April 15, 1912. Jacques Futrelle was an American writer, best known for the creation of Professor Augustus
S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D.,LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., M. D. S., alias the
Thinking Machine, a brilliant amateur detective. The best known story
is "The Problem of Cell 13," in which Van Dusen proves he can escape from a prison cell using the powers of his mind. (I am not talking about woo-woo mind-over-matter, just good thinking.)Unfortunately Van Dusen was not present to arrange an escape when the Titanic struck an iceberg, but Futrelle was. He put his wife on a lifeboat and then went down with the ship, and several unpublished short stories.
