Talk:James Francis Dwyer

Potential sources
On page 1 of Dwyer's autobiography, he mentions five publications that mention him:
 * "Who's Who in America" (date not specified), though Google books has a snippet preview for at least one edition: . In page 222 of the autobiography, Dwyer mentions he was the only resident of Pau to be listed in the book, and used this information to convince the mayor of the town to allow him to buy land there. This was prior to WWII.
 * "Who's Who in Australia" (1947 edition)
 * "Australian Literature", by E. Morris Miller, is said to contain a two-page account of his life.
 * Update: Found it and added to article.


 * "Australia" by Frank Fox (author) is said to praise him. Fox published a book called "Peeps at many lands: Australia", though an e-copy of this book doesn't mention Dwyer so it must be a different title. It's probably this 1911 book:
 * His name is said to appear in Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition as one of a dozen leading Australian writers.
 * Update: I've since found this mention via these websites under the entry for "Australian Literature": though I'm having trouble finding what volume and page number it originally appeared on. Searching online versions of the encyclopedia don't show it appearing anywhere near the entry for "Australia".

I don't think it's appropriate to cite these mentions to his autobiography directly, just listing these here as potential sources to find to flesh this article out. Freikorp (talk) 08:14, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Autobiography
Here's some info from his autobiography that might come in handy later. I don't own the book; my local library has a copy in the stacks which cannot be borrowed but can be read on premises. Freikorp (talk) 09:31, 3 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Dwyer was far too old to fight when WWII broke out. He instead volunteered his services to England as a propagandist though they said they already had plenty, so ended up doing it freelance. He wrote many scathing newspaper articles criticizing the Nazis. (p. 3)
 * Dwyer gave talks to Rotarians, Civitas, Kiwanis and Lions arguing for the US to join WWII (p 17)
 * He wrote an anti-nazi story for "Liberty" magazine (p 18)
 * A. Merritt tried to convince Dwyer to write an autobiography for 3 years, until he died suddenly (p 19). His death guilted Dwyer towards writing one (p 20).
 * Dwyer's neighbours in Pau kept their house and belonging safe until they returned after WWII (P 22-23)
 * A letter from A. Merritt reached Dwyer in Pau 3 years late (had been redirected many times) and after he had already died. It suggested the name "Leg Irons on Wings" as the titled of his then unwritten autobiography; the title was taken from a line in an old Persian story. This finally convinvced Dwyer to write the book (p 25-26)
 * Dwyer was motivated to write his short story "The Lost Button" after seeing the solitary confinement cells. He rubbed out what he wrote on his writing slate everyday so the guards wouldn't draw incorrect conclusions from his writing. He would rewrite things everyday. (p 68)
 * Dwyer's job buying pigeons for pigeon shooting is explained on pages 102-104. It's a rather humorous story, involving the purchase of pigeons that had been trained to fly in a manner that would make them difficult to shoot. The club blamed Dwyer for rigging the sport, even though he only picked the pigeons up and had nothing to do with their training. Eventually a man attacked him in an alleyway saying "I'll give you trained pigeons" and "I'll strangle you"; Dwyer described it as an assassination attempt. On page 106 he confirms he worked in the job for 5 months.
 * Contrary to what short biographies on him say, on page 110 Dwyer confirms that he didn't use any pen names when writing until AFTER he was released from prison.
 * Dwyer sold a story called 'Two Stowaways" to "Wide World Magazine" (p 124)
 * Dwyer's wife thought he was crazy to travel to London, though still went with him (p 125)
 * While he had little success in London, he did sell "here and there" to 'Black & White', 'TP's Weekly', 'Yes No Magazine', 'Daily Mail' and 'John Bull' (p 125)
 * "The Citizen" was first sent to Colliers' and would go on to be reprinted in over 30 publications (p 136)
 * Dwyer arrived in the US in February and got offered a job working for Black Cat that November (page 163), he worked for Black Cat for 5 months and sold 56 stories to them (p 164). Prior to Black Cat he sold stories to "World" (p 161) and "Railraod Men's Magazine" (p 162).
 * Dwyer returned from his 1913 trip to Australia in the early months of 1914 (p 166). On page 119 he says he thought he might stay permanently.
 * At one point in 1908 he was writing one or two short stories a day and one month eight separate magazines published his stories (p 166).
 * Dwyer wrote his first novel [The White Waterfall] in three weeks. Doubleday accepted it immediately (p 172-173). It was originally titled "The Vermillion Pit" but they suggested the alternate title (p 174).
 * Dwyer made the front page of New York World with the headline "From Car Conductor to Popular Novelist" and "From ten dollars a week to ten thousand a year". This was after The White Waterfall was published, and before October 18, 1912 (p 175).
 * After the success of The White Waterfall Dwyer realised he needed an agent (p 176)
 * Theodore Roosevelt wrote Dwyer a letter commending a short story he wrote about a German immigrant, c. 1914 (p 186)
 * Dwyer offered himself for active service during WWI in Liverpool but was refused due to being 41 years old, which was considered too old (p 187)
 * Dwyer was once arrested for jaywalking in the US [book says where but I've forgotten to record that]. He presented the letter from Roosevelt which secured him immediate bail (p 192)
 * Dwyer's Australian wife sued for divorce (p 197)
 * After he married Welch, she sold her business to her manager and joined Dwyer in travelling (p 197)
 * Many of Dwyers friends asked for travel info on Europe. Dwyer realised there was a business to be made out of it, and took out an add offering to send people one letter a week from his travels. He got 146 subscribers from the US. (P 198-199)
 * Said business started in 1921 (p 201) and went for 3 years (p 200)

Ramsland

 * On 1 April 1913, The Lone Hand (magazine) published an photographic portrait of Dwyer with the caption 'An Austrlian Writer who has met with success in the United States', page xxiv. (page 124 of Ramsland)
 * Pages 132 to 134 detail the creation of his story "The Lost Button", which was first published in The Bulletin in 1902. It was later published in Black Cat in the USA, The Story-Teller in London, Choc in Paris and Poppy Annual for British soldiers in WW1. A pirated copy translated into German in Berlin was released without acknowledging Dwyer. It is likely that further pirated copies appeared elsewhere.