Literary hoaxes have always been touchy topics for bibliophiles, and author Molly Guptill Manning hopes to finally put one to rest in her first book.
“The Myth of Ephraim Tutt, Arthur Train and his Great Literary Hoax” explores the controversial story of Ephraim Tutt, a fictional attorney from a popular 1920s book series by Arthur Train. Train, whose stories centered on Tutt as a spirited lawyer helping defenseless or poor victims in court, quickly became a best-selling fiction author. But in 1943, his devoted fans grew wildly confused when “Yankee Lawyer” was published as Tutt’s apparent autobiography.
“(Train) copyrighted it under Ephraim Tutt. He went through (his own) family photos … put these photos in the book to make it look like (Tutt) was a real person,” Manning said. “People started to wonder if he was a real person.”
Due to Tutt’s strong spirit and constant help to the public in Train’s stories, people started writing letters to the publishing company saying how Tutt “renewed their faith in humanity,” Manning said.
“He always gave people hope. During the Great Depression, he led this life that he didn’t need much to be happy,” Manning said.
Yet with the new autobiography, readers couldn’t decipher whether Tutt was real or not, and some began to even question if Train was real. Manning said some people thought Tutt was the writer and Train was the fictional character. About six months after the autobiography came out, Train came clean and said it was fake. People were mostly upset because the book had been marketed as nonfiction, Manning said.
“Some people thought Train was lying and trying to take credit for a book that Tutt had written,” Manning said. “They came up with crazy explanations. One lawyer got so upset that he sued for fraud in 1944.”
The craziness of the controversy unfolds in Manning’s new book. Manning, who grew up in Latham and attended Shaker High School, received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at University at Albany and earned a law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City in 2005. She was introduced to Tutt’s story by a professor at UAlbany and with her love of history and law, became so interested that she began to conduct her own research on Tutt and Train in 2002. After reading more than 40 of Train’s books and spending numerous hours in the archival sections of libraries, she finally completed the book in 2010.
One of the best parts about her research, she said, was interviewing people who had firsthand knowledge about the hoax, including Train’s son as well as the son of the lawyer who sued Train.
“Oddly enough, Arthur Train to my knowledge didn’t mean it to be a hoax at all. He honestly believed people would know Ephraim Tutt was a fiction because they always knew he was a fiction,” Manning said. “(It was) published in good fun … wasn’t supposed to trick people.”
Similar to Tutt, today Manning works in Manhattan as a staff attorney in the Second Circuit United States Court of Appeals. She said she’s started her next project on how books played an important role in fighting and winning World War II.
“The Myth of Ephraim Tutt, Arthur Train and his Great Literary Hoax” will be released on Monday, Nov. 19. Manning will be at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Colonie Center on Saturday, Dec. 8 from 1 to 3 p.m. for a book signing.