The Sex Life of Melchisedech Duffey

This post is a first attempt to chart Melchisedech Duffey’s peculiar sexual life and aspects of antisemitism in More Than Melchisedech, situating them within the blog’s broader exploration of neglected sides of Lafferty's fiction. It confines itself to presenting textual evidence, without advancing interpretation beyond highlighting the link between Melchisedech Duffey’s sexuality and antisemitic tropes in the Argo legend.

In the novel, Duffey is blackmailed for pedophilia by Hugo Stone, a character identified with Absalom Stein, who is himself as having a wealthy and lurid Jewishness.

During Duffey's time running a bookstore in Chicago, Hugo Stone (we are told is always seen with a camera) photographs Duffey in sexual situations with young girls (such as Mary Frances Rattigan and Mary Catherine Carruthers) on an old black leather sofa. This takes place when the girls are around eight to ten years old, with Lafferty saying that Duffey had "dirty fun" and played the "funny uncle" with them. The photographic records are compiled and later presented in a portfolio by associates of Stein/Stone. Obviously, Stein and Stone are etymological cognates.

To belabor the obvious, Stein and names ending in -stein (like Goldstein or Einstein) are often Jewish surnames, though the word itself just means “stone” in German. These names became common among Ashkenazi Jews in Central and Eastern Europe during the late 18th and 19th centuries, when governments required Jewish families to adopt fixed, German-style surnames. Many chose (or were assigned) last names based on German words describing nature (Stein, Blum, Berg, etc.) or ornamental compounds like Rosenstein (“rose stone”). So while Stein is not Jewish linguistically, it became strongly associated with Jewish heritage through historical naming practices in German-speaking regions.

The Jewish Stein-centered group attempting the blackmail of Duffey wants him to allow them to join and incorporate their ideas into his publication, The Crock, the publication at the center of the The Devil is Dead trilogy. If this is a Jewish conspiracy, then it is an attempt to infiltrate an unofficial organ of the Catholic Church.

Of Duffey, Cazey Szymansky in Archipelago says,

“He is a Centrist. He is the only member of the Catholic Center Party of America. He is the Party. d'Allesandro, Mary Frances, Demetrio Glauch, and myself are his best prospects. If he could fully enlist us he would have a party of five. Smaller parties have done well in Europe. But it is lonesome to be a party of one.

For context, it is worth noting that Shirley Israel and Ben Israel are part of the circle of friends connected to the portfolio man who confronts Duffey. Shirley Israel, in particular, is mentioned in a disparaging news article that labels her a “nefarious Jewess” following a drunken incident she provoked. More notably, the only photograph in the blackmail portfolio depicting Duffey engaged in a sexual act shows him having intercourse with Shirley Israel.

“Well, what are you going to do with them?” Duffey asked stiffly. “Oh, we hope that we will not do anything with them,” the man said. “It is just that some of us want to join with you in the excellent little magazine you are running, and you have not welcomed us with open arms. We do not want to join in from hope of money gain. We will bring in money, not take it out. And we will enlarge the magazine. But it is an idea magazine, and we want our ideas to be in it.” “Who are you going to blackmail me to?” “Oh, to your wife, and to others.” “You're wasting your time,” Duffey said. “My wife can read my mind. She knows the things I have done. These things cannot be held against me, however they may look. I have confessed the few guilty things among them and I have been absolved of them. And any guilt I ever had in them, either in fact or in appearance, is gone now. It is all past.” “Some of these pictures, you must know, are not too old.” “Some of my confessings and absolvings are not too old either.” “Ah, but will your wife absolve you?” “Certainly she will. I will explain to her that I am clear of all these.”

I. Childhood and Early Purity (Approx. Pre-1915)

Approximate Age / Period
Early Childhood	Duffey lived in "purity" during his school years along with his companions. He was exposed to rigorous definitions of chastity: "Chastity is the lily among virtues and makes men almost equal to angels".
Youth	Duffey "would suffer a little corruption now and then" but never rejected the core definitions of integrity and chastity.
Age 3	Duffey gave away his first talisman (representing a special gift or formation) to an Italian man selling cakes out of a hokey-pokey pushcart; this was to bring about or create the first of the persons who would make up the Duffey Nation.
Age 12	Duffey began boarding school, the beginning of his young manhood by his own count.
Boarding School Era	Sebastian Hilton claimed to have had an affair with a countess. Duffey, by dipping into Sebastian's mind, found that this countess was "now twelve years old". Duffey later prophesied he would meet her and that she would be his close friend.

II. St. Louis (1915-1917) and Early Exploitation of Minors

During the years Duffey ran the Rounders' Club (circa age 15–17), he had several questionable relationships and activities involving minors, though his primary romantic interest was older.

Approximate Age / Period
Age 15 (May 1915)	Duffey met Gretchen Sisler, who was almost nine. He told her he was almost sixteen. He impressed her with his magic, created a gold coin for her. He said, "You are my luck, you are my love," and kissed her. Gretchen's mother, Lucille Sisler, later worked for Duffey, and people called her Duffey's mother-in-law because Gretchen had told everybody that Duffey belonged to her.
Age 15–17	Duffey had sexualized interactions with Gretchen Sisler on her family's sofa, described as them "carrying on together on the old Sisler living room sofa."
Age 15–17	Duffey associated closely with Evelyn London (a Dublin girl), who was "About ten years older than Duffey." She called him "my boy, you are my love, you are my prince" and played with his hair.
Age 15–17	Duffey developed a close, passionate, but bridled relationship with his step-sister, Mary Louise Byrne, whom he called his "anima made animate" and "flame-red part of his own soul." He later worried if the "love between us that is a plain outrage, but should it be bridled?" She said it must be and would be.
Age 15–17	Mary Louise decided to bestow her friend, Elizabeth Keegan (Beth), upon Duffey to redirect his passion. Duffey realized he was looking at Beth "as at a work of art" and kissed her or "fumble[d] with her or [sat] on her lap because he didn’t know what to say".
Age 16 (Late 1916)	Mary Louise urged Duffey to "Make love to her more, romp on her more, kiss her more" with Beth Keegan. However, the physical interactions were described as "all joke-romps and joke-rides and joke-kisses." Beth, who was physically developed, was "only seventeen" and would turn eighteen the next month; Duffey was still sixteen.
Age 15–17	Duffey had "sparky and elegant trolley car romances" while riding streetcars to his various classes.

III. Hidden Years and Creation (1917–1923)

This period defined his role as a magical father where physical reproduction was avoided in favor of talismanic creation.

Approximate Age / Period
Lost Years (1917–1923)	Eleven of Duffey's twelve primary human persons (Animated Marvels) were conceived and born during these seven hidden years. This creation was achieved via talismans.
Lost Years (Pre-1920/1921)	Duffey gave a talisman to Gabriel Szymansky for his unborn son, Casey. He also gave one to Lily Koch for her younger sister (Letitia); this "rib-shaped" talisman was a special case and "did not count in the primary twelve."
Alternate Future (The Argo)	Duffey's "very real death" occurred during this period in a future scenario (in Neustria), where he was cut to bones by the three slant-faced killers. His spirit lingered, and his ashes were put in an urn. After this death, he gained the "Ambiguity of the Flesh" where his flesh was real but also "ashes in the can," lasting throughout his married life.
End of Lost Years (1923)	Duffey came out of the "Sea of Lost Years," feeling "twenty-three years old and no age is happier than that."

IV. Marriage and Chicago Golden Age (1925–1946)

Upon his reappearance, Duffey swiftly found his wife (Letitia, his "bonus" creation) and established his Golden Age. This era is notable for the continued sexualized interactions with minors in his bookstore, which resulted in blackmail.

Approximate Age / Period
Age 25 (1925)	Duffey met Charlotte Mullens (a mendacious midget impersonating a nine-year-old girl) on a train. She "played footsie and kneesie and kissie with Duffey." Duffey "kissed Charlotte quite a bit."
Age 25	Charlotte (the midget) confessed to Duffey that she ran a "badger game" where she would come out of the bathroom "toweling myself in the buff" to entice men, allowing her mother to bring in witnesses and blackmail the men for violating "little nine year old girls". Charlotte claimed she "always have a lot of carnality to confess."
Age 25	Duffey experienced an "overriding compulsion" to find his destined wife. He met Lily Koch, who kissed him and said, "I almost hate to give you up."
Age 25	Duffey met Letitia Koch (Lily's sister and his "bonus" creation) and realized she was the moth he was seeking. They decided to marry "the day after tomorrow." Letitia was one of the "supreme pieces in Duffey's Uncollectable Art Collection."
Age 25–35 (Golden Age)	Duffey wrestled "very young friends" who came to his bookstore, including Mary Frances Rattigan, Mary Catherine Carruthers, Mary Jean, Ethyl Ellenberger, and Margaret Stone, from the time they were "eight or nine years old."
Age 25–35 (Golden Age)	Duffey wrestled these little girls on an "old, black leather sofa in the bookstore."
Age 25–35 (Golden Age)	These interactions were called "hearty fun" by Duffey, but the narrator noted "hell is made out of such hearty fun". Wrestling Mary Frances and Ethyl together felt safe, but "maybe it wasn't all right when Mary Francis was there by herself."
Age 25–35 (Golden Age)	The activity "probably wasn't all right" with Mary Jean (who was a "hot little vixen from her childhood") and with Mary Catherine Carruthers (who was "in love with Duffey"). These relationships continued for "about ten years."
Age 25–35 (Golden Age)	Duffey was "blackmailed" for these activities after Hugo Stone (a boy who often carried a camera) took photos of Duffey "having dirty fun" with the girls and "playing the funny uncle with them." Duffey himself acknowledged he "should have been horse-whipped for such things."
Age 25–46	Duffey "loved" many ladies, including his wife Letitia, her sister Lily, her mother Elinore, his sister Mary Louise, his "old girl" Beth Keegan, and several younger girls from the bookstore. He loved them "seriously and he loved them clownishly, and he may even have loved them illicitly, even Letitia."
Age 25–46	Duffey kissed the Girl Countess Margaret Stone (who was Sebastian's twelve-year-old countess from his mind) when she later appeared in Chicago, noting she was "special". He also carried on a "little bit" with her (now grown) and the mendacious midget Charlotte Garfield.

V. Post-Letitia Life and Final Proposals (Post-1946)

After Letitia's death, Duffey (whose age begins oscillating) continued to be pursued, often by his past interests.

Approximate Age / Period
Post-Letitia's Death	Lily Koch told Duffey she loved him and "will do anything for you," offering to set up their own Transylvania if he would marry her for "fifty years or so." She also noted her dowry had tripled.
Post-Letitia's Death	The Countess Margaret Stone (whose kind does not reach puberty until after age fifty) proposed marriage and asked him to come to Transylvania with her, saying they could not marry until after mid-century but she had loved him when she was young. Duffey declined, saying, "Ask me again in fifty years."
Post-Letitia's Death	Charlotte Garfield offered Duffey the ability to have "sons of my body" (including "nineteen year old and full-grown sons") because she could change families every few years, offering him a "prodigious time of it." Duffey declined her offer.
Post-Letitia's Death	Mary Catherine Carruthers (who had been in love with him since childhood) came to him, reminding him that she was now an "old girl" (about 40–50) and that she had once asked him to marry her if Letitia died.
End of Normal Life	Duffey proposed to Monica Murray Stranahan (Charley Murray's sister), urging her to marry him because she would inherit a good sum. She declined, believing he would give the money away.

VI. Context of Sexual Degradation

Sexual degradation occurring during Duffey's era, although not involving Duffey directly.

Period
General Context (Pre-1946)	Father Blevins stated that he gave "instructional experience in Fornicational Intercourse" to high school girls and to grade school girls as part of their total education.
General Context (Pre-1946)	Pornography was being introduced into texts geared toward the "level of six-year-old and seven-year-old reading ability" as part of a "leveling process."

VII. Absalom Stein and Blackmailing Duffey

Element of Blackmail	Detail	Absalom Stein's Connection and Jewish Context
The Photographer / Incriminating Pictures	The blackmail attempt used a portfolio of pictures showing Duffey in compromising situations with young girls. The person Duffey suspects of taking these pictures—over a long period, using a hidden camera in the bookstore—was the young boy, Hugo Stone.	Duffey later insists that Hugo Stone (damn that kid anyhow!) was the same person as Absalom Stein. This suggests that the origins of the blackmail materials stemmed from Stein’s actions during Duffey’s Chicago era. Stein is described as having a "wealthy and lurid Jewishness" and is an "Israelite in whom there was much guile."
Shirley Israel’s Role (The Entrapment)	Shirley Israel (and Ben Israel) were categorized as "slippery people" in Chicago. The portfolio contained pictures of Duffey with various girls, but the only "flagrante picture" was of Duffey and Shirley Israel, indicating she was an agent in a classic "badger game trick, a sneak attack."	Shirley Israel was connected to the Jewish context through public denigration. Following a chaotic gathering where she served a powerful liquor, a newspaper article written by Rollo McSorley claimed he was kicked by a "flying mule" and mentioned that the drink was given by a "nefarious Jewess." Shirley Israel was an active rival, spreading rumors that other salons were superior to Duffey's.
Motive for the Blackmail	The blackmailing group, which included some of the slippery people, sought to gain influence and participation in Duffey’s publication, The Crock, stating they wanted their "ideas to be in it" and promising to bring money.	Earlier, Absalom Stein was identified as being the "infamous Communist" or "Chicago red" under the name Hugo Stone. This earlier political identity suggests a motive consistent with the blackmailers’ demands to install their "ideas" (presumably radical ones, given the context of the The Crock being taken over by a "group") into Duffey's sphere of influence. Absalom Stein later claimed he traded this "old soul of mine — the soul of Hugo Stone the Chicago red" to Casey Szymansky.
Related Jewish Figures	Shirley Israel was at the party alongside Ben Israel and was later seen with a "Nathan and Shirley Stone."	Absalom Stein is directly related to Margaret Stone, who is described as being Italian and Jew, and his cousin. Margaret Stone also refers to Stein as "that damned Jew!" when discussing his actions. Stein's daughter is Rebeka Stein, a Jew who attended a Catholic academy for a "more narrow education."