Clinton H. (Clinton Holland) Stagg

Born in Newark, New Jersey, in November 1888, Clinton Holland Stagg built a remarkably varied career in a short life. Reliable sources describe him as an American author, journalist, and screenwriter, and his surviving work shows how comfortably he moved between popular fiction and the rapidly growing film industry.

Stagg is best known in mystery history for creating Thornley Colton, often noted as one of the earliest blind detectives in fiction. He also wrote novels and short stories, and later worked on scenarios for silent films. Trade-history material on his film work describes him as notably prolific, while public-domain library records show that a substantial body of his writing has remained in circulation.

He died in Santa Monica, California, on May 3, 1916, when he was still very young. Because his career was cut so short, his name is not as widely known today, but readers interested in early detective fiction and early screenwriting often rediscover him with real curiosity.