Lawrence to Thurtle

Lawrence of Arabia has become in the Near East a legendary figure whose death in a motorcycle accident in England (TIME, May 27, 1935) is considered by many Moslem chiefs to be only a particularly clever British ruse. During the Ethiopian War, swarthy millions believed that Colonel Lawrence was alive in Addis Ababa advising Haile Selassie. Some think he is now in Western Ethiopia and will yet pluck victory for the Lion of Judah. Last week in London was auctioned off a packet of letters from Lawrence which were extracted from him by ingenious Ernest Thurtle, a Manhattan-born member of the House of Commons. In 1929 Mr. Thurtle rose in debate to expostulate against the alleged Afghanistan activities of Lawrence, who was then flying with the Royal Air Force in India as "Aircraftsman Shaw."

This led to a meeting between Thurtle and Lawrence, and the M.P., by dropping Lawrence of Arabia occasional judicious notes, accumulated letters in reply which last week brought Mr. Thurtle $500. About $80 was paid for the letter in which Lawrence explained "my abnormality,' which caused him to retire at 35 and refuse knighthood at the hands of King George V. "I wasn't a King or a Prime Minister, but I made 'em and played with 'em" was the epistolary boast of Lawrence of Arabia. "Anyone who has gone up as I went and seen so much of the inside of the top of the world might well lose his aspirations and get weary of the ordinary motives & actions which had moved him until he reached the top." One hundred dollars was paid for a Thurtle letter in which Lawrence set down what he called a formula for successful authorship: "To earn money by writing, you must tickle the public below the belt."

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