
objection is an obvious one, and I can only answer that they do so reassemble
down to the last atom of the structure. There is an invisible framework and
every brick flies into its true place.
In both stories the villain is basically evil and morally and physcially repulsive. Professor Challenger and Doc Savage each decide this particular device is forbidden knowledge. Professor Challenger takes a more direct action to protect mankind while Doc Savage simply keeps his secrets to himself.
All together Dent does a quite a nifty job of tipping his hat and paying homage to A. Conan Doyle and his literary protégé, Professor Challenger. An electronic text of The Disintegration Machine is available at Project Gutenberg Australia.
The term teleportation was first coined by Charles Fort who authored several books on strange and unexplained phenomena. Fort died in 1932 but his legacy lives on. Immediately after his death several of his close friends formed the Fortean Society to keep his ideas alive. The term Fortean is now used to describe the unexplainable. A modern magazine, Fortean Times, is based on Charles Fort’s ideas.
Author Edward Page Mitchell wrote one of the earliest stories to feature teleportation as a plot device. The Man Without a Body was published in 1877. When Mitchell died in 1927 he was enough of a luminary for his passing to be noted in Time Magazine. A pdf version of Mitchell’s story is available at the Horror Masters website.
Doc's newfound status as a wanted criminal gives the newspapers an opportunity to vent their spleen. Doc's never-ending refusal to grant interview is a source of irritation to many members of the fifth estate. Newspapers are quick to jump on the bandwagon. Prominent in the headlines are questions concerning the many individuals who have completely disappeared after coming in contact with Doc's organization.
Graduates begin making guest appearances in the stories. In this story, Doc Savage is wanted by the police in connection with the murder of a Federal agent. Doc encounters a cab driver who enthusiastically offers his assistance. The man is one of Doc's graduates.
Throughout the series we are repeatedly told that a deep hatred of crime is instilled in graduates as part of their treatment. The fact that Doc is now wanted by the police makes no impression upon the man at all. He offers his unconditional support to the bronze man.
It is a revealing scene. Loyalty to Doc Savage supersedes the law.
December 11, 1936 – King Edward VIII abdicates. Prince Albert becomes King George VI.
December 21, 1936 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 88.
December 30, 1936 – The United Auto Workers Union begins the Flint sit-down strike.
